The Great Cambodian Experiment: II A farm worker handed me the frying pan they had just finished cooking their lunch in. I could barely greet somebody properly in Thai, so through sign language I tried to explain that I couldn’t cook in the same pot without washing it first. When I was younger, at a […]
The Great Cambodian Experiment: I Tomorrow’s a big day. We’re going back and forth to so many countries there’s moments where I have to pause and remind myself which one we’re in at the moment. Often, I’d wake up in the middle of the night and it’ll take a while before I can figure out […]
Dr. Andrej is more obsessed with oud than most diehard collectors and his acute appreciation for all things oud got him to get in touch with Ensar. Their ongoing discussion has covered numerous themes that delve into the finer details of artisanal oud oil. This is the first in a series of posts that follows the email […]
Q: “Ensar, having now the benefit of experience of several distillations from incense-grade wood, do you still think it’s worth the risk and do you plan on doing any more? The cost is much higher and because the wood is so resinated, yields are modest. Of course, the resulting oils can be spectacular, but even […]
‘No food, at all?’ I asked to clarify. I still found my own mentor’s injunction to fast two days a week pretty daunting, so I was impressed when the distiller declined a handful of cashew nuts one afternoon saying that food is another thing on his can’t-do list. ‘No, no. Just can’t eat anything […]
No one can blame him for the initial suspicion he showed towards me – this stranger from the West who seemed to challenge him on every point he brought up. The oud business is rough and dirty, and he’d been in the thick of it for decades. He used to be the main oud supplier […]
We had just lost a high-spec balancing scale (worth a pretty penny) to airport security coming to Thailand and I needed to buy a new one to get back to work. But …“I can’t drive” the distiller told me when I asked him if he felt like going to the city. “What do you mean […]
Here’s what Andrej (Croatia), the winner of our free Oud Yusuf draw, had to say about Assam Sur Fleur: “Assam Sur Fleur is a very unconventional Hindi with a perfume-like character. The first note is liquid flower nectar with a transparent sweetness. These could be shy spring flowers – but which ones? It reminds me of […]
A few weeks ago the distiller I’ve been working with on the 100 Year-Old Chanthaburi distillation took off to a remote monastery some 12 hours from his farm. There, aspiring mystics visit an illumined monk who lives cut off from society, deep in the forest. In hopes of attaining higher spiritual ranks, students subject themselves to […]