This is an old aged Thai oil that has been distilled before over a decade now.
You might be one of the people who might be put off by the word "Thai", as most Thai oils share common profiles and you wouldn't expect anything new from them.
I might have also shared the same opinion as you............. until..... I sniffed this oil!
This oil has a story, and I know I know, nowadays stories are linked to words blabbed for marketing etc. In my case, I'm just going to share the story behind this oil so you'd have an idea about what kind of an oil we're dealing with here.
through my connections in Thailand, I always target micro distilleries of villagers. Big commercial distilleries are great if you want to acquire an oil and use that oil in perfumery for example, as the oils from commercial distilleries are somewhat "standardized" due to the standards implemented in Plantation, harvesting, cleaning and distilling. Usually they would be of a mediocre grade as the age of trees and the infection isn't that old.
However, micro-distilleries of villagers are another story. They are owned by families, with a maximum of 2 to 3 pots, and every batch is very different from the other. There are some areas in Thailand that you'd still find batches of wild oils if you know where to look, and they mostly come from those micro-distilleries who work directly with hunters.
This oil and its' brother were acquired from the same distiller amidst Covid times. Our agent went to scout a mountainous area in the south of Thailand. He told me he knew a couple of families who've been in this business for a long time and it's worth checking. The distiller was an old man who didn't speak a word of English, and luckily our agent is Thai, so we started inquiring about oils. He offered some oils, samples sent, and I wasn't impressed...
Covid got worse as well as the lock-downs in Thailand. It was unfortunate times for many, however, there's always balance in life, and the divine way is always yin and yang, not one without the other. Due to this situation, an opportunity emerged, and with the second visit to the old man, he was willing to sell a bit of an old wild oil that he was stashing. When we asked about the age of the oil, he said: "those two bottles were distilled in 2010, 2011, I can't recall precisely, but go ahead and smell it & send samples, make it fast, and don't negotiate the price. price is final!"
Our agent informed me and sent me a sample....and....WOW!
The profile shocked me! it's nothing like I've ever smelled from Thai oils! It's thick, dark molasses red/black, oozes of resin and woody incensy wafts!
This reminded me of a Malaysian oil that I have which dates back to the late 80s. Looking back at my fave old wild oils, I found out that there's this sort of common BACKBONE between them all. it's the resinous woody sweetness which has a sort of old books dryness type of smell. and this one does have all of that! Did I mention incensy and resinous? a bit of spice too!
I wanted to get as much as I can from that oil, but the old man refused and just said to our agent in Thai: " later, later, now you only take this much, no more to sell this time".
We acquired the amount that he was willing to part with, and paid the premium price for it.
Months pass by, the agent pays him another visit and this time we insist on buying more, and luckily we ended up buying the rest of LAO SHĀN and also its' sibling-batch which I called LAO XIANG.
--LAO means Old in Chinese, SHĀN means Mountain, XIANG means Scent--
If you are into resinous thaqeel oils, if you're into incense smoke, if you're into old Malay woody sweet profiles,then this will satisfy all of your cravings.
Thick. Old. Dark & Wild.