This oil is one of the crown jewels of my journey. An oil that is breathtakingly beautiful, smells vintage, and (is) vintage
In our region in the GCC, oils of such caliber would only have been accessible to the upper class Arabs in the old times. I once gave an old timers here in UAE a swipe of this oil. I still remember when he paused, only to say: "This...This is the smell of old times"...
I told him that it's weird as the profile is different than your usual Arab-loved hindis and Cambodis....and this oil comes from another region. He then told me that the common people in the region didn't all have the access nor the means for high quality dehn-al-oud. The high end oils were expensive in the old days (as they still are today), but in the old days you had to know the right people who could provide such grades, and let alone being able to afford such oils. It was simple living, yet some had it in them for the finer things in life. It was only for those who had access to it and could afford it.
In terms of profile, this oil shocked me! It's not your usual green Papuan oud, nor is it anything like a typical merauke! This is a very rare and unique profile. The best way to describe this papuan oil is with an analogy;
Imagine an old aged high quality Merauke (Earthy, clean Japanese incense fog) being married to one old aged Malay (resinous, woody sweet, dark red berries, without any animalic edges). This...is Papua 2003! It's woody sweet, yet not dry. It's earthy without being grainy or harsh, it's resinous and incensy as an old Malay....and the best part? imagine all of this with underlying hues of dark red khmer nuances!
Even though it's an old oil, it has this "perfumey character". in Arabic, it can be described as عطري (Perfume-like). All clean without any animalic off putting notes.
If you're a lover of high grade Japanese-style incense, this oil will move you beyond words. It's classy, not overpowering yet has a big delicious aura. It's elegant yet anchoring and rooting.
When I first got hold of this limited oil, I decanted that container into another bottle. As a habit of mine, I tend to wash off any residues with perfumers' alcohol and use it. With Papua 2003, it was one of the most gorgeous personal sprays I've ever used!
Vintage, Rare, Rich & Regal.