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Post by Portia

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Hi there Oudh Aficionados,

A new company has come to Australia, Grandawood. They own over 400 hectares of agarwood plantation and an oil manufacturing plant in Vietnam and boast a state of the art quality control process. I think we are seeing the beginning of an influx of (hopefully) affordable Oudh Oil in our times.

I am no expert on Oudh and wanted to get a few more knowledgeable noses onto the products before I wrote to you about them. There are too many charlatans in the world. So a couple of the best noses I know came by to have a sniff. Michael Borg, TinaG and Scott dropped in and I unveiled the latest in what you may think is a saturated market. We were sent 3 samples to try but only 2 of them will be coming into Australia, let’s meet them.

Grandawood Oudh Oils, Brisbane, Australia

Photo Stolen Grandawood

 Evergreen Good Grade Agarwood Oil (Oud) 100% Pure Grade A+ (Oudh #1)

Oudh #1 was a lovely simple oud that was fecal, animal and medicinal in open, it quietened to a lovely barnyard skin scent within the hour and stayed fragrant for about 5-6 hours. Oudh #1 smelled as if it had melted into my skin and each of our bodies gave it a slightly different scent hue. On my skin it was a little sweeter and more vanilla smelling than on the others. We all liked its soft and mellow golden haze.

A wonderful oudh even if you’re going to work. By the time you get there Oudh #1 is a beautiful, gentle oudh that has melded with your skin and though you are fragrant, even slightly barnyard, it’s a welcoming and engaging aroma. Beautiful.

Grandawood is currently having an Oudh #1 introductory offer of $68/1.5ml (reduced from $204)

Photo Stolen Grandawood

Grandawood Superior Agarwood oil (Oudh Floral)

Oudh Floral was the winner of the day, it was fun, unusual, interesting and had the best longevity. It was a hit and I think Grandawood will be getting orders from the guys who were also extremely pleased. Oudh Floral will be a hit we decided and it could even make a good gateway oudh for someone new to it as a note. There seems to be a deep vein of animalic honey running through Oudh Floral and the bouquet has some lovely indolic white flowers. It’s skanky but very pretty skank.

We liked the way that Grandawood had slipped in some extra interest to the oudh and made it pop even more. A unanimous success from the 4 person testing panel.

Grandawood has $80/1.5ml

Oud #2 was the least well received, it had all the plastic, burnt hair and pooh smells and even the most hardcore didn’t love it. It will be coming to Australia at a later date and if you want to be engulfed in oudh then keep your eyes peeled.

Grandawood have created a 15% discount code for APJ readers and the code is: portia

Grandawood also sells Agarwood beads, chips, incense and tea-leaves.

Though I am no expert the oils seemed to be the real deal to us. It would be wonderful to read your feedback if you decide to try them.

Portia xxx