Nha Trang 101

pure artisanal oud oil

Nha Trang. The most revered region in all of oud. A small stretch of Vietnamese coastline that has produced some of the most legendary oils and the greatest specimens of agarwood and kinam the world has ever known.

This oil was distilled over a decade ago in the heart of Taiwan, where Vietnamese oud is treasured above all else. For Taiwanese collectors and distillers, Nha Trang sits at the very top, the ultimate region, the one that all others are measured against.

Capturing a kinam like aroma in an oil is a specialised craft known to very few distillers. It demands not only exceptional raw material but a deep understanding of the distillation process itself. The margin between success and failure is razor thin, and the results speak for themselves.

Great oud demands patience. We often learn to appreciate nuances months or even years after first acquiring an oil. Layers reveal themselves over time that we could not have recognised on the first application. This is what separates oud from traditional fragrance, the depth of the relationship between collector and oil.

The search for great oud begins not with descriptions or marketing but with conversations. The pursuit of the highest grade, the oldest and rarest oils known. Aroma is difficult to convey across words, languages and cultures. It is something that must be experienced and understood on its own terms.

Nha Trang 101 is a vintage collectible. This precious and limited oil was distilled from wood that is scarce today, material we would not even consider using for distillation now. The quality of wood used for oils in the past far eclipses what is generally available today. Were we to attempt to replicate these vintage distillations with equivalent material, the cost would easily be tenfold what they are now.

The opening is not overtly kinamic. Rather there are notes of fruits and honey, and whispering through them is a calming medicinal kinam like aroma, so beautifully composed that one cannot quite distinguish where the kinam stops and the fruits begin. As the oil settles, the kinamic notes shine through in what can best be described as a sweet kinamic dry down.

A vintage collectible. An oil to be experienced, collected, and understood over time.