‘Borneo 3000 is the scent that shattered all notions of what oud was. You might have been around back when oud meant rotting leather, sheep droppings, and pungent barn. Come Borneo 3000, there was this sudden shine; this pristine, honey mint crystalline psychedelic scent that smelled like it could well be a controlled substance.
It’s just pure joy in a bottle. Sunshine through the treetops. Pristine beauty and bliss laced with honey and mint unlike you ever imagined could be experienced through human olfaction.
You don’t need to talk about the latest Malinau Supreme or Borneo Royale, Duchess, Duke or Baron, Prince or President, because Borneo 3000 has already effaced and raised to the ground the Borneo oud category. If you never smell a Borneo aside from 3000, all you’d miss out on is how those compare to this.
Where do you even begin with an oil like this? How do you describe the very smell of Malinau resin itself? How do you describe a scent sought out by anyone who’s heard of Borneo 3000?
We could talk about its otherworldly honey, punctuated with the most delectable cinnamon, laced with vanilla and spices, or its ethereal pollen-powdery fir-like heart.
I could tell you about the legendary raspberry sweetness that somehow got coaxed out of aloes. We could sit down and listen to the softest whisper of Malinauean vapor all night long.
But like the Sufis say: you can describe the taste of honey until you’re blue in the face. Taste it, and you will know.’ – Ensar Oud
For a comparison between 2004 and 2015 read the excellent piece from Adam Colburn that I copied below:
‘Within artisanal oud, every artist has their signature.
That distinguishing mark within the profile that tells you who distilled it.
Give two different chefs the same ingredients and the result will be two different flavors.
As you may know, the chef, the artist, that collaborated with Ensar for Borneo 3000 has passed on, and all that remains is his signature.
So too there will come an inevitable day, sooner or later, and we all hope for later, that all that’s left of Oriscent is the signature… As Sifu grows older still, the inevitable approaches. Within these families the secrets are taken to the grave, and their legacy is left only in the signature of their works.
Borneo 3000, 2004 was very dear to me, and is iconic to me as oud.
It was my gateway back to quality artisanal oud from a monotonous phase of my life.
The very man who named Borneo 3000, the esteemed Sheikh that selected Ensar for the mission of bringing back the very best oud in the world, had given me a bottle after I gifted him something worth far less… It’s a common practice of the Saintly to reciprocate a gift given with that which is more. Needless to say from the embarrassment of receiving such a valuable gift, I’ve never given another for fear of that which is more extravagant being sent my way.
Out of awe and appreciation of such a gift I only took two needlepoint dots from it one morning to celebrate the greater Eid. Knowing very little about this particular oud at the time, save that it was precious, I held onto the rest for a rainy day… that rainy day came fairly quickly in a monsoon of oud.
A certain collector caught wind my Borneo 3000 and gave me the equivalent of $3000 which I quickly turned into 10 or so different ouds; a tola of Oud Yusuf, three Thai Phalakas, two Oud Ilyas, and an Oud Shuyukh as memory serves me and at the time I was pretty happy because a single bottle yielded ten, and my collection expanded. That was in 2014 I believe 10 years after its distillation… Wow, how time flies!
From the newly acquired ouds none compared to Borneo 3000, of course knowing the regional variations and degrees of quality which wild oud affords it’s patently clear as to why.
However since immersing myself in Ensar Ouds I’ve experienced a number of other Borneos as well from wild sources which also differ greatly, and none until recently have had that same profile. None quite satiated that crave, there was one almost, but not quite…
From those I can recall, I’ve experienced Borneo 2000, Kaliman Kala, Bois de Borneo, Borneo 5000, Midori Qi, Kinamantan, Borneo 50k, White Kinam, Borneo Diesel and Sheikh’s Borneo, and undoubtedly more.
Each and every one of these oils was unique, and actually listing them has me realizing there’s a lot less overlap in their profiles then I once thought.
I personally perceive aromas by colors among other facets and though in reality each oud contains many hues and degrees of saturation of colors in general, I’ve charted the above as follows:
Again that’s kinda a huge generalization considering the different phases or scent evolution of some of the ouds, but the above is the overall profile.
For example Borneo 3000, 2015 the other day (April 6th, 2019) opened with an underlying streak of purple which was very alluring.
My observations were as follows:
My experience today, on a overcast day of about 17 degrees Celsius a couple occurrences of fox pee throughout the day
The application was very bright, loud volatile Borneo-Diesel like fumes opened up, but warm and rounded rather than sharp and piercing.
Today there’s a purple hue to the sunrise the warm oranges and yellows are ever-present. The purple today keeps me affixed to its fragrance, it’s one I mostly associate with steel cooked New Guinea oud, like that found in the undertones of Sultan Mustafa.
As the vapors subside the scent morphs into a sumptuous gourmand of semolina wheat, vanilla and creamy butter, textured and semi-sweet.
The cooler temperatures also reveal a distinctive yellow sourness, a pleasant tinge to the semi-sweetness.
1 hour in and the ethereal fumes morph into a heady red spalted oak. At this moment I was inspired to do a head to head with Borneo 50K as I found the similarities striking, although my initial perception is that Borneo 3000 has a more unified profile compared to the pristine distinct notes of Borneo 50k. I can imagine Borneo 3000 as water colors while Borneo 50K is acrylics.
2:30 minutes in: When walking outside the aroma is perceptible; the stimulating rush of a musky-powder note is most perceptible and very suitable for the drizzly Spring day. Throughout the afternoon the dry down gives off those notes that I so crave, the distinct, only found in Malinau equation of warm woods, vanilla and cinnamon, a familiar and satiating scent.
8 hours in after numerous washings the profile remains as a cinnamon tinged mighty oak with aldehydic metallic hues and raw silver.
This is why Borneo 3000, is the perfect oud for me: a single drop which is .01 grams, the equivalent to a dab or a drop from the tip of a plastic applicator, lasted all day. It’s excellent in every category, a sumptuous profile that is dynamic enough to retain my interest throughout the day with enough projection to personally enjoy and exceptional longevity on my skin.
As for comparisons to the 2004 Borneo 3000, well it’s as close to the Legendary profile as an oud can be and as soon as 2025 it’ll likely be valued as highly as the original, and will likely have taken its rightful place in history, only time will tell and it’s free to wait and see =)
Borneo 3000, 2015 is a living Legend, the legacy of a great artist, with his unmistakable signature. ‘ – Adam Colburn
ENSAR OUD