Ensar Oud Samples: Where to Start With Real Oud, Musk and Ambergris

Cinnamon and honey, then tea gone earthy, then the thing you came for: raw deer musk warming over smoky Indian and Thai oud. That is Mongolian Musk, the door into Ensar Oud, poured by the 1 ml. Every sample after it goes further into the material, and this is the order to take them in.

The house in one paragraph

Ensar Oud is one of the few houses on our shelf where the material is the perfume. The house works out of New York, distils its own oud and builds on aged agarwood, ambergris and deer musk; its perfumer, it says, has spent more than twenty years chasing rare agarwood. The bottles cost what the materials cost. We pour five of its perfumes to order in the Ensar Oud decants.

Start here: Mongolian Musk

The house pictures a deer under a tree on an early autumn day. On skin it is dark tea sweetened with honey and spiced with cinnamon. Then the musk pod of the male musk deer, warm and faintly sweet, drying to clean skin over sandalwood and oud. Our real musk guide keeps it for cold evenings. Mongolian Musk is our lowest-priced Ensar Oud.

The louder animal: EO2 Tonkin

EO2 Tonkin starts warm on pepper and cumin. Rose and jasmine follow, pulled off-centre by civet and spice, pulse-warm on skin. The base is Tonkin musk, black and sticky after more than half a century in a sultan's vault, over castoreum from the beaver and wild Kepi agarwood from New Guinea. The opening can feel wrong; wear it through the day anyway.

Three ouds, gentle to top grade

Borneo Trifecta puts three vintage deer musks, Tonkin, Tibetan and Mongolian, over aged Terengganu, Kelantan and Tigerwood ouds, a decade-aged Irian Jaya oil and Mysore sandalwood. It opens on a high note Ensar named Jasmarine, familiar and hard to place, then honeysuckle, jasmine and rose bloom slowly into resinous cream, with a citrus hum that is neither lemon nor orange running beneath it all. The softest wearer here, and an easy first lesson in the real oil our oud guide sets apart from accords.

Blue Kalbar gathers twenty materials around Thai blue lotus, among them vintage Mysore sandalwood; roughly three tonnes of the flowers yield one kilogram of absolute. Blue cypress and lavender open it cold. Two ouds, civet and ambergris settle it as close to skin as skin itself. Save it for a date.

Kyara de Kalbar is the education: kyara is the highest grade of agarwood, distilled here from Brunei kyara that commands thousands of dollars a kilogram. Black grape and persimmon flicker briefly at the open, then blue lotus floats over powdery orris. Three ouds close it with no smoke, only the bitter-sweet kinamic bite collectors use to identify the grade.

The numbers, and which sample to start with

The bands are our own longevity index. A sixth, Musk Yusuf, is sold out at this writing; for the house's deer musk today, Mongolian Musk is the one to pour.

A day's wear takes one or two applications, and by our own spray count 1 ml holds 10 to 14. Give it the full day; the drydown is where the money went.

Start with 1 ml of Mongolian Musk. If the musk held you, add EO2 Tonkin; if the oud did, add Kyara de Kalbar. Then buy more of the one you finish first, in the Ensar Oud decants.

Frequently asked questions

Which Ensar Oud sample should I try first?

Mongolian Musk. Honeyed cinnamon over pu-erh tea, then real deer musk over smoky oud. It is our lowest-priced Ensar Oud, poured from 1 ml.

What does Ensar Oud smell like?

Like the materials themselves. The ouds are distilled agarwood: smoke, old timber, a bitter-sweet bite in the kyara grade. The musk is the pod of the male musk deer, warm and animal, drying to clean skin. In Blue Kalbar the ambergris, passed by the sperm whale and cured at sea, smells of salt air turning warm close to the skin.

How long does Ensar Oud last on skin?

On our longevity index, EO2 Tonkin is logged at 10 to 12 hours, strong. Mongolian Musk and Kyara de Kalbar sit at 8 to 10 hours, strong, and Blue Kalbar at 8 to 10 hours, moderate. Borneo Trifecta is the softest, logged at 4 to 6 hours, moderate.

Where can I buy Ensar Oud samples?

The house sells full bottles and its own discovery sets. We pour single decants to order from bottles bought at full retail from the house, from 1 ml, sealed the day they ship and sent worldwide by DHL.

Is Ensar Oud unisex?

Yes. Every Ensar Oud we pour is listed as unisex. Most suit evening; Blue Kalbar suits a casual day or a date.