This is not an oil...
It is an odyssey...
An odyssey that began years ago, when we set ourselves the impossible task of capturing Brunei’s wild heart in a bottle.
In 2019, when the world seemed to close its doors, we opened a new chapter. Our vision was clear: distill an oil from Brunei agarwood unlike anything that had come before. But the path? Anything but easy.
Every attempt seemed cursed. Apparatus shattered mid-run. Woods delayed for months. Floods that destroyed what little we had secured. The shadows of Covid draped themselves over everything in 2020. Logistics challenges. Time and again, we thought the dream was lost.
Yet there is something about Brunei that refuses to be ordinary. The land itself resists. Ask anyone in the agarwood circles, and they will tell you: Brunei woods are amongst the most elusive in the world. To get them at all is difficult. To get them at this grade is near impossible.
And still.....we persisted. Piece by piece, over a year and more, we gathered. We endured. We fought. Finally shipped overseas and boom!
when the fire was finally lit, the odyssey found its crown.
The image chosen for this release is not decorative. It is destiny.
It is a fragment of my own journey. In 2012, I went to China as per my Shifu's instructions….
Hold on hold on... my "Tai Chi Chuan" Shifu, just to be clear.
I visited some places in the first week in China, then headed off to Hubei/ Wudang Mountains. My destination was the Taoist temple and kung fu school of my Shifu's Lineage. It was one unforgettable month. and that was that.
This photograph, however, captures the bronze Guardian Lion standing sentinel before the Hall of Mental Cultivation in Beijing’s Forbidden City.
The symbolism is perfect:
The Forbidden City itself...once closed to the public, a fortress of exclusivity.....mirrors the inaccessibility of Brunei agarwood.
A world within a world, sealed, impenetrable, attainable only through persistence and privilege.
The Guardian Lion, carved in bronze, embodies magnificence, protection, and might. It is regal, immovable, untamed. Just like this oil.
This was no accident. Every release at The Oud Lab carries meaning, but Nitro Brunei demanded more. It demanded a symbol worthy of its own odyssey.
When at last the stills sang, what came forth was not simply "an oil",...it was fire harnessed, bottled, and crowned.
Distilled in 2021 with woods painstakingly curated, the yield was low...very low... But what little came was the output of distilling with precision, aging with patience, and guarding with reverence. No shortcuts. No compromises. Only the absolute.
This oil carries no soaking notes, no harshness, no off tones. Instead, it offers crystallized clarity... so rare it feels impossible. An oil so pure, it could only be the result of blood, sweat, tears, and relentless pursuit.
The Profile?
Swipe, and the story begins...
If Borneo Kin was "Vanilla Honey Incense" , & Silani OG was "Cannabis Honey Incense", Nitro Brunei is what I would call "Iris Honey Incense".
Almost all top grade ultra clean distillations reward you with that nose brain numbness factor, but their character shines in those auxiliary notes that they emit. The Irisy note is very refined and it gives this oil this magnificent unique character.
Swipe it and you'll be met with a detonation of nitro-blast of ultra-clean terpenes that seize the senses, hitting every receptor with surgical precision. with the Iris/Orris medicinal earthy aspect in the background. A sparkling array of sweet woody brightness, flashes of refreshing hints of green that tickle the nostrils with life.
The heart? Honeyed jasmine incense rises, perfumy, intoxicating, yet impossibly clean....an incense cloud with no weight, no shadow.
Base? a woody perfumey depth that anchors it all, smooth, unbroken, and infinite. Pure beauty without stain.
Each layer unfolds not in chaos, but in orchestration...like a symphony where every note is perfectly tuned.
This is Brunei distilled into majesty.
Mighty, commanding & unforgettable.
What makes a legend? Is it the rarity of the material, the hardship of the journey, or the magnificence of the result?
Nitro Brunei has all three.
It is "Yūgen" captured.......mystery, depth, and beauty beyond words.
A 2021 Distillation. Aged with patience. Perfected with time.
The yield? Painfully low. The caliber? Beyond measure. This is not an oil that can ever be replicated. Each drop is a fragment of an odyssey, a chapter of history, a lion’s roar distilled into essence.
To own Nitro Brunei is not to purchase a perfume.
It is to inherit a story.
A struggle.
A triumph.
It is to hold a fragment of the Forbidden.