Modhesh

God! I was had never been as excited about an Oudh oil that was only 6 months old as I was for Modhesh when we first released it in 2020, as a young 6 month old oil. You can only imagine now how good Modhesh has become after 4 years.

I vividly remember leaving this young gun to age and whilst I normally wouldn’t touch an Oil for at least a year this bottle happened to be placed in front of some other bottles I was trying to reach. As I shifted this Oil out of the way I was suddenly tempted to see how it is developing and lo and behold! I was bedazzled. Based on this surprise I chose to name this gem MODHESH, meaning strikingly wonderful in Arabic – I truly was struck with wonder.

I have to wind back a little to share the journey of this particular Oil with you; some 4 years ago we distilled some Oils in Kalimantan and after shipping our stock we realised half of our oils had been forgotten. What a different story it would have been if we never realised! After lots of calling around we located where they were and had them sent immediately to us via DHL right in the middle of all of the Covid-19 drama. Thinking about it now, this beast had so much going on right from its distillation down to its final curing.

From the jungles of Malinau, MODHESH was one of the final distillations we planned on doing before closing for the rainy season. In all honesty, nothing initially stood out about this distillation – the wood used was the last layer of incense shavings before the wood is finished for selling as incense wood. It was steam distilled using a system that is common to the early sandalwood distillations in India; a pot filled with water boiling producing steam that is piped into another chamber from the top blowing down, with the oil and distillate trickling down into the cooler beneath the biomatter chamber. Whilst the distillation was like any other distillation the results were remarkable.

When MODHESH was 6 months old it greeted you with a storm of spicey oudh, now 4 years on it greets with intoxicating oudhiness that is slightly aniseed and labdanum. Let’s be clear there is a lot of class that has developed in this oil over the past 4 years. Modhesh has matured into a classic clean leather fragrance, the type of scent that the Italian Mafia would wear if they were from Arabia. Modhesh has class, with that little hint that there is a beast under the chic outfit. It has projection. It has silage and it has an Oudhy kick right at the top which is generally expected at the bottom. Touches of that dark resinous notes, bamboo shoots and a bitter camphoric note that meets an incredible deep green note, nearly chocolate bitter but not quite. The image MODHESH conjures now is that of a suited made man, classy, cultured, balanced but a beast at heart.

If you are one of those people who just cannot get enough Oudh oomph and are beginning to get bored of Oudh then MODHESH is going to ignite your senses in a way nothing has before.

Rediscover Oudh, all over again, with MODHESH, 4 years on.