Black Kinam

Green, yellow, purple, white… —Black. Is it the scent profile, how bitter it is, how hard it numbs your tongue – if it numbs your tongue – the color of the oil, the color of the resin, the color of the kyen? Is it the texture, or the psychoactive effects on your mind? What makes kinam kinam? When, lifetimes ago, an extra-special strain of agarwood was first dubbed ‘kinam’ (or kyara), it was only the beginning. In fact, the wood in question didn’t even have to be agarwood! Those initial forays into a newfound… and exceptionally hard-to-find fragrance were exploratory. The descriptions were vague – ‘a little bitter, a little bit sweet’ – because, like describing the taste of honey to one who has yet to taste it, the descriptions were almost irrelevant.  To grasp it at all, honey must be tasted. Kinam must be smelled. We’ve come a long way. Over the centuries, generations of scent-obsessed connoisseurs discovered, not new, but rather nuanced dimensions of what they knew as ‘kinam’. For some of the fragranauts, the term transcends terroir – kinam isn’t limited to Japan. And they noticed the wood had different hues, physically and scentually, which eventually brought us the different color grades you know today. Kinam was still kinam, but no longer just kinam. I’ve seen red oil kyara that was literally red in color. Green oil kyara that was green. Black oil that was black….. Where Kyara LTD and Nha Trang dived into the red and blue-green spectrums of kyara and White Kinam shoots for the bright, this perfume goes noir.  Imagine the signature less-sour, more-saccharine profile of black kinam oozing out of and into and over and under a flush of ripe figs and wet mangoes topped with a splash of petitgrain and crushed black pepper. Tobacco in the air. Oakmoss on the trees as wafts of brewed coffee blow by.  I put together a marriage of (sticky) cypress and (even stickier) immortelle, imbued that with cade, and then injected the melange with the potent noir power of one of my most prized and irreplaceable ouds: Black Kinam.  The oleo-oudiness of raw black Malinau agarwood resin, the exalting zest of Vietnamese musk, and the salty sheen of vintage black ambergris that make up the carrier not only complements the majestic BK oud, it also gives the oud a diffusive boost when you take a spritz. If you’ve never gotten your nose wet, your head spiked, your olfactory mashed up in order to reveal a scent you never knew existed, then this sure is a spritz that’ll paint it all with K’s black. Limited. Featured Testimonials… Black Kinam is pure mystery in a bottle. It hits you straight away with a dark wave of rich oud, wrapped in smoky tobacco leaves and cool, green cypress. There’s a fizzy green bite from the juniper that keeps it sharp, while deep musky undertones add this second-skin vibe that’s oily, warm, and addictive… It shares a secret thread with Oud Rex – that same elusive, addictive note that makes you wanna keep sniffing. It’s complex, astringent, powdery, and yet somehow sweet and musky too. Just one spray clings to the skin for hours, morphing slowly into a darker, richer version of itself over time… —Thomas W / Germany Amazing scent, dark oud notes, sweet fizzy vibes paired with green notes and a musky finish. There’s one thing about this perfume that reminds me of oud Rex, I don’t know what it is but it has that same note that I love so much in oud Rex. Tbh I’ve expected something completely different but I’ve been surprised by how good this creation smells. It’s hard to find words to describe the notes, the entire composition is quite complex and very deep. I also like that the label isn’t white like it was shown on the website, the chrome optic looks quite nice (but I was such an act to get a decent picture without any reflections). One spray on the arm lasted almost the entire day, which is a very good sign. Black kinam is such a mysterious scent, I’m looking forward to seeing how this one will be in a few weeks or months. But the first impression was very good. It’s still hard to find words for the black kinam, it smells completely different from my first try but I still love that scent. It definetly needs some time to macerate properly until it can unfold its full beauty. I really like how the dark/sweet oudy notes interact with the even darker green (vetiver?) notes. Some notes of that scent remind me of a smell that I knew but I just can’t figure out which one it is. I can just repeat what I’ve said in my first impression, black kinam is such a mysterious scent. I’m really looking forward to see how this perfume smells in a few months. For now I’m enjoying the wafts of black kinam and burn some sinking Brunei kynam incense. I remember when I’ve got it last year and even I wasn’t too sure if this is a keeper or not so I’ve decided to let it sit for a while and give it a chance… and it was the right choice. To be honest I’m having quite a hard time to explain this scent in detail but I can tell you that this perfume is a great composition if you love heavy doses of oud, vetiver and tobacco. It’s a very green (vetiver-heavy) and dark oudy scent that has hints of black pepper and coffee. Sweet notes of Musk are supporting the composition but the focus is indeed on the oud. I haven’t tried real black kinam only organic black kynam but it helped me to understand what this perfume is trying to show you. Black Kinam is a very heavy and masculine scent in my opinion and I think now after a year has passed, many of the people who sold it immediately would like this scent a lot. —Chis A / Germany Dark – Tobacco – Resin – Astringent – Bitter – Powdery – Diesel – Kinamic Bomb —Travis H / USA