Sandalwood 2
I am in a smoky backroom of some sort of shop in Mysore, India, and the guy who just welcomed me and first tried to sell me Cannabis shows me a greasy plastic bottle that is about a third full with a slightly yellowish oil. He opens it and lets me smell it. It does smell remotely like Sandalwood, but mostly pungent and unpleasant.
I am sure it is a cheap synthetic Sandalwood oil. He turns the closed bottle on its head and shows me how the remaining oil drips from the bottom of the bottle, as proof that the oil is genuine. I am sure he is pretty high.
Pretty soon I leave the shop again and am back on the roads of Mysore. Almost a month later, while watching a video comparing different Sandalwood oils, I finally realize that the only company that sells genuine Sandalwood oil in Mysore is Karnataka Soap & Detergent Limited, run by the Karnataka government.
It was also only then that I learned that Sandalwood oil is supposed to smell very calm, caramel toasty creamy vanilla woody.
And KSDL actually sells 2 ml of Sandalwood oil for around 30€. But by the moment I reach the shop, they tell me that just two days ago they sold out of this years batch.