The natural fragrance wood

Oud or agarwood is a very rare natural fragrance that is diminishing rapidly from forests that once used to have abundant agarwood trees, and their rarity has driven people to come up with various cheating techniques.

Cheating is found at all levels: the wood supplier, the distiller, the wholesaler, and the retailer. We will go over some of the common techniques below.

Cheating Practiced with Oud Oils

1. Mixing oud oils from different origins

It is common practice to add oils from less popular regions to oils from regions that are highly sought after, like India or Cambodia. The resulting oil is then sold as ‘Indian oud’ or ‘Cambodian oud’ to the uninformed buyer.

2. Mixing oud oils of different qualities

A higher quality agarwood oil will also be mixed with a lower quality oil to decrease the total cost, and will then be sold as as high quality oil.

3. Mixing oud oils with adulterants

This is the most common of all cheating techniques, and occurs in 99% of cases.. Extremely foul-smelling low grade oud oils are spiked and tamed with essential oils like vetiver or fennel oil. The use of synthetic perfumes is not uncommon. Almond oil, DPG and glycerin are used to stretch the oud oil, and some distillers even use a certain type of synthetic glycerin which is harder to detect, to stretch the oil. Certain powders are used in the distillation process itself to make the oil thicker, which a lot of people incorrectly think is an indication of quality.

Cheating Practiced with Oud Wood

1. Using wood other than Oud

In Indonesia, one of the most common cheating techniques employed is selling Bouya or other wood under the guise of agarwood. It is painted dark brown or black and some oud oil is smeared onto it which bubbles when placed on a lit coal.. This gives the unaware novice the impression that it is real oud, and that the bubbling is the resin being release due to the heat. An easy way to find out if this has been done is by breaking a chip in half and comparing the color inside to the color on the surface. ‘Black magic wood’ is a particularly outrageous technique, where someone will go to the extent of injecting aromatic substances into the wood. This clever technique ensures that the fragrance as well as the color penetrate deep into the wood’s fibers.

2. Inserting foreign objects into the wood

This makes the wood heavier, and the uninformed buyer will think that the weight is due to the abundance of resin. Lead, sand, and various other things are used to make wood feel heavier than it is.

3. Incorrect grading of wood

One of the main weaknesses I witnessed in the Arabian oud market is the complete lack of knowledge of proper grading of oud. Everything is put into one of three categories: regular, super, and double-super. The Western oud market is even less exposed to the world of oud wood, since wood chips are still nowhere near as popular as oud oil. I have seen wood that is black magic wood, or B-grade some other lower grades, being sold as A-grade or ‘First Grade’ or with other names denoting quality. ‘Singer oil’ (a sewing machine lubricant) and other substances are commonly used to darken wood chips, to make them appear darker and more resinous than they really are.

In reality, there are approximately 14 grades, and each grade has tell-tale signs. Most of what is being sold is over-graded and in most cases, wood chips of an inferior grade are mixed in with a superior grade of wood to increase the quantity of the latter. This occurs at all levels of the supply chain.

4. Mislabeling of wood

Indian and Cambodian oud have traditionally been the two most common ouds exported to the Arabian oud market, and have thus acquired a reputation. This is why oud from other countries is commonly sold as “Oud Cambodi” or “Oud Hindi”, given the demand that exists for these two particular varieties. Thai wood, as an example, is often sold as Cambodian oud. Low grade Indonesian wood is regularly exported, adulterated and then sold as anything but itself.

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Know your Oud

Amidst the hustle and bustle of the Oud world and the fuss created by certain people who barely have had a decade of experience in the Oud business, dissing the traditionalist Oud companies of the East and giving out Oud misinformation to the lesser informed fine consumers of the West, we thought a line has to be drawn, quickly, before this ancient knowledge is polluted and tainted. It is the intention of this blog to frankly educate consumers regarding Oud.

There are a few things you should consider when buying Oud, especially Oud woods and chips. A couple of important questions you should ask before purchasing are the following:

1. Is the Oud wild or cultivated (farm Oud)?
2. Is it treated superficially to enhance its grade?

Many of the Oud that is readily available nowadays in retail stores, especially in the Middle East and elsewhere, claim to have stock of only the best and quality Oud wood for their consumers. But a visit to these stores by experienced Oud veterans would uncover the true nature of these products.

Retailers have the tendency to glaze their Oud in order to enhance its grade. This is due to the simple fact that it is not practical to provide wild premium grade Oud to meet high general consumer demands. The wild premium grade Oud wood,, being touted as ‘rare’ and costly as it is currently, is sold only to VIP customers and is seldom stocked in normal retail shops.

We had a chance to visit one Middle Eastern top fragrance company, based in Riyadh. The usual Oud woods they had on display in their Oud vaults in the stores are exactly like the picture you see here, glazed and glossy. A feel of them would quickly tell you these are either farmed Oud or entry level grade due to their light weight. These Oud also exhibit an artificially strong aroma, like those from Oud oils, due to being smeared with lower grade diluted Oud oil to enhance their scent. From experience, we know that wild Oud does not exhibit a very glazed appearance. Quality wild Oud that exhibits scent has a distinct wood scent profile that differs from agarwood or aloeswood essential oils.

A further request by us to see their higher grade Oud was met with the manager opening up for us a hidden vault, behind what seemed like a cabinet near their sales counter. We were told that these are the most high end Oud they have in stock currently.. We were surprised to see the most premium Oud they have in stock are what our industry calls the ‘kacang’ grade. Small strips, broken pieces of medium to low grade Oud. These can be sourced very cheaply if they happen to get it from an agarwood plantation source. The difference in quality will only be apparent to you once you start the fumigation.

This, however, is not a true reflection of the general quality of this Middle Eastern company’s Oud products. We understand that, as one of the business methodologies of this particular company is to expand through franchising, a new store therefore generally will not carry high end products until after a few months of being in operation.

Though big perfumery companies may not stock excellent grade Oud in some of their new stores, this does not mean that these companies do not have premium Oud. We have noticed amateurs in the Oud world who like to think highly of themselves and their products, dismissing the authenticity and integrity of the bigwigs of Arabian perfumery companies. To cite that these big players of oriental perfumery which have decades of heritage and tradition do not have excellent or authentic grade Oud, or that all or most of their Oud oils are synthetics, are complete baseless remarks. We have first hand accounts of witnessing the procurement head of big companies like Abdul Samad Al Qureshi and Arabian Oud buying not kilos, but tonnes of wild Oud of all grades from a source whom we have affiliation with, all in one go.

The bulk of these great Oud, of course, would go to their high end customers including the Royalties, and the general Oud layman who patronizes their store once in a while for Oud, could possibly still be kept in the dark of what exactly are the scent notes of excellent Oud and the bliss they carry.

Oud is indeed part of the culture of the Middle East, but smart buyers would know that this ancient jewel of the forest does not originate from there, unlike the Frankincense. They would know where to get premium grade Oud that gives them the full measure of the price they are paying.

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Knows Oud Wood

What Is Oud?

It is a kind of valuable wood with good smell which is created inside the big oud trees because of the activity of some parasites.

Formation of Oud:

In some dense forests in the world, especially in the Indian peninsula and the south east of Asia, very big trees named Aquilaria trees have existed for thousands of years. These trees have the same exterior shape features as other trees, but their inside structure is different some how, since oud trees secrete inside their bark a substance which attracts a kind of parasites that feed on secretions produced by the oud trees in their internal bark, and then these parasites put its secretions out, thus making the oud wood.. Aquilaria is a genus of fifteen species of trees in the Thymelaeaceae, native to southeast Asia. They occur particularly in the rain forests of Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Northern India, the Philippines, Borneo and New Guinea. The trees grow to 6-20 m tall. The leaves are alternate, 5-11 cm long and 2-4 cm broad, with a short acuminate apex and an entire margin. The flowers are yellowish-green, produced in an umbel; the fruit is a woody capsule 2.5-3 cm long.

Age of Oud:

Studies carried out by scientists have shown that the age of oud goes back to Adam’s era (peace be upon him).. The studies have shown also that the oud tree started growing hundreds of years after Adam’s descending to the Earth (peace be upon him). The studies also proved that legend which says that when Adam (peace be upon him) was expelled out from heaven and covered himself with one of its leaves and descended to the Earth, that leaf dried because of the climatic factors on the Earth where its parts were scattered due to winds to the Indian sub continent and south east of Asia, and it began growing on the Earth through hundreds of years. Thus, it is absolutely impossible to grow once again the oud or to find its grains. It is a wonder that was finished forever.

Oud Homeland:

India is the original homeland of oud where it appeared for the first time, but it has started disappearing from it now. Oud can also be found in Cambodia, Viet-Nam, Laos, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. It is found in dense forests where it is dark even during the day. These forests are very large and Man has known them since the beginning of life.

Benefits of Oud:

The good smell which changes the odor of the atmosphere just after its spreading gives the spot more refreshment, more spirituality, and more natural fascinating scent. And, unlike other frankincense and perfumes, oud lasts for a long time.

Reasons of Oud High Price:

It is known to everyone that forests are a milieu which contains various kinds and types of animals which live in harmony within this milieu. It is its homeland, especially predators which are the most dangerous ones in the world. These hard forests include most of the oud trees.

In these conditions, groups of neighbouring villagers prepare themselves and their tools to go on a trip to these forests. The aim of such trips is to search for oud trees and to extract oud wood from them for sale. In each trip, about 100 persons go out in this hard adventure. It should be noted that the survivals of each trip who return with oud wood is less than 25 persons in hard conditions.

Oud Quality:

There are many kinds of oud wood, and each kind has its own characteristics. Also, each kind has its own methods to know its quality, but there are many ways that characterize the good oud whatsoever its various kinds are.

The good oud tastes very bitter, and the more bitter it is, the more good quality it is. The color of oud (in general) is unified in its interior and exterior parts. If the colour is not the same, this means that the oud is painted, and cannot be called oud. The internal knots (stems) of the good oud are unified with its external knots, and the more the unification is visible, the better the quality of oud is.

There are various methods to know the good quality of oud which differs from one kind to another as mentioned before. The Cambodian oud has its own methods to know its quality, and so has the Indian.

Benefits of Oud Oil:

Oud oil is not less beneficial than oud wood, since one is the origin of the other. Oud oil can be easily transported and does need heat energy to be used like frankincense. Its strong fragrance stays on clothes for a long period of time and fills the atmosphere with a nice smell that dispels all the other odors around it. The oud oil is also used in the treatment of some diseases after mixing it with raw ambergris and musk of deer.

Reasons for the High Price of Oud Oil:

The high price of oud oil is due to the high price of oud wood. Indeed, oud wood itself is very expensive because of the reasons already mentioned. Moreover, 0.25 to 0.75 Tullas; that is, 3 to 9 grams of oud oil can be extracted from one kilogram of oud wood, depending on the quality of oud wood.

Oud Oil Quality:

The oud oil of high quality is characterized by its long duration on the skin in normal conditions. The scent of oud oil can stay on skin for a period ranging from 3 to 8 hours, depending on the quality of oud. It should be noted that the best and the highest quality of oud oil can not stay for more than 8 hours on skin in normal conditions, but can stay longer on clothes.

The scent of high quality oud oil does not appear at once, since its beginning is unpleasant, but after a short time of its use, its nice and strong scent starts smelling.

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The Oud Fragrance Mania

In the last couple of years, there has been a proliferation of oud-based fragrances on the market. Everyone from mass market players like Armani and Dior to hard-to-find niche brands like by Killian and Heeley have released an oud fragrance. Oud or agarwood is a resin derived from the Acquilaria and Gyrinops trees native to Southeast Asia. When the heart of the tree becomes infected with a particular type of fungus, it starts rotting and emits a unique resinous-woody smell.

 

Traditionally, oud has been used in middle eastern perfumery for many centuries, but it never really made it big in the Western markets until recently. The trend we are observing isn’t a renaissance of the middle eastern perfumery. It is really driven by Western perfume houses taking the traditional oud element and transforming it into fragrances that are more appealing to the Western markets. We suspect that oud craze is also driven by the discovery of a good synthetic molecule replicating the smell of natural oud, which makes the production of good quality oud fragrances cheaper. For the record, natural oud is extremely expensive and very few perfumes on the market have the real thing.

Since the oud seems to be the hot new thing on the fragrance counter we selected some of the more popular ones you may want to try:

Jo Malone: Oud & Bergamot

 

Joe Malone came out with its Intense Cologne series in 2011 featuring Oud & Bergamot. It opens up with bergamot, lemon and oud notes, which do not change much in the later stages of development. The oud note is slightly sweet with a nuance of smokiness. Don’t let the smokiness part turn you off though. Oud & Bergamot is probably one of the most mainstream oud fragrances on the market. Don’t get spray-happy with this one as the projection is quite strong and you can easily overdo it.

Creed: Royal Oud

 

Apparently, Royal Oud was a present Creed made to Prince William and Princess Kate during their stay at Santa Barbara Polo Club. If you believe Creed’s advertising, which you should not,, Royal Oud is sensual and luxurious like the lives in the Parisian and Persian palace. We get the Parisian part, we giggled at the Persian one as Royal Oud has un-Persian as it can get. There is nothing in the composition and ingredients of Royal Oud that even remotely suggests Persian perfumery.

Royal Oud is not bad but it is a “me too” oud fragrance: it’s a one-toe-in-the-water attempt to ride the trend while keeping the core audience happy. The results are pleasant but unimpressive.

Tom Ford: Private Blend Oud Wood

 

Oud Wood is an authentic interpretation of oud and therefore it takes some getting used to. It opens up with solid smoky oud that has medicinal notes to it. It melts into the skin and stays close to it.. The vanilla and tonka beans notes start to emerge in the heart and base without making the fragrance too sweet. Oud Wood is a pleasant experience, especially if you want to take a walk on the strange side.

By Kilian: The Arabian Nights Series

 

By Kilian has a whole line of oud-inspired fragrances called Arabian Nights. By Kilian’s interpretation is closest to the original Arabian oud fragrance. To our knowledge all four fragrances in the line use the classic combination of oud and rose. Our favourite is Incense Oud, which is very smoky and dry. Pure Oud is another great creation in the line and is meant to interpret the smell of burning oud.

Arabian Nights are definitely for the more adventurous, so definitely try before you buy.

Byredo: Oud Immortel

 

In 2010 the Swedish niche house Byredo released their own oud fragrance – Oud Immortel. It is a mix of incense, papyrus, rosewood and tobacco. As if it was late for the party Byredo decided to go for an overkill and released another oud-centered fragrance. They creatively called it Accord Oud.

Oud Immortel is a fragrance with powdery dry characteristics. The mix of rosewood, incense and oud contributes to its dry character. Oud Immortel is fairly linear and subdues quickly. Not a bad choice if you are a fan of rosewood fragrances and would like something with an interesting touch.

Now that you have the scoop on the good and bad stuff on the oud interpretations, you can spray away. Let us know what you favourite oud fragrance is and we’ll definitely tell you what we think about it.

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Scent Notes: Oud

In the last several years oud has become very popular in mass market and niche fragrances. I did some research on oud and how it is used in perfumes nowadays and here is what I found out:

Sourcing Natural Oud

Oud (a.k.a. agarwood, oudh, aoud) is formed when the heartwood of Aquilaria and Gyrinops trees get infected with a dark-walled fungus (Phaeoacremonium parasitica). The infected tree releases a resin in the process of protecting itself from the fungus. This resin emits a very complex and distinctive smell, which we call today oud or agarwood.

Agarwood can be produced only from eight of the fifteen species of Aquilaria. Those 8 species are traditionally found in India, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea.. Naturally, under 10% of the trees in a Aquilaria forest would get infected with the fungus and produce oud. A common method to get higher output is to infect all trees with the fungus. Over-harvesting of the oud-producing species of Aquilaria in the last 30 years has kept the production low and the price high.

The essential oil from agarwood is usually produced through a hydro-distillation process. The raw material boils in water, the mixture of steam and essential oils goes through a condenser and finally the essential oil is separated from the water.. Another popular way to extract oud essential oils is through CO2 distillation.

Traditional Use

Agarwood has been traditionally used for religious and spiritual practices in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Nowadays, oud continues to be a staple in many traditional Arabic and Middle Eastern perfumes. Oud attars, essential oil mixes and incense are still used in many Arabic and Middle Eastern countries. Unlike the perfumes sold in the West, the traditional Middle Eastern fragrances contain a much higher concentration of essential oils and therefore last much longer on the skin.

High quality oud has a buttery, sometimes medicinal smell. It is usually used as a base note. The complex structure of its molecule makes it last longer and stay closer to the skin. In traditional Arabic and Middle Eastern perfumer oud is often combined with rose, myrrh, amber and incense. This seems to be the pattern followed by many Western niche houses too.

Contemporary Use

Nowadays, natural oud is rarely used in perfumery. Due to over-harvesting and the labourious process collecting the raw material, it is not feasible to use natural oud for mass market perfumery. Most fragrances on the market contain synthetic materials to replicate the natural oud scent. Vir Sanghvi (virsangvi.com) says that Firmenich’s Oud Synthetic 10760E is used in most oud fragrances on the mass market. Givaudan also has its own version of an oud synthetic. Elena Vosnaki (perfumeshrine.blogspot.ca) says that Oud Wood by Tom Ford is made with Givaudan’s Agarwood Arpur. Bond No. 9 New York Oud also contains the same synthetic.

Because the natural oud molecule is very complex, the synthetic oud molecules cannot replicate 100% of its nuances. This is not a necessarily a bad thing as the perfumer may want a certain note of the oud smell present and avoid another, which may not work well in the mix. For example, Royal Oud by Creed does not have the medicinal part of the natural oud, which makes it an easy sell to the core Creed market. Consumers not used to the full aspect of the natural oud smell may find it too weird or strange. This is why in many cases, stripping certain aspects of the scent may make sense from a marketing point of view.

Considering that most high-end oud fragrances on the market are made with synthetic oud molecules, I can’t help but wonder why their prices are so high. Francis Kurkjian’s Oud, for example, sells for about $300. This is a higher price point than some of the other fragrances in his line. Oud & Bergamot by Jo Malone was released as part of a special line, which is sold at a higher price than the regular fragrances.

The only way to know for sure what drives the higher price points for niche oud fragrances is to ask their creators. Unfortunately, even if we ask, chances are that we’ll either get the standard PR spiel about using all natural ingredients or we will be graced with no response. Some reasons why high-end oud fragrances are more expensive may be:

• They still may contain traces of natural oud;
• They may contain other naturals, which drive the price up;
• It is a marketing ploy: if the price of an oud fragrance is significantly higher, it must be for a reason and probably that reason is that it contains a very expensive natural harvested by barefoot virgins in the remote forests of Laos. This is at least what the marketing department would want you to think.

After all, the logic of higher price-higher quality is not that flawed. Good synthetics usually cost good money, so the cost of production may be higher after all even though it may not be high enough to command a double price.

Despite the higher prices for high-end oud fragrances, the oud trend in perfumery has taken a hold of the market in the last several years. Every major and niche label from Dior to Byredo has released at least one oud-based perfume, many more than one. Even though virtually all oud fragrances on the market contain a synthetic oud molecule, many of them smell great are a definitely worth the higher price.

What do you think?

What is your favourite oud fragrance?

Does it put you off that most oud fragrances use a synthetic and still charge premium prices?

More oud-based fragrances?

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Burning Agarwood

Actually there is no special way to burn aloes wood (agarwood) you only needs charcoal that have been burnt until it is red, then place the Agarwood over the charcoal which would you burn.

But there is also a unique way, some people do something else in burning aloes wood (agarwood), there is little difference, that is, before the aloes wood (agarwood) is placed above the charcoal,, they put aloes wood (agarwood) into their mouths, suck the small chips of aloeswood that they will burn, not a big piece of aloes wood (agarwood), the point is, they dampen the aloes wood with saliva, so that if you burn it over charcoal, then the wood will burned slightly – by little, burn longer than wood that has not dampened.

If you put aloe dried over charcoal, charcoal will directly burn the wood immediately, if the wood was wet, it will not directly burned, the wood will burn longer.

I do not teach you dirty, you can use the water, without need to use saliva, you just dip in water, then sprinkle and place it over charcoal.

Tips of burning Agarwood

When burning Oud wood chips, it is always better to burn it ‘clean’ on a mica plate that can commonly be found for burning incense. This will ensure that you get a ‘cleaner’ scent out of your burned Oud wood, as burning on coal requires that you not prepare the coal too hot, lest you will have some ‘coal scent notes’ together with your Oud wood scent during fumigation.

The best way to optimally heat up the coal is not through the stove but rather by a blowtorch lighter you can get for lighting up cigars. Just aim to torch the far sides of the 4 sided squarish coal instead of the middle part of it, and immediately place your Oud chip on the middle spot once you have done lighting. The heat from the sides will slowly move up to the middle of the coal and will give the slow burning effect on your Oud. The scent will be longer lasting and better smelling (without the coal notes) this way. The traditional way of burning is with a burner and coal and that is how we like to do it.

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