Pictured: Kyara bracelet. Price: $175,000. Market: China. 2011 is the year that saw the Oud tycoons of Singapore fly back to Jeddah and Kuwait to re-buy any and all Oud wood they’d previously sold to Arabs, so they could fly it back to the Far East and re-sell it to the Chinese…. Everything’s gone haywire […]
Tag Archives: imprt
How long have you been in the oud “business” (or maybe it’s more of a calling)? How did you get started in scent in general, and oud in particular? How has it been catching on in the West? I contracted my Oud crave back in 2004, when I started attending the mystical gatherings of the […]
The phrase “art is anal” does not refer to anything other than the “anal” (i.e. fussily obsessive; compulsively perfectionistic) nature of all true artists who will not settle for anything but that which transcends all convention, always re-defining perfection; always setting a new standard. To me “art is anal” is a perfect description of “artisanal” […]
Oud collectors have been waiting since 2004 for us to launch a Cambodian Oud. They have complained to me in person and in public about my reluctance to launch a ‘Cambodi’ on Oriscent. This whole time, I have maintained that the so-called Cambodi oils that are marketed by the Khaliji Oud conglomerates tell the story […]
Thanks to the recent popularity of aromatherapy in the West, we now have a very clear sense of essential oils and their various uses. We know what an essential oil is, and what it is not. If someone says, “I put some lavender oil on my neck to help me relax,” we know she means […]
If you’re a seasoned connoisseur who won’t wear anything but Indian Oud, no. In your book, Indian Oud is ‘Oud’ and ‘Oud’ is ‘Indian Oud.’ Many agarwood maniacs will swear by what a newbie may term ‘fecal’ in Indian Oud. To the agarwood oil partisan, Oud is Indian – and the fecalness of Indian Oud […]
Dear friend, To quote one of my scent mentors’ words of advice to me when I first embarked on my Oudissey: In the end, your nose will educate you profoundly. You will not be able to bear the smell of anything compounded of synthetic chemicals. They will stick in your nose like glue and create […]
Some years back, I was experimenting with combinations of essential oils. This was partly from simple curiosity and partly from the enjoyment of the various fragrances. I had narrowed my supplier down to one company in California which was justifiably known as the best source for high-quality essential oils. One day on their web site, […]
There are two types of Oud in the dunya. There’s the so-called ‘oud’ of the auction and bazaar websites, which consists of low-grade agarwood oils diluted with DOP (dioctyl phthalate) and other highly toxic chemicals. This oil is known by its harsh leathery aroma, lack of coherence, linearity, utter lack of a spiritual dimension, and […]
One thing I’d like to bring to everybody’s attention is the importance of the origin of the oud oil you are buying. Every time you decide to buy an oud, you should ask yourself the following question: “Where – exactly – did the agarwood that was used to make this oil originate?” And if you […]