Love to Hate Oud / Hate to Love Oud

I have a love-hate relationship with oud/agarwood. Some of it, the really quality stuff, is exquisite. I'm sure I've written about this before, but it bears repeating as it is relevant to this post, about the time I was invited to an incense listening session with a former NPA student a few years ago. It was a semi-authentic Japanese ceremony where charcoal was buried in ash and a mica plate was set over the hot ash and wee -- and I do mean wee, like slivers -- of agarwood were placed on the mica and the little incense pot was passed from one hand to the next to be smelled. Or, rather, listened to. One little half a baby's pinky fingernail worth of agarwood, which I was later told cost a small fortune, was placed on the plate and the scent that came off was like the most exquisite antique sandalwood! It was creamy and buttery and it really took a lot of restraint not to gasp and blow the ash out of the burner when I caught the first whiff. I have never smelled any agarwood like it before or since. It changed as it burned, and most of those sandalwood notes burned off and left this deep, dark, slightly creamy, and definitive agarwood scent. It was a chameleon, that chip, and the scent lasted about 10 minutes on the charcoal but filled the space where we sat with this luscious halo of sandalwood and agarwood for much longer. 

What I love is its variety, much like anything else in natural perfumery, terroir means everything. I love its longevity. One tiny piece of agarwood (a whole baby's fingernail size) on an incense warmer set on low emits scent for 20 minutes or more, and then the residual scent lingers in the drapes and in clothes and hair, and on skin. As for oud oil, I love how long a tiny drop lasts on the skin, like, it goes all day long. If you put a drop on your collar, it remains until you wash the shirt. 

What I don't love is its rarity. How it is not sustainable. How scammers have taken the ball and run with this. I also don't love how low-quality agarwood and oud flood the market with high-quality prices attached. Unless you're purchasing yours from a supplier or dealer who knows their agarwood/oud, you're probably being ripped off. All of these factors make agarwood and oud the most expensive raw material in the world. I don't love how it drains the bank account. I don't love how smelling oud/agarwood becomes an addiction.

Some agarwood and oud smell like sh*t. Like actual sh*t, while others are indescribably gorgeous and fantastically alluring. Early on in my natural perfumery career, I was probably getting the sh*t stuff because I just didn't get what all of the hubbubs were about. Until that listening session happened, and it changed the game completely. I did have one lucky purchase on Ebay many, many years ago, of Vietnamese agarwood that I didn't pay a fortune for. It was authentic, and I tinctured it and I still have a small amount of it left. It is so dense that when it leaked from the bottle during a move, it left a permanent blackened varnish on the outside of the bottle. I didn't think much about it when I had it for the first 10 years because it smelled so much like dirty socks and valerian root, but lately, in the past few years, I've come to love it a bit as it has mellowed over time. 

Ouds of Note:

2019 Chan - Rising Phoenix

Tropical fruit, like mangoes and bananas, and florals, think jasmine sambac, kewra, davana, riding atop a civet-like animalic note. It's glossy and clean and lasts for ages. A tropical fruit bowl riding on a civet. 

2018 Bor Rai - Rising Phoenix

Nag champa and tropical fruit. Bananas and powdery soft incense. It persists. Sweeeeeeettt! 

If you like "delicate" oud oils, these two present that well. These are 100% wearable straight from the bottle. They are perfume, done and done. They're still oud, so don't expect them to NOT smell like something decaying brought up from the ground, because that's there too, but those notes are definitely in the background.

If you're wondering why you're getting so much about Rising Phoenix Perfume, it's because I was sent a dozen or so samples with one of my orders, and they merit some words. There are more of these on the horizon as I've got loads of samples to talk about from other suppliers of quality goods.