Aquilaria malaccensis
Oud
Aura
Majestic, Anointed & Resinous
Scarcity
Sacred
~ Up to ÂŁ100,000 for 1kg of True first-grade Agarwood Oil
Longevity
A base note of rare power that clings with dark endurance.
Originated
In the shadowed jungles of Assam, carried by envoys to distant Arabian temples…
Oud is perfumery’s black gold - a treasure born of decay, when the wounded heartwood of the agar tree darkens and weeps its rare resin. For centuries it has perfumed temples, fuelled empires, and been traded like contraband. Worshipped yet forbidden it's story is steeped in myth, secrecy, and desire - what lies behind it is stranger than its smoke…
"From wounded wood, a blackened tree bleeds its incense into eternity"
"Heartwood of the gods"
What Does Oud Smell Like in Perfume?
Oud lingers like smoke from ancient wood - dense and resinous, dark as charred leather and thick as honey. It carries the primal heat of a smouldering bonfire in a forgotten jungle temple, and an earthiness as though the ground itself is exhaling. Within its depths, a heavy sweetness glimmers, like syrup simmered over fire, softening the harsher edges into something hypnotic.
Its aroma evokes incense drifting through a shadowed sanctuary, stone walls echoing with ritual. Polished leather worn smooth with age mingles with the resinous haze of frankincense, brushed by a faint metallic wisp of smoke. Oud is no simple note—it is power and shadow entwined, an intoxicating essence of sacred reverence that lingers long after the fire has died.
Notes
Woody, Resinous, Smoky, Leathery, Musky, Animalic, Earthy, Incense, Balsamic
What pairs well with Oud?
Oud pairs exceptionally with florals like rose, balancing its dark, animalic qualities with romantic softness. To lean into oud’s warmth, notes like saffron, cardamom, and cinnamon can enhance oud’s natural depth. Pair oud with frankincense, myrrh, and benzoin to draw out oud’s smoky eastern elements, evoking the sacred smoke of temples and forbidden rites.
WORDS FROM THE FOUNDER'S GRIMOIRE
“Oud is the ancient shadow of a composition. It smoulders beneath brighter notes like buried fire, a darkness that clings to the skin long after the light notes have fled.”
“When rot becomes relic”
The dark origins of Oud
Oud begins in the forests of Southeast Asia, where the Aquilaria tree stands pale and unremarkable until fate wounds it. When struck by infection from a parasitic fungus that corrupts its heart, its heartwood darkens, saturating with resin in defence. This rare transformation creates agarwood, the raw essence of oud - a rarity yielded by fewer than one in ten wild trees.
Its recorded use stretches back over three millennia. In Egypt, agarwood was burned in funeral rites to guide the soul beyond death, while in India the Vedas of 1400 BC praised its sacred smoke, binding oud to divine ceremony. By the 6th century, Japanese chronicles told of prized agarwood carried from Cambodia, cherished in temples as incense of refinement and mystery.
From there, oud journeyed along ancient trade routes into Vietnam and beyond. By the 16th century, traders carried it westward, where it took root in the Middle East. In palaces and mosques it became both medicine and devotion - a perfume of kings and clerics alike, a dark treasure born of rot yet worshipped as gold.
“Holy fire, forbidden desire”
Traditions & forbidden uses of Oud
The Scent of Paradise
For centuries, oud has been woven into the fabric of Islamic ritual. Described in Hadith as “the scent of heaven,” agarwood incense and oils are burned in Mecca and beyond, perfuming mosques, clothing, and skin. Its smoke is believed to sanctify space, elevating prayer and binding worshippers to the divine. Few other scents carry such an aura of holiness… or intimacy.
The Alchemy of Power
Not all smoke rose in worship - in the Middle East some curled around whispers of domination. When blended with ashes or resins, its oil was said to ensnare hearts and bend wills, a fragrance that cloaked its wearer in influence. In Tantric rites, oud was sometimes applied to pulse points to awaken sensual fire - its smoke lingering not just in the air, but in the body itself.
Forbidden Obsessions
The same qualities that made oud sacred also made it dangerous. In some traditions, it was thought to tether the soul, binding lovers through obsession or driving them to madness. In medieval Persia, certain physicians warned that agarwood smoke could “inflame the passions beyond reason,” blurring the line between remedy and temptation. Few other scents carried such an aura of holiness… or intimacy. Sweetness became control, and incense became spellwork — a reminder that the black gold of perfumery carries shadows as well as light.
“I saw the monks burning agarwood incense. Its fragrance calmly entered my nostrils & the aroma was neither wood… nor smoke… nor fire. Departing without attachment & arriving without origin; my mind revealed the unconditioned.”
Śūraṅgama Sūtra (Buddhist scripture) ~ 8th Century CE
"No two forests sing the same notes"
Where is perfumery grade Oud grown?
Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Vietnam)
Renowned for its sweet, resinous richness, Cambodian oud is considered the gold standard in perfumery. Its profile leans fruity and honeyed, with a depth that feels both sensual and approachable. For centuries, traders carried this agarwood to China and Japan, where it was revered as temple incense of refinement.
India (Assam)
From the dense forests of Assam comes one of the oldest and most powerful expressions of oud. Indian oud is famously dark, smoky, and leathery, a fragrance that commands attention with its uncompromising depth. Steeped in history, it remains a cornerstone of traditional oud and one of the most highly prized styles in perfumery.
Vietnam
Vietnamese oud holds a legacy of rarity. Its scent leans earthy, smoky, and complex, sometimes touched with a subtle sweetness. In the southern provinces, the most fabled agarwood of all — Kinam — was once reserved for royalty and sages, its fragrance considered otherworldly. Today, Vietnamese oud continues to embody the mysterious, elusive side of perfumery’s black gold.
"The wounded heart of a sacred tree"
Cultivating & Harvesting Oud
Seed to harvest: 12 to 100+ years
1. Inoculation
Oud’s journey is not measured in months or seasons, but generations. Aquilaria trees are nurtured in humid forests at least 12 years before they are ready, yet some of the rarest are over a century old. To work on larger trees, bamboo ladders and even scaffolding are built to reach the treacherous heights required. Small holes are then carefully drilled up the entire length of the trunk and inoculated with fungi; mimicking the wounds once left by the Ambrosia beetle. If fortune allows, the tree’s immune system kicks in, releasing defensive, fragrant resin into its heartwood.
2. Resin Formation
Over years and often decades, the Aquilaria tree wages a silent war with the invader buried within. It bleeds its dark resin into the heartwood, layer upon layer, sealing off the infection with fragrant armour. What began as pale, odorless timber grows heavy & aromatic as though the tree were distilling its suffering. Not all infected trees ever survive long enough to complete their metamorphosis, and even then, only the richest, most saturated cores carry the depth perfumers truly covet.
3. Harvesting
Only once the tree has imbued itself with enough resin does the sound of an axe echo through the jungle. It may be sacrificed and its trunk split open to reveal a hidden map of darkness within. Resinous veins thread the pale timber like seams of gold in stone - glimmering and easily ruined if cut without care. Each fragment is judged by sight, weight, and scent, the pale flesh carefully carved away to free the blackened core. What emerges after years of patience is the prized agarwood - but this is only the first step toward perfumery’s liquid gold…
"In destruction, its essence is revealed..."
Extracting the essence of Oud
Oud is unlike any other raw material in perfumery, its essence is locked within resin-saturated wood, and to release it requires time, fire, and mastery. Each method of extraction draws out a different face of this shadowed treasure - smoky, sweet, or animalic.
Steam Distillation
The oldest and most traditional method: agarwood chips are submerged in water and left to ferment for several months, awakening their hidden depths. Once ready, the wood is gently steamed, and the rising vapors are condensed into oud oil—thick, dark, and powerfully animalic. The yield is meagre - sometimes 30kg of wood for a single tola (12 ml), making it among the most scarce oils in the world.
Hydro Distillation
Favoured in India and the Middle East, the wood is fully submerged in water during distillation. This produces an oil of greater smokiness and depth, often darker and sharper, a style especially prized for incense and concentrated oils.
Solvent Extraction
Though less common due to cost and yield, oud can also be processed into an absolute. The resinous agarwood is steeped in solvents, then carefully filtered, producing a dense material with incredible depth. Used sparingly, oud absolute is darker, thicker, and more balsamic than distilled oil.
COâ‚‚ Extraction
A modern, solvent-free method where pressurised carbon dioxide draws the fragrant compounds from agarwood. This results in an oil closer to the scent of raw wood: smoother, rounder, and less smoky, often preferred in high perfumery for its truer profile.
Macerations & Tinctures
At the artisanal level, oud chips are occasionally steeped in alcohol or oil for weeks or months. These tinctures produce a softer, ghostlike oud - not as powerful as distilled oils, but treasured for it’s nuance and layering in experimental compositions.
“The emperor’s incense... the sorcerer’s fire.”
Dark Lore & Occult Ties of Oud
Perfume of the Dead
Since antiquity, oud has been entwined with death. Ancient Egyptians burned it in funeral pyres, believing its smoke guided the soul into the afterlife. In Tibetan rites, it was said to ease the passage of consciousness from body to spirit. Even now, agarwood smoulders in temples and gravesides, its swirling tendrils binding mourners to the departed.
Visions, Dreams & Possession
In Buddhist and Hindu mysticism, oud was not only sacred, but feared. Burnt in concentrated doses, it was believed to provoke altered states - visions, lucid dreams, even trances. Some texts warned that unprepared minds risked obsession or madness, as the “wood of the gods” could open gateways both divine and demonic. What promised awakening could just as easily invite possession.
A Witch’s Anchor
Oud’s origin - suffering transfigured into resin gave it dark symbolic weight in witchcraft. Practitioners used it as an anchor in shadow work, to draw strength from wounds and turn corruption into power. Burned with resins like myrrh and storax, it was thought to banish malign spirits while binding lovers or bending wills. Its duality: purifier and corrupter - made it as dangerous as it was divine.
“Perfumery's black gold”
The legacy of Oud in Perfume
Oud’s story spans millennia - from ceremonial fires in ancient Indian and Chinese texts from as early as 2000 BCE, where its Sanskrit name “gahuru” symbolised spiritual life, to incense ceremonies in Egyptian temples and Buddhist monks’ rituals. For centuries, it was a perfume never affordable by the masses, reserved for the anointed few - emperors, priests, and nobles alike.
Oud’s roots in perfumery lie in ritual. For centuries, its smoke was sacred - burned in temples, praised in the Bible, woven into Japan’s kodo incense ceremonies. It was long considered the scent of the divine, a perfume of both prayer and power.
2002 ~ Yves Saint Laurent “M7”
The first Western fragrance to truly place oud at its heart. Launched under Tom Ford’s creative direction, M7 shocked Paris with its raw, animalic woodiness. It marked the beginning of oud’s explosive invasion into European perfumery; a daring scent that would ignite two decades of fascination.
2007 ~ Tom Ford “Oud Wood”
If M7 cracked the door open, Oud Wood kicked it wide open. A smoother, spiced interpretation, it introduced oud to the global mainstream. Suddenly, oud was no longer just the smoky incense of mosques and palaces - it was a symbol of modern designer luxury.
2010 & onwards
By the 2010s, oud was everywhere: from Dior’s Leather Oud to more niche experiments by Byredo, Kilian, and Montale. Each house painted it differently - honeyed with rose, scorched with smoke, or softened with musk. The result was an oud mania so intense it could be likened to perfumery’s gold rush.
Oud Today
Now a staple, oud is both revered and questioned. Some lament its commercial taming - scrubbed clean, sweetened, “safe.” Yet in niche perfumery, its darker spirit still thrives: feral, resinous, almost indecent. From sacred smoke to supermarket shelves, oud’s legacy is one of paradox - a note forever caught between holiness & hedonism.
Made in England. Vegan. Cruelty-free.
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