A legendary ingredient that laid one of the cornerstones of our passion for perfume. The resin of the agarwood is called the oud. This grows in the mixed forests of Asia at altitudes up to 1000 meters. Pieces of resin-impregnated agarwood are in demand all over the world - they have been used as incense for centuries in India, Egypt, Israel and the Arab world. The oud oil is also said to have a healing and aphrodisiac effect.
What makes oud so valuable? Agarwood trees have to reach a certain age in order to be able to form resin at all - it is assumed that they can only do this from an age of approx. 50 to 60 years. In addition, about another twenty years will pass before they have produced significant resin. This complicated development process explains the price: resin-impregnated agarwood is one of the most expensive woods in the world with up to 300.000 euros per kilogram. The oud obtained from this is indisputably one of the most expensive oils. Its price, which can be several hundred thousand euros per liter, far exceeds that of gold. 
And what does Oud smell like now? Its olfactory spectrum is extremely wide: balsamic-sweet, medical-metallic, smoky-leathery, animal-like, woody-spicy-bitter. Outside the Arab world, the Oud entered the fragrance world in the 2002s with niche brands such as Martine Micallef and Montale. The mainstream segment conquered Oud with Yves Saint Laurent's M7 released in XNUMX, which it wrongly lacked in commercial success. Nevertheless, the triumphal march of the oud was still a long time in coming - the ingredient only became a major fragrance trend about ten years later.
Nowadays the oudhype has abated a bit, but it is almost a good thing for a perfume house to have at least one oud creation in the collection to lead. We appreciate oud, the liquid gold, for its diversity, its olfactory depth and radiance. That is why we decided to focus and build on this ingredient at Understateman. Our goal - the very best of oud:
Blend oud; Affinessence - Patchouli oud; The House of Oud
Are you unsure if Oud is your thing? Then look in our category Fillings over and make your own picture with a fragrance sample.
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