Oud —also called agarwood, agarwood, or aloeswood— is the most expensive raw material in the entire perfume industry. It can cost up to €100,000 per kilo in its purest forms. Yet, it has been the heart of Arabic perfumery for centuries and has become in recent years one of the most desired ingredients in Western niche perfumery.
What oud is and how it forms
Oud is not simply wood. It is the resin produced by the Aquilaria tree (native to Asia, mainly Southeast Asia and India) when infected by a specific fungus (Phialophora parasitica). This infection, which can take decades to develop, causes the tree to produce a dark, dense, and aromatic resin as a defense mechanism. Only 2% of Aquilaria trees naturally develop oud.
What oud smells like
Oud is impossible to describe with a single word. Dark, complex, with simultaneous notes of wood, leather, animalic, earthy, slightly fecal (in the rawest versions), spicy, and resinous. Oud from different origins has completely distinct profiles:
- Indian Oud: the most complex and dark. Very animalic and earthy.
- Cambodian Oud: softer, slightly sweet and floral. The most appreciated for Western consumption.
- Thai Oud: clean, slightly spicy, and somewhat more affordable.
- Arabian Oud: actually blends from various origins, with a centuries-old tradition of direct use in braziers.
The oud boom in the West
Until the 2000s, oud was practically unknown outside the Middle East. It was niche perfumery —especially Tom Ford Oud Wood in 2007— that massively introduced it to the Western market. Today, oud appears in catalogs of all brands, from ultra-niche to mass market, though with very different qualities.
Natural oud vs synthetic oud
99% of the oud used in Western perfumery today is synthetic or processed. Synthetic molecules (Agarwood, Oud Base, etc.) try to capture some facets of natural oud. None fully succeed, but some have admirable complexity. Pure natural oud is so expensive that it practically only exists in traditional Arabic perfumery and in a handful of ultra-exclusive niche creations.
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