Oud Basics

About

It would be no exaggeration to describe agarwood, also called oud and aloeswood, as the crown jewel of the fragrance world, ancient and modern.

It has been called everything from “the scent of Heaven” to “the cure of diseases” in its historical rise to becoming the rarest, most sought after aromatic on Earth—the oil easily commands over thirty-five thousand US dollars per kilogram.

As you can well imagine, the market that emerges around a material of such value can hardly be free of intrigue, fakery, and fraud. It is not uncommon for oils sold as pure to be adulterated with everything from vetiver to vegetable oil which can make procurement of the real material painfully difficult, especially considering that fine agarwood can possess accords of everything from guava to coffee. 

Here at OudBar we are privileged to have access to Ensar Oud’s unsurpassed expertise, enabling us to deliver to you the finest agarwood oil, expertly distilled and of exquisite quality. Each oil is a complete perfume—rich, deep, complex, and unimaginably enjoyable.

Benefits

Whether it is ancient Greek, Indian, or Chinese medicine, agarwood has been highly valued for its therapeutic properties. To this day, agarwood is prized by practitioners of Chinese medicine, who maintain that it is effective in treating various anxiety and stress related disorders.

Indeed, the complex molecular structure of agarwood suggests its potential usefulness as a drug, yet its rarity and high cost hinder scientific research with the result that credible studies looking at agarwood’s potential as a modern drug will likely remain unavailable for some time.

More

Very few aromatic substances on this planet can begin to approach the soul-stirring luminosity, depth, and majestic terrene beauty of agarwood oil. Yet, it is quite likely that your first encounter with it was, at best, underwhelming, at worst off-putting.

Bad “oud” experiences have become common enough to prompt some perfumers to avoid mentioning its presence—or more precisely the presence of its notes—in their compositions. Well, they say that you never get a second chance to make a first impression and that is true. But what I’d like to ask you to do is consider whether you have yet had a first impression of fine agarwood oil.

Most of the oud oil on the market today is not merely unremarkable, much is it not pure agarwood oil at all and even when you do find pure oil that is no guarantee that what you have has been harvested from quality sources and distilled with expertise!

Oils that lack character and attempt to mask the deficiency with an overwhelmingly unpleasant ordure are a sure sign of improperly stored or distilled material, regardless of the price.

Agarwood oils are not limited in terms of notes and accords. Everything from steaming jungles to salty beaches to succulent fruits can be conjured by these astounding compositions coaxed from nature. The mark of quality is balance, longevity, depth, and dimension.

And those qualities simply cannot be had by those out to make a quick dollar. OudBar in collaboration with Ensar Oud, is on a mission to make true first impressions of fine agarwood meaningful and edifying olfactory experiences, even for those who might not be “oud-heads”.

So, let the journey begin!