Kilo for kilo, it is more costly than gold.

March 1, 2016 4:33 PM

The scent from heaven; a tale of one of the world’s most expensive commodities from its end users in the Middle East to its source in the forests of Southeast Asia. Agarwood
This sweet woody fragrance is used in some of these better known commercial perfumes.
posted by adamvasco (5 comments total)

Two of my three favourite perfumes are ouds - Black Oud Extrait de Parfum by LM Parfum, and Pure Oud from By Kilian. Both are absolutely enrapturing, and I momentarily feel guilty as hell every time I put some on. I'm terrified of finding out that either one is made from illegally-sourced agarwood.
posted by not the fingers, not the fingers at 5:10 PM on March 1, 2016 [2 favorites]

i once had to do an in-store training at Neiman Marcus on perfume for my fellow floor staffers and thought about bringing in some real Oud to educate them with - until I discovered the 800 dollar for 1/2 ounce price tag from reliable vendors.

So coffee had to suffice.
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 6:18 PM on March 1, 2016 [2 favorites]

I really like perfume, but I don't wear it due to respecting people with multiple chemical sensivities and scent-free areas. Fascinating stuff!
posted by yueliang at 7:26 PM on March 1, 2016

I worked for an essential oil wholesale company for a few years. We had north of 1,000 oils in stock in our warehouse at any time, and this was a wholesale place, so they often came in as 55 gal. drums. Not the Oud. Every few months/years we'd get a couple 16-32oz aluminum jugs delivered via air mail or DHL. The last one I remember seeing come in, the package had been damaged and a container ruptured... the cardboard box and all packaging was completely soaked. I remember thinking about how each breath the delivery driver had been taking in his van was probably worth a nickel a sniff...
posted by Nosmot at 9:30 PM on March 1, 2016 [8 favorites]

As a biophysicist who makes his own scented candles, I found this to be an excellently informative story. It appears that Agarwood plantations are a lucrative means of carbon sequestration. There are some similar ecological dynamics which give rise to the aromatic chemistry of traditional firewood in Europe, The Americas, and Japan. Freshly cut logs have to dry out, and this provides fungi with a chance to attack xylem and phloem. The resin still activates as an immune response, and the firewood is only ready when that moisture is consumed by the reaction.

I hypothesize that the density of Oud is the primary factor in determining its grade, based on the means of evaluation. Sound and buoyancy are both measures of density and homogeneity.

I will be reviewing the featured documentary from Al Jazeera English on Youtube.
posted by MisplaceDisgrace at 8:42 PM on March 2, 2016 [1 favorite]