Dahn Al Aoud Anteeque
Abdul Samad Al Qurashi

This is oud, oud, oud form the beginning to the end. Starting with a touch fruity smokiness initially, it gradually smoothens to become a classic, natural oud but without much sharpness.

That does not mean it is boring: like the colours of a rainbow change with us moving, this oud is scintillating in various nuances and shades as times progresses.

This is not a heavy oud on me, but well balanced.

I get moderate sillage, very good projection and an excellent ten hours of longevity on my skin.

This autumnal oud is really nothing much but a beautiful oud. And this is maybe a bit monoclonal, but is makes a beautiful scent ou(d) of supreme natural raw material. 3.75/5.

An oud is an oud is an oud.

Head: black pepper, berries, fruity notes, floral notes

Heart: lily, cedarwood, woody notes

Base: agarwood

This is an amazing, amazing oud spray. It’s all berries and fruity Cambodian oud for hours and hours. Lots and lots of oud. It’s all about oud. I’ve never smelled anything like it and I’ve sniffed lots of ouds. I’m certain that this has been reformulated into oblivion since ASQ ventured off into the western hemisphere after 2016 and was forced to reformulate their entire line up per shitty IFRA rules. I once upon a time owned an original flacon of this and regret selling it off.

I need to get two things off my chest, namely, (i) this is how a man should smell, and (ii) if this is an example of how to produce an EDP/spray perfume that contains real, aged Cambodi oud and still come off smelling like a real, complete, proper-ass perfume, then niche companies such as Roja Dove, By Killian, Montale, and Maison Francis Kurkdijan have no excuse for flogging exclusive bottles full of synthetic oud for $250 and up. (More if we are talking about Roja Dove)

Actually, I am only partly kidding. I really don't have anything against synthetic oud. I own lots of it myself, Montale's White Aoud being a firm favorite. But the synthetic oud used in Western niche perfumes approximates only one small facet of what is an extraordinarily complex smell. By which I mean the vaguely medicinal, band aid smell which has come to define the oud smell for a big majority of us. The other variation is the smoked oud smell as highlighted in Dior's Leather Oud and Guerlain's Songe d'Un Bois En Ete (which I prefer).

But the real stuff itself, I mean real oud, well, that is a complex material made up of over 500 different flavor compounds and, famously, can vary from region to region, tree to tree, distiller to distiller, etc. Having tried some of ASAQ's aged ouds and oud blends, though, it is kind of difficult for me to turn back. It's like getting a taste of a twelve-course gourmet feast and then being sent back to the gulag to sup on gruel.

So, I guess what I am saying here is that I don't understand why it is possible for a company like ASAQ to produce a great spray perfume using tons of the real stuff, when Western niche companies keep on producing perfumes full of the synthetic version and charge us handsomely for it. I read an interview that quoted Killian Hennessy as saying that all his perfumes use synthetic oud but he admits that it could never simulate the complexity of the real thing itself. I admire his honesty - after all, it seems like it would be really expensive to use the real stuff, what with it being a restricted material and not very stable in terms of consistent smell. But here we have a great perfume that uses real oud, and is roughly equivalent to the pricing on some of By Killian's, MFK's and Roja Dove's oud perfumes. So, I just wonder if it really can't be done, like Killian seems to be suggesting, or whether using or sourcing the real stuff would eat too much into the bottom line of these companies, whose mark-up must be feverishly high. Hmmmm, maybe I am getting too cynical here. Let me get back to the perfume itself.

Dahn Al Aoud Anteeque smells incredible and it contains real, aged Cambodi oud. It smells naturally sweet, a slight berry-like sweetness that is a defining characteristic of Cambodi oud, in fact, and only very lightly animalic. It smells deep, woody, ancient, sweet, dusty, warm, and spicy. The drydown, for me, reads like a supple, broken-in saddle leather, a little bit sweaty, but very masculine and comforting. As an EDP, it wears more lightly than an oil or attar, but is also more diffusive (naturally). It is really gorgeous stuff, and I can't stop sniffing myself when I have it on, but I think its inherent manliness means that this would work best on male skin. It is light and subtle enough to be worn at the office, but manly and mysterious enough to radiate quiet power, even if you are just the guy who makes copies for everyone. Every time I test this one, I always think that this is what real men should smell like.