Oud 777
Stéphane Humbert Lucas (2014)

Oud 777 is hands down the best perfume by the house of Stephane Humbert Lucas. I'm not a fan of the house, but this right here, is something special. More so than O Hira. It does share some similarities with O Hira, but the latter is more Labdanum centered, with very soft woods in the background. Here, the woods take center stage, and the resins, mostly labdanum, support from behind. This perfume showcases one of the best and true-to-life Oud Accords that I have come across in commercial perfumes. I would not be surprised if there's real Oud in this. Not barnyard or fermented, just a beautiful earthy, antique, dusty, leathery oud.
Starts off with a blast of earthy, leathery oud, a very dry and antique smell. Beautiful opening and quite strong. Soon after that, the resins start creeping in, mellowing the woody aspects, together with some spices, dried fruits, and smoke. As it develops all the mentioned notes coalesce to become a leathery, smokey, resinous accord that lingers for a long time with a soft and perceptible sillage. What I love most about the Oud Accord in this is that it has a very antique wood, old wood type of aroma to it. Like an old wooden chest. It's dry, dusty, old smelling. This is my favorite type of Oud accord, and very hard to come by. Paired with the ladanum it creates this ancient aroma that is just intoxicating. Aside from the Antique Wood Accord, there is also a leather accord, a boozy/liquor accord, dried fruits, and smoke. Like sitting in an ancient castle library, sipping on fine liquor, eating dried fruits, on leather chairs, and smoking shisha.
A very special perfume, and incredibly well put together, truly intoxicating aroma longing to the Orient.

Heavily carried by a labdanum backbone, which relates it quite closely to its counterpart O'Hira, this composition exhibits an Indian oud accord that captures the fermented aspect beautifully (or not so beautifully, if cheesy/barnyard Hindi's aren't your thing). A leather base peaks through as the oud tames itself a bit, further carrying the musky aspects of the perfume. A dark, potent affair that's not for the faint of heart.

"Deadidol" really sums up what I would more or less opine about this opulent potion from Stéphane Humbert Lucas 777.

Oud 777 is very swanky and pretentious - I get it, you are presenting some of the finest oud ingredients that typical houses don't incorporate into their potions. And this one DOES smell of very exclusive, fine components that give it a solid (not screaming loud), behaved, and pleasing quality that the tonka bean and leather notes shape so well.

Having explored oud scent territory for a few years now (and owning several fragrances that have agarwood in them, either compositely or actually), I am seeing how the oud mystique is full of subjectivity as to what is considered "right" and "proper" for such scents: How much "barnyard" / "bandaid" accord is there, how heavy the sillage is, the combination of other notes that reinforce or alter its base smoky-woody essence (e.g. rose, amber, cedar, and other notes that tend to pair up with the oud).

Oud 777 seems very sincere and no-nonsense in its approach to what the buyer is getting. It's definitely not in your face like a Montale Aoud would be, nor is it unrelentingly "fecal" as Dior's otherwise amazing Oud Ispahan niche offering is (it is briefly in the opening), nor is it reeking of antiseptic-ness. It is a well-mannered royal host, versus a showy peasant drawing all sorts of attention to himself at the party. But you can tell it is dignified and of import nonetheless.

It has the mysterious, always interesting quality of a typical niche-level oud offering. Whether it's worth the exorbitant price for a full bottle is ultimately up to you; there are plenty of other oud scents out there that at least resemble this one, though the ingredients may not be as superior.

But in the end, I give this one a hefty thumbs up for the sense of import it brings to the arena of oud scents.

Like O Hira, this is a resin-driven affair. It's every bit as delicate and polished, retaining the same degree of earthy interest, but as far as oud goes, this one's very similar to Creed's Royal Oud in that the oud is really not there at all–at least in relation to Western synthetic ouds or even Eastern authentic ones. What you get instead is a lot of labdanum, myrrh, some frankincense, and some spices over a smooth, balmy base.

When placed into the context of its brethren (other spendy lines such as Clive Christian, Roja Dove etc.), I find that the 777 resins are superior, dealing a more subtle and nuanced hand. There's a bit of a Norma Kamali Incense feel to this, and that's a scent that many find to be a challenge, so I'm not sure this will have the same impact of the more crowd-pleasing offerings from the likes of Christian and Dove. Furthermore, this isn't a loud scent; it sits politely on the skin and doesn't have that many layers of complexity. There's depth to the materials themselves, but the scent doesn't do any backflips or pack any surprises.

And so, once more, my concern is the same as that of O Hira: the price. I rarely talk about price in my reviews as it's a totally subjective thing, but this is again quite outlandish. The materials are very nice, the composition is smooth and refined, but there's nothing going on here that's really worthy of the cost. Even the best resinous absolutes and extractions are not that expensive, and that's what forms the majority of this composition. What made O Hira so pricey was the fossilized amber (again, not that expensive a material), but this really is just labdanum, myrrh, and some spices–there's very little else to it. It's lovely for what it is–nuanced, subtle, mysterious–but I imagine that the kind of people who drop this kind of money on perfume are the kind of people who want to be sure that every knows about it, and this is not going to accomplish that effect. It's just handful of basic resins, nicely put together, and that's it. An oudless oud, but we're all used to that by now.