Oud Wood Intense
Tom Ford (2017)

I like this. A confident mix of band-aid oud with a forest campfire, but with a salty, almost chalky perfumey quality holding it together. It belongs in the same smoky westernized oud genre as Killian and many other excellent niche ouds, so there's not a lot here to make me recommend this over its competition, though it's nicely done.

Ultra brooding and masculine, smells like creosote and dark leather, maybe some cypress trees swaying in the background and a drop dead gorgeous streak of castoreum that keeps it unapologetically dangerous and brutish..I absolutely love this, I traded in my 50ml and bought a 100ml instead ..not cheap but you get one hell of a beastly fragrance. I've always enjoyed Anteaus so the step up to this wasn't too difficult, they are slightly similar in that they share leather and castoreum but oud wood intense is certainly a more 'intense' dark variation, I'm also reminded of Roja Doves Black Tier exclusive which is much more similar in terms of brute leather masculinity. Longivity around 12 hours and projection is at least half of that ..try before you buy tho as it is an acquired taste to enjoy fragrances that are this harsh and masculine.

Smells like bandaids, antiseptic, cleansed wounds. Or, could be construed as medicinal oud castoreum. Theres not a whole lot to go into, that is what it smells like in the opening, mid, and final drydown. Linear. Projection was middling, and longevity was good. Faded to a skin scent at about 3 hours, and lasted there for much longer. It is not sweet or crowd pleasing. Anyone who dislikes strange, aggressive, or animalic scents should probably stay away. I like this. Thumbs up.

One part Tuscan Leather minus the raspberry note or any sweetness AT ALL, add equal part oud wood, then dial the whole thing back by a factor of 2.

The result is a clear 'scrotum' note, a la Tuscan Leather, and the requisite oud. This has a beautiful leather note, the best I have encountered in a long time.

I think Tom Ford missed the boat by calling this Oud Wood Intense, The connection is not immediate, and as with other Tom Ford launches, they are all similar anyway, so this should have been given its own name.

I nominate: Pelle di Scroto

Tom Ford Oud Wood Intense is a significant misnomer, as the fragrance does not correlate with the original Oud Wood all that much. However, it is a great fragrance that merits smelling and enjoying wholly apart from the Oud Wood that preceded it by a decade.

Oud Wood Intense is mainly an animalic woody leather sort of fragrance, the mix of cypress and oud being almost taken over by the additive of castoreum that most dramatically separates it not only from the original Oud Wood but also from the rest of the Private Blend collection through 2018. The castoreum fosters a sort of "dry leather" smell that more or less characterizes my experience of the entire fragrance.

In this respect it feels masculine and boastful while being slightly sophisticated, as well; it contains just the right amount of an animalic leaning that it works quite well to satisfy an interest in leather without being too oud-intensive or borderline fecal.

At the time of its release in late 2017, Oud Wood Intense (and Tobacco Oud Intense, simultaneously) joined FF and Neroli Portofino Forte at the higher price point of $310 (now $320) per 50ml, with only the re-release of Bois Marocain having been higher at that point ($330 in 2016).

So it may seem like a steep price for the juice, but it's available on secondary markets like FragranceNet, where a 50ml is at $227 with the 30% off coupon.

Its performance is excellent, as well, just a tad bit behind the beasts of the line like TV, TL, NDN, AA, etc. It's also perhaps the strongest Private Blend that isn't at least somewhat sweet, either (another example being Italian Cypress).

Overall, Oud Wood Intense is a great option, not the superlative offering that I regarding NDN, TV, and AA as, but still, one or two notches below that. Really excellent juice.

9 out of 10

Avoid. Back when you could pump gas or petrol or 'tane (for you Proud Mary fans) I had a job doing that straight out of high school (GCSE's or Gymnasium for you overseas compadres) and it was a job where you had to wash thick coats of grease offa your hands all the time. We had industrial detergent soaps in the garage that you would use; a very abrasive viscous red or blue liquid pump bottle, brand name Zep. Product was called Perform. You can buy its successors at Autozone or Sam's Club to this day. Anywho, if that didn't work on tough hand grime, you would bathe them in this solvent that smelled a lot like Oud Wood Intense. So, to me the Tom Ford product is overpriced. I haven't tested it on stubborn automotive hand grease, so I cannot comment on its efficacy removing it. If I am going to smell this bad, it had better remove grease and unit volume cost has to be reduced by several decimal places.