Rouh Al Aoud
Abdul Samad Al Qurashi

An amazing, oud blend.

The oud is not anamalic but instead is aged and has a dry myrrh/amber type of scent. A multifaceted blend, the notes are constantly shifting. This is not a boring, single note, linear fragrance.

Though this blend's royal scent can definitely be worn to kingly or black-tie events, I feel that it can be worn comfortably in slacks or jeans as well. Rouh Al Oud just has this "easy-going" feel to it. Definitely easy to wear daily and can be worn year-round, at parties, events, the office, at home and as your own signature scent.

Sillage is Very large and trails nicely while you are moving. This oil blend is long lasting.

Blind buy worthy and great for people new to oud.

9/10

Rouh Al Aoud smells just bloody wonderful. Better still, as real ouds go, it is easy for a beginner to like and to understand. It is a lightly-aged oud oil, blended with other notes I believe, such as some spices, rose, and a touch of musk. But really, it is the sweet oud note that shines through here - soft, balmy, deep, 'brown' all over, but sweet and nutty. Because the oud has been lightly aged, it does not smell rotting or sour or barnyard-y - in fact, there is nothing remotely challenging about this oud to the typical Western nose. The pleasure and satisfaction in smelling it is immediate and uncomplicated.

The texture of this is a thing of pleasure too. At first, it is dense, sweet, and compact, but then it loosens up, spreads out, and reveals hints of rose and spices. It manages to be both balmy (creamy) and powdery at once, giving off a 'mouthfeel' that is close to the sensation of biting into a marron glace, with syrup dripping down your chin and powdered sugar getting up your nose. I am also picking up a powdery, sweet cherry tobacco leaf note here too. It doesn't feel either too male or too female, despite all my mentions of sweetness or powder. It has a deep sweetness that comes from the oud wood itself, or the tobacco note, or the spices, but it is a natural sweetness, not a saccharine one. Guy friendly, as well as girl friendly, I feel confident in saying.

If anyone is looking for an oud oil blend that is accessible and not challenging, then this is the one for you. It is a pleasure to wear and to smell - deep, honeyed, tobacco, sweet (Cambodi I think) oud, musk, subtle spices, a shy rose. Anyone who likes Chergui would like this too. Highly recommended! I would love a bottle of this myself!

Another winner from Abdul Samad Al Qurashi.

Rouh Al Aoud is pretty different from most of the fragrances I've tried from this firm as it's probably one of the *easiest* to like in their range. It's quite a complex and multifaceted blend that, while being supposedly made out of only pure oud oil, it's definitely not. It's a proper composition…and a very good one, I would add.

I get four different phases here. It opens with a catchy spicy-oud accord that feels somewhat clean. There's the freshness of the spices (which might include some saffron) and the smooth leathery-woody aroma of oud. The oud here is of the sweeter / softer kind as opposed to the barnyard-y one. Mind me though, sweeter as in slightly fruity. No sugar.

The fragrance then slowly starts to morph into a super radiant rosy / waxy / sparkling middle phase that clearly winks at classic / old-fashioned western perfumery. This phase goes on for quite a while until the oud note re-starts to remark its presence giving birth to the classic middle eastern *rose-oud* theme. WOW! This would be already enough to declare Rouh Al Aoud a big winner but it's not over yet…

With time, the oud takes over the rest again and, together with smooth musky undertones and spices, opens the door to an endless and superlative woody drydown that's definitely more similar to the opening. What a ride!

Now, the nature of Rouh Al Aoud would make of this fragrance one hell of an option for both oud-novices interested in exploring classic arabic oils and oud-aficionados looking for an everyday type of oud without giving up on the complexity of these kind of blends.

Versatile, immediately likable, entertaining and even educational but, most of all, very very good.