Ruh Al Oudh Attar
Amouage

Probably more vetiver than oud in this one ... but nonetheless a nice dark, damp, earthy, and woody attar.

Not for the faint of heart, Ruh al Oudh is (was) a special edition attar (released alongside Ruh al Ward - a death-by-rose oil) and it is a scent that attempts to get to the heart of the Oud matter without much added frippery. I have never smelled the pure version of Amouage's Silver Oudh pure (a supposedly cleaner and brighter take on our that I am told makes up a happy fraction of their most lauded attar: Homage), or the luxury-priced Oud al Khaloud, so I cannot compare Ruh Al Oudh with other attars that are marketed as the closest thing to pure oud oil that Amouage has produced.

The most interesting facet of the oil is its density. I own several Amoauge attars and none come anywhere near the deep chocolate color or incredible viscocity of this oil. So much so, in fact, that it is a bit difficult to apply it lightly; the drop size is easily 2-3 times what you get from the same glass wand when dipped in Homage, Tribute, Molook, etc. It hits the skin thick and oily is so dense that the brown color can be seen even when gently spread over my arm.

The smell presentes the following, and all at once: damp mineral earth, a creamy lacquered veneer, and a good dose of barnyard. If Xerjoff's Zafar or Abdes Salaam's Oud Caravan made you uncomfortable in their "dirty" elements, I would stay far from Ruh al Oudh. As someone not so turned off by a little skank, I find this quite deep and sensual. It is not particularly smokey, but it and last for 24 hours with a consistent sweetness. It gets a thumbs up for being the closest to the pure oud oil samples I have , but Ruh al Oud is certainly not as engineered in the traditional perfume sense as other blends and does not seem to have top, mid, and base layers. For this reason it may not appear to those looking for the "pretty"

I like to nab a drop in the evening and use it as a meditative scent, but have yet to have the courage to give this a full wear out in this city of 20 million and close contact. In fact, I have had most success with layering, especially with the sweet saffron of Asrar attar - another beauty but somewhat linear in its evolution. I find that the combo of dark out and the sweet baked nature of Asrar made for a really nice combo.

Other combos (with the heavy ambergris blends or with the tobacco sparkle of Tribute) were less successful, as the Ruh al Oud detracts from their perfection and just made them turn sour and "muddy". However, it added a particularly nice depth to Homage, butching the florals up quite a bit without muting the sparkle - this was probably my favorite layering experiment. The combo presented something that I had failed to detect in either - a clear Berry note that seemed to replace the citrus top of Homage.

The fact that I devote so much of a review to layering suggests that Ruh al Oud alone is, perhaps, just not enough. Fair enough, but it's the most straight-forward dark and sappy oud oil (and who knows how much oud is really in there) so it is a welcomed addition to the wardrobe for reference purposes. What I can say is that it smells so overwhelmingly natural, organic, REAL. Next to it, other oud blends and perfumes claiming that ingredient feel like synthetic imitations.