Agarwood - A must-have scent for the rich in the Middle East

While the West is cramming with perfumes with hints of incense, the Middle East has known it for decades. Oud is the name of a wood commonly used to perfume clothes, houses, bodies or make perfumes in Arab countries. In Japanese, Oud's name is Jin-koh; in Chinese, Oud is named Chen-xiang; In Vietnamese, Oud means frankincense.

Agarwood oil has only become popular in the Western fragrance industry in the last few years, while it has been around in Arabia for decades.

The Middle East is becoming the target of Western brand designers. In expensive French perfume bottles, it is indispensable for Agarwood incense, but agarwood essential oil is not the main thing, it is just a flavoring agent, which has the effect of keeping the scent longer when used. So what is the secret ingredient in incense and why is it so famous?

Agarwood essential oil is usually quite strong, intense, sometimes even more intense than musk (secretion from the endocrine organs of musk deer). The scent of agarwood essentialoil has many different types, either too spicy, or too sweet, sometimes the smell of smoke is too heavy or too 'smell'. Agarwood essential oil is in fact a resin produced from large floating mounds on the trunks of agarwood trees of the genera Aquilaria, Gyrinops (in Vietnam, the tree is do Bau). Transactions involving agarwood oil are often unbelievably expensive.

Because of this feature, Western perfumers often use only certain drops of Agarwood essential oil in making 'artificial' perfumes. The demand for these perfumes is very high in Western countries, especially France. Yves Saint Laurent launched the M7 perfume line in 2002, using Agarwood essential oil as the main ingredient. The past 11 years are also enough time for the Western high-end perfume market to appear many perfumes with high-grade agarwood ingredients as follows:

Colonia Intensa Oud Concentree by Aqua Di Parma.
Leather Oud by Christin Dior.
Oud Wood by Tom Ford.
Pure Oud by Kilian.
Cashmere Mood by Maison Francis Kurkdjian.
(According to Investment Bridge magazine)