Try 4711. It's very affordable. It smells similar to much more expensive Neroli Portofino by Tom Ford.

I've bought from them many times in the past. All had been authentic. In fact, it's the cheapest place for you to buy Chanel and Dior fragrances.

I think I have tried it a few years ago at Isetan KLCC but I don't remember how it smells like now. Not really a fan of mainstream oud.

Not to offend anyone who loves mainstream oud. By mainstream, I mean those cleaned up version for the Western market. I'm not particularly fond of oud to begin with but I like Leather Oud by Dior and Cambodian oud oil. They say Indian oud is fecal but I don't find Oud Assam by Rania J animalic at all.

Or want to play the real deal by buying some real agar wood and burnt them as incense, i think it does cost more effort to extract them as oil.

Actually, it is quite difficult to properly heat/burn agarwood chips. A good example would be the Japanese incense tradition, or Monkoh/Kodo .

Arabs usually simply chuck a super high grade, highly resinous wood on hot coal , so no matter how skilled you are, it's going to smell good. But you won't be able to discern the subtle nuances of the aroma. Everything gets shot up in one go and it's like your olfactory senses just got an uppercut by Mike Tyson.

The Japanese way, takes a lot of skill. The right temperature, the right piece of wood, the right stage of heating. Even a small splinter of wood can last very long by this way. They call it "listening" to the aroma of the heated wood.

Oil, IMO, it's like taking the good stuff out already, for consumers to appreciate. "Listening" to the aroma, and the many facets it brings, also takes skill, and training (your nose).

If you take a low grade wood, or even an average quality wood available nowadays, you'll most likely inhale the smell of burnt wood (like when you burn wood for campfires), and maaaaaybe some of the agarwood goodness. Why? Because the bunk wood (unresinated) gets burnt simultaneously with the resinated parts. Do it like the Japs, you HEAT the wood, not burn it, so that the aroma gets released , while the wood stays unburnt. Use a charcoal, and things get more difficult. Use a good electric heater, then it's easier.

As of now, I'm more of an oil guy. I suck at heating wood, and I'm not rich enough to trial and error with high grade wood. But I do wish to learn it some day.

Now...about oils...from my noob experience, plus some fruitful discussions with Ensar, Adam (Feel Oud), Taha (AA), and some others..

"The real deal" is very subjective. Oil extracted from low quality wood, with poor distillation techniques, are also "The real deal", if one means purity, and really from gaharu, as long as it's not adulterated/diluted.  You can get these for below RM200 to RM300+ tops.

If by "the REAL deal" , one means the no nonsense, high end, benchmark oud oils, well then it's a whole different story.

The smell of wood, and even more the oil, may vary due to the following factors :
- Species (malaccensis,crassna, sinensis,etc.)
- Region (Crassna in Pahang vs Crassna in Cambodia, may produce very different smells)
- Grade (obviously) . wild wood tend to give richer,and more complex smells. but take scrap wild wood, compare to high grade cultivation wood, wild will lose out.
- and currently among the biggest factors, Distillation techniques and practices.

So if someone is offering you some WILD oud oil, and put a high price tag,but it smells like longkang all the way through the dry down, the wood used was probably low grade, and the distillation techniques were probably poor as well.

Whether or not synthetics can do the job of real oud, personally I think not at the moment. Real oud is just too complex. Take two sibling trees side by side from the same jungle, make oil, you won't get 100% identical aroma.

BTW Tazio, Feel Oud has 3g oils that would cost around RM400 I think. Like Mai Bo Rai (among which I have extra of..but sold out on website .just checked while writing this). Champi intensa also within my collection. They're the classic cultivated thai oud , but high quality, and no inoculants (injections to trigger infection). Atleast 3 years of natural infection. I think less than 50% of cultivators in Malaysia would even wait as long as 2 years.

@tazio

It is indeed potent. A tiny dab is definitely enough for personal appreciation. If you want others to get a whiff of it, then perhaps a swipe then dab on other areas (pulse points near the neck, behind ears etc). If you have bears, you can wipe your oily hands there too. Hair holds oils longer. Skin absorbs it quite fast.

But oud being overkill is quite subjective.. depends on the type also. Is it a "barnyard" smelling oud ? Is it the airy/minty kind? Is it the smokey incense type? Some have killer top notes but mellower mid and base. Some are very "cheerful" so to speak, while others are grounding, and earthy.

There's this one oil I passed on to my friend..I liked it but when I wore it, it wasnt projecting very well. When my friend wore it, just being near him I get to enjoy the oud aroma. It could either be due to his skin type is suitable with that oud, or I've got olfactory fatigue and need a break .haha

For me I usually put a drop on my wrist and then dab it till the colour is gone but the shine remains. Just for personal appreciation. Sometimes I wipe the remaining on my clothes, since it can last longer. But dont put a drop on your clothes! The stain is very stubborn. Shine without colour, yes safe to dab on cloth. Still at your own risk though.

All this info is still newbie compared to many other people. It's also thanks to friendly and open distillers/vendors and other consumers that such info were gotten.

Btw Tazio which Feel Oud oil have you tried?

@marver @t0n3 thanks guys.no expert here. Just conveying what was conveyed to me.

Ive had people around smelling some of my collection, first comment "busuk! Apa ni???" Haha. It was one of the oils with sort of pungent opening. In general, light thai/cambodian ouds are among the friendly types..fruity..sweet..no barnyard/fecal..usually. if you start with super intense hindi you might run away afterwards. Lol

Any good Arabic perfume/oud? Will depart for Egypt and UAE for 2 weeks this Friday, and based on itinerary, seems have quite ample time to do shopping.

Very interesting this....lets support our local talent. Ordered samples of these three new offerings PLUS the award winning Miyako.

Ah, Osmanthus. I should have discovered it earlier. I recently tried Absolue d’Osmanthe Extrait by Perris Monte Carlo and really liked it. Thought of buying osmanthus based fragrance for my mom as her Christmas present this year but was in a rush. Didn't have time to order samples and pick so I ended up buying her a biggest bottle of Jour d'Hermes that she really loves but almost runs out, which I gifted her a couple of years ago as her Christmas present. As for my wife, not getting her any more perfume this year as she has quite a number of them (also gifted by me) that are still almost full. I got her DW classy watch instead. As for my 9mo boy (turning to 10mo in a few more days), I haven't decided what to buy for him. Still too young for bigger toys. December is really a month of spending. I also plan to grab that Roja Dove sample set from luckyscent.

I've read about Hermessence Osmanthe Yunnan but Jean-Claude Ellena has light hands. Well, maybe too light for my liking

We only give ang pows and hampers during CNY

BTW, which part of me suggests that I'm a Chinese?

Can't wait to try the new release, Civet by Zoologist.

https://www.zoologistperfumes.com/blogs/new...zoologist-civet

Yes I am and a big one. My tastes are more towards vintage/classic style where animalic notes are/were very common. Depending on the brand, well-known brand of vintages like Chanel or Guerlain can still cost you a kidney specially the PdT (it's EdP that they used to call at that time).

I have three bottles of BaV EdC actually. The cannister design is made in the 70's while the splash bottles are from original design made in the 60's. Animalic, yes but not dirty. Some one mentioned it's in the vein of Toujours Moi and Tabu (which I also own). Get the cannister so you know your juice isn't being tampered with and for easy application, and also it's fresher when it's sealed. Get the splash bottle if you're a collector. i would say it's the best affordable vintage you can buy. Performance-wise, you will get noticed, definitely has better projection than my current formulation of Jicky EdT. It lasts about 4-6 hours on my skin.

My Guerlain collection 

1. L'Instant de Guerlain Pour Homme EDT
2. Guerlain Heritage EDT
3. Guerlain Vetiver
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Wow... very happy to see we are having more and more new frag heads joining the family.

Welcome and please continue to make this thread active hehe     

Since acquiring my Orange Bitters by Jo Malone last Christmas, im drowning in this magic amber orange juice... and finally i can say my collection is complete. I will halt my hauls for the next coming years until i can finish any one bottle that i own, and mostly in near future i will have a garage sale to sadly part way with my least love babies

I will still sniff out new releases from both designers and niches and share my experience here hehe...

So at the end of 1st quarter of 2017 i gotten these 2 babies:-

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Yes no other than Muglers' flankers - Pure Tonka and Pure Havane ( They are now on sale at Metrojaya Mid Valley, 405 for Pure Tonka, 350 for Pure Havane and Pure Malt)

I started to look into this house after i saw the Green Kyrptomint at Fragrantica so i keep wandering at any Mugler counter at any departmental store.

Having tried Malt, Havane, Wood, Leather, Tonka, Ultra Zest, i think Tonka and Havane are the ones really worth owning.

Lets start with Pure Tonka,

This new flanker has a new rubber bottle, instead of matte, they give it a glossy rubber feel lol and the colour of the juice is not bronze like in their ad, rather is dark brown juice haha, ok now to the scent, this is Pure Cafe Latte for me. Opens up with a sticky burnt sweet lavender and tonka. Those who have tried Hermessence Brin de Reglisse will understand this burnt sweet lavender licorice opening lol then in a short while it will turn into a sweet vanilla latte scent. Tonka become no where to be seen what you left with is a very warm sweet comforting smooth smelling of vanilla latte. The coffee note is very strong here.

Does it very hard to wear like the Ori Amen ? does it still have the wtf crazy stink tar note? all nope. This is how Amen should have been... Performance wise, you wont be disappointing with it. i do 4 sprays and it last more than 10 hrs, projection inital spray will fill your bedroom then it will be constant 3 inch of coffee heaven surrounding you...

Simply 10/10 release with a solid price point which put Bond No 9 New Haarlem and Dior Feve Delicieuse to shame lol...

Now on to Pure Havane,

They have change the packaging of the box which mean the juice have been reformulated which is a good thing for me. Why? they toned down the thick cherry note on the opening which mean i get more honey and green tobacco leave scent right from the start and it doesn't smell the same like Bougart Pour Homme anymore ... it is fabulous sweet tobacco scent.

However Havane dont have the performance of Tonka, meaning u can over spray this juice and enjoy wonderful scent. If u think the opening already quite luxurious wait for the magic drydown, honey, vanilla, cacao, tobacco... a soft sweet alluring tobacco scent that surround you closely. For the price it charging, you are hard pressed to find a better tobacco scent like this, unless u willing to spend double for Tobacco vanille, Herod, etc. I am happy with this juice and im glad they turn the intensity down as this and Tonka i can wear it day in day out also no problem

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Cheers mate..

Right now my arsenal will be:-
Xerjoff Nio
Jo Malone Orange Bitters
Tom Ford Grey Vetiver
Mugler Pure Tonka
Mugler Pure Havane
Bond No 9 A Scent of Peace for Him
Hermes Bel Ami
Burberry London

Lo and behold...