Oud de Burgas

[The Knize]

I was not sure where to park this posting. Sorry if it is a bit presumptuous to start a new thread over it!

I got a sample of Santi Burgas' Oud de Burgas with some scents I bought in Barcelona. Although I am impressed with natural ouds on many levels, including the silage and tenacity, I have not really kept up scents that purport to be "ouds" in style. And the few I have sampled that seem to be based on artificial ingredients intended to mimic natural oud have not seemed all that oud-like to me. I guess this one purports to have natural oud in it and at about $295 for 100 ml, perhaps it does.

Anyway, this one really does smell like natural oud to me, along with some other scent notes, of course. Highly complex. Strong and it hangs in there. Spiritual, even. The oud definitely dominates. Very nice. I knew nothing of this house, much less of this particular scent. FWIW, I am impressed.

I would not rely too much on me, I am sorry to say. Because as I indicate above, I have not been keeping up with true natural ouds, and as indicated above, I have pretty much ignored oud-type scents altogether. I do not think I am going to be buying a bottle at $295, but that is just because I do not normally spend anything like that on a bottle of scent. I am not saying that this one is not worth it in some sort of cosmic sense.

 

[Brutus]

“Oud de Burgas”

An odd combination for a name, a bit like naming a racing car “Ferrari Baltimore”. *

Oud is a traditional Arab incense, made from agarwood, grown in India and neighbouring countries, and used in the Arab world for (ladies) perfumes and incense.

And Burgas is a Black Sea port in Bulgaria that has precious little connection to the Arab world - or oud for that matter.


Whatever…
No skin off my nose.



B.


* No offence intended to the hard-working people of Baltimore. The analogy was inspired by the TV series “The Wire”.

 

[The Knize]

The name of the perfume house seems to be "Santi Burgas." It is a Spanish outfit and seems to be named after its creative director Santiago Burgas Bou. I have no idea whether that kind of naming makes sense in Spanish or not. I assumed that "Oud de Burgas" really just means this is this particular perfume house's or company's take on an oud-based edt or edp or whatever. Every perfume house these days seems to have an oud scent in the line up. I think this use of oud has become rather detached from the traditional uses of oud, and from the Arab world, except by way of back story.

In the Arab world is oud really used exclusively in women's, as opposed to men's, scents? I think real oud is pretty remarkable stuff. I sure understand why perfume makers would market scents as smelling like oud!

 

[Brutus]

The name of the perfume house seems to be "Santi Burgas." Every perfume house these days seems to have an oud scent in the line up. I think this use of oud has become rather detached from the traditional uses of oud, and from the Arab world, except by way of back story.

In the Arab world is oud really used exclusively in women's, as opposed to men's, scents? I think real oud is pretty remarkable stuff. I sure understand why perfume makers would market scents as smelling like oud!

Yes, you are right there.
The “Burgas” in the product name being linked to the name of the creator would at least make sense.

From what I gathered, genuine oud was priced at over $100,000 per kilogram in 2010 already and most perfume houses now use a synthetic oud scent.

I asked my wife, who grew up in Abu Dhabi, about the use of oud and she told me that local Arab men use it occasionally too. In the 34 years I worked there, I have never noticed it on non-Arab men and whenever I smelled it I found it a bit too overpowering for my taste.

But for my own use I prefer light woodsy or lemony tones anyway.


B.

 

[The Knize]

Well, there are various types of oud. I would not be surprised if some cost $100,000 a kilo or more. There are a 1000 grams in a kilo. So that would be $100 a gram. I suspect a gram goes a long way in western scent making, but still. I do not think commercial or even niche scents spend very much at all on ingredients.

I agree that virtually all designer frags and even niche frags that purport to be oud frangrances are using synthetics. This one probably has synthetics, too, but it does list some natural oud as I read what is said about it online. I doubt if top quality or much. But this is a powerful scent with legs, and it does smell like it has some oud to me, unilke many modern oud frags.

I said I like ouds, and I have some pin head samples of various ones around still, I am sure. But I have to admit that I have never really worn a natural oud except around the house. They are rather overwhelming. I do like this scent though. And it behaves pretty much like a modern designer scent, albeit one with lots of silage and tenacity.