Arabian Oud

This is Axel again. I have always loved incense since I went to BYU. Nepal was a great place to get great incense for next to nothing.

The Arabs here in the Gulf however like to burn something called Oud, which means 'wood'. This comes from the Aguilera or agarwood trees which grows in the jungle. The tree is not good for much as it is a soft wood. However some of them are infected by a fungus that will kill the tree. The tree naturally makes a resin to fight the fungus and it is that resin that smells so good.

The Nguyen dynasty in Vietnam first discovered this and traded with China and it was basically the thing that made Vietnam rich back then. It was then discovered in India, Indonesia, but the best stuff comes from Laos and Cambodia.

When the Arab traders started visiting Malaysia and Indonesia, they started the trade with the Middle East and supplimented the already booming Frankincense and Myrrh trades (which I am not too fond of either one). Both are found in the Middle East in Oman and Yemen. Myrrh is actually just a pine like resin.

This is a typical Oud (or Bukary in Kuwait) shop. Perfumes which are oil based (remember no alcohol in Islam - even in the perfume) are also sold. You can see the good stuff below in glass cases. I am haggling for a better price, but this stuff is pretty set. You pay it or don't buy it.

There are so many different kinds of smells and types of the Oud. Some are enhanced by perfumes and those are the cheap ones. The expensive ones look more like dead wood and have a more woody rich smell. I love the ones that smell like that, but Terah prefers the ones that smell more perfumey. Which is good for me because that is the cheap stuff. There are also supposed to be differences between Oud that was from the forest and the stuff that is grown and intentionally infected with the fungus on agarwood farms.

It is sold by the 'tola' which is as near as I can tell is about 10 grams. You can see them weighing it out here and I am telling the guy to put some extra on for free. Cheap stuff is about 6-7 bucks a tola. Expensive stuff is more expensive than gold or diamonds. The Arabs will pay it. The really rich ones actually have agents who live in the forests and when a villager finds a good tree these agents buy everything off them, grease the officials and ship the whole tree to the private buyers. Japanese are also very much into this and therefor the bidding war for really good oud can get quite serious.

So many choices. So little money Terah will let me spend....

The mother load of cheap stuff. Found only in Kuwaiti outdoor souq markets (Heritage Souq).
THis is my holder. You can see me burning the charcoal. The charcoal gets red and then the wood is added to the top of the red charcoal and it starts smoking away.

I used a normal lighter until I got sick of burning my fingers and then I found one of those cigar blow torches. Just call me the Ghost Rider...

It is a whole process. I must admit that my male genetic disposition to want to burn stuff probably helps my love of doing this. And flaming stuff with a blow torch doesn't hurt. You can see from above my own collection. It represents about 200 bucks or so.

The good stuff. This was from a natural tree in the forest found in Cambodia. It is very light and probably weighed less than half or quarter of a pound. That piece Terah is holding sells for 1600 - 2000 USD. A bit more expensive than a quarter pounder happy meal. It goes up from there.

Wish this blog had scratch and sniff capabilities, but if you have ever been to the Middle East and walked through a mall then you know the smell well! At least the smell of the cheap stuff they burn to attract you in!