ÇaFleureBon Behind the Bottle: Salaam Attar of Abdes Salaam Attars ‘Oud Caravan Internet Project’ +11ml Caravan Draw

 

 

Oud is ubiquitous in the market. Every natural or niche fragrance has been in "the mood for Oud" for the past few  years. Why is the Oud used in your natural perfumery fragrance different? 

 

 

ASA: (AbdesSalaam Attar) Oud has been recently discovered by western perfumers but is one of the most ancient scents used by mankind as a perfume, in the very part of the world where the culture of perfume comes from,—the East. Oud is at the fundament of Koh doh, the Japanese Zen of perfume, and the legend has Koh doh starting from the find of a lump of the precious wood drifted on a beach.I have been using Oud for myself since the eighties when I started travelling to Arabia as a pilgrim and this scent has been ever since a passion for me, as it is for the Arabs.

 

 

I was never tempted to of make a perfume with Oud because I enjoyed it exactly as it is, plain and unadulterated. However I was recently asked by my Arab customer who commissioned the new Arabian series to compose an Oud fragrance for the Gulf market.All this should give you an idea why Oud Caravan could be very different from existing Oud fragrances on the market. Real Oud is an olfactory gem and is as rare and as costly as gems are. My idea is to realize an olfactory jewel with this gem. A perfect Rubi can be exhibited and admired for itself, but when you set it into a golden ring with small diamonds and pink Tourmalines, the rubi's perfection is underlined and even enhanced by the other gems. This is my idea, an Oud better than Oud, "the ultimate Oud fragrance".

   

You once wrote that blogs were important in educating  perfumistas on natural perfumery brands. Why did you select basenotes.net for the Oud Caravan Internet Project?

 ASA: I have been a member of Basenotes for many years and have some experience in realizing natural fragrance projects with Basenoters. They have always appreciated my perfumes; the many reviews of my fragrances on Basenotes are a testimonial to that.I like to work with Basenoters because they are people from whom you are sure to get the plain truth. A group of them are Oud lovers and I consider them a great resource because there are few real Oud experts like them around. I have asked a panel of them to judge my first proposal, Oud Caravan N°1, and to help me in composing a fragrance worthy of their passion for Oud.

 

 

I am also inviting  Cafleurebon readers, (even those who do not know the smell of real Oud), to discover it and participate in this project, because the “Ultimate Oud Fragrance” should be a perfume that makes Oud a love story for all, not only for Oud lovers.

 

How can our readers participate?

  

ASA: I am offering CaFleureBon readers a 11ml sample for a draw;  you and I will judge the winner by the 10 best comments It is very simple, in other ways explained in the Oud Caravan Project thread  on Basenotes.They can then write their impressions and ideas in the thread. When I have sufficient feedback I shall compose a second fragrance, Oud Caravan N°2, that takes into account the comments and wishes of the public. This Oud Caravan N°2 will be sent again to The Perfumed Court for free sampling and you will be able to comment the results again. In 3 or 4 steps we should reach a satisfying result. It should satisfy me, the general public and the Oud experts of Basenotes (a difficult lot to satisfy). 

 

Many bloggers are fans of yours, including Octavian Coifan of 1000 fragrances who put Mecca Balsam on the global  map so to speak in his review Balsamo della Mecca – new fragrance review from La Via del Profumo . Was that review  your own personal  awakening into the power of blogosphere?

  

ASA: To call Octavian a fan is a bit exaggerated, he wrote 2 nice reviews of my fragrances, that is all. Octavian’s review of Mecca Balsam has been for me as important as having my perfumes included in “The Guide” of Luca and Tania. They are unbiased experts who do not give their praise easily.Octavian, like Luca, is a respected professional figure of the sector; he is a perfumer himself and historian of perfumery. His perfumery culture is immense and his judgment is very important for me. The importance of the blogosphere had been clear to me long before the Mecca Balsam launch, because I have had my shop on the web since 98 and have been known to perfumistas exclusively through reviews of my fragrances on a number of blogs. In the last years Perfumery blogs have multiplied to a great extend and this is changing the dynamics of  the blogosphere scene. Bloggers have been increasingly courting the industry for recognition (Fifis awards, seats in committees, invitations to events…)  and some of them are losing sight of their original mission of promoting conscious consumerism.

 
 There is a serious danger that blogs could become an arm to promote or eliminate from visibility products and perfumers on the web.I believe that a more interactive technology will eventually make new phenomenon emerge, that will renew the original mission of perfume blogs in a more effective and powerful way.

 

  

The Oud Caravan project was organized rather quickly and is based on your unveiling of the new concept of Perfume Evolution. Please share your perception, thoughts and our readers and its conception in depth with our readers

 ASA:The web is continuously generating new potentialities, and only the first ones are just starting to be realized. In the perfume world a radical shift is taking place in the relation producer-consumer. The consumer used to be only a passive recipient of the product made by the industry. Criticizing perfumes had never existed before Luca Turin and in a “pre-Turin” perfume world consumers were docile and receptive recipients brainwashed by the marketers. With the advent of the web every passionate consumer could become a perfume critic and this is exactly what has happened. Fragrance reviews and forum contents generated by the customers on the web far outweigh the advertisement campaigns of the industry.

 


In a context where the web commerce is fast supplanting the traditional shop distribution, the web customer has become a major consideration for the industry.
The industry cannot anymore impose its own criterions and logic, the consumer is gradually gaining the power to impose his will to shape the products, and the refusal of the industry to compromise is digging a growing abyss between what the people really want and what the industry offers. Only small Indie perfumers can issue a product that responds to the needs and wishes of the public.  A recent analysis has revealed that perfumistas desire a “more artisanal, more natural and more simple product”.

 

  

Artisanality is intrinsically incompatible with mass production but the industry is trying to overcome this with the multiplication of expensive “limited series”.

 Natural ingredients are incompatible with mass production and mass profit but the industry is trying to overcome this with bio-technology products and with legislation that can make a non-natural product “legally natural”.

 Simplicity in perfumery is what Guerlain taught to his students: “have simple ideas, apply them scrupulously, never cheat on the quality and make good products”. The industry has no ideas. It has only one fixed idea “making more profits”. Not just making profits but making more  than last year because the Wall Street system punishes those corporations who do not make more profits than the previous one.Even though this is clearly unsustainable.

 

 

 

There is a cult like following for many perfumers; I coined the term “Rockstar” in 2004 when referring to Bertrand Duchaufour. The world of indie and natural perfumers are in the spotlight, now as well. How does this relate to your personal philosophy as a natural perfumer.

 ASA: My philosophy as a natural perfumer is to produce “Real perfumes made for real people with real ingredients”.I am wondering what philosophy is behind “synthetic crap made for profits with deceptive marketing”.  I believe that perfumes should be made for the people instead of being made for (more) profits, and that perfumistas of the web could be able to shape the trends of perfumery together with Indie perfumers.  The philosophy behind the Oud Caravan project is that perfumers are at the service of the customers and can collaborate with them in producing new marvelous fragrances.

  

What is the Perfume Evolution?

  

ASA: The slogan “Perfume Evolution” expresses the idea of the democratization of perfume which is happening through the web, customers and perfumers are together becoming free from the dictate of the industry. 


The emerging generation of Indie perfumers has a new type of relation with the public, similar to the one that rock stars or pop musicians have with theirs.
Today, perfumers have followers and fans on Facebook and on their personal blogs, they can be met in events (Tauer) or even in street markets (Ayala) or in their own shop. They teach courses and have students (Mandy), they give free professional advice online (Anya) and they talk and talk with friends and fans all over the web.The new generation of perfumers are friendly, idealistic and passionate, the opposite of what a perfume corporation is.The “Perfume Evolution” is setting the relation Perfumer/customer at the core of the process that gives birth to perfumes, as it was once, when perfumes were customized and made for people who commissioned them. In our epoch though, it is not a single person who will commission the perfume but a whole public

 

 

 This is exactly what the Oud Caravan is about

  –Michelyn Camen, Editor in Chief

DISCLAIMER: This is an interview not an article; Ayala Sender wants to clarify "that I do not and can not be part of street markets. I do art and fashion trade shows/retail shows, which are always under a roof, not out in the open. Perfume is not something that is advisable to sell outdoors. Too much risk of ruining it in a day long outdoor event (sun, dirt, wind, etc.).

  

 Thank you Dominique Dubrana (Abdes Salaam Attar) for this opportunity for our readers. Please leave a comment and remember we will jointly  select the  draw from the ten best comments , so show you are seriously interested in joining the  oud caravan and the Perfume Evolution by November 10 EST.  Like CaFleureBon's  Behind the bottle series on Facebook

 

 

 We announce the winners only on site and on our Facebook page, so Like Cafleurebon and use our RSS option…or your dream prize will be just spilt perfume .

 

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12 comments

  • Sergey says:

    Some time ago I was in India and Thailand – searching for the best Oud oil in Mumbai, New Delhi, Agra and sleepy old town named Kannauj (it was perfume capital of India many centuries ago).
    Well, I spent about a fortune on samples of oud there. Every attarwallah told me about adulteration of oud oils made by others and sold me another adulteration (more or less).
    My friend-perfumer from Bangkok told me that he was checking oud oil there – only one person was selling REAL stuff.

    So I`m very enthusiastic about this project of Abdes Salaam – as I was never satisfied with oud synthetics. Synth oud is good to wear, but it lacks any spirituality and sacral feeling.

  • Giovanni says:

    I think this is a great project of democracy.
    The natural perfume, especially in Italy, is victim of obscurantism from blogger who thinks to be the guru of perfumes.
    The natural fragrances are not politically correct, because the politically correctness is one of the great problem of this age.
    It’s strange to think that all say I love oud and no one have ever smelled oud.
    The sinth is not the devil, but the use of sinth by the industry is one of the reason of the identity crisis of the niche.
    I hope that this project will have a great success.

  • Masha says:

    The market for real, wild oud may be in its final years. I’ve read and heard reports from credible people in Asia that wealthy Chinese are buying up the last remaining stocks of oud wood at unreal prices in order to make carvings, which are said by them to bring luck. In a way, it will preserve some of the wood for future generations, I suppose. I’ve also heard that other Asian groups are clearing the last remaining wild stands of agarwood, even from remote forests in Borneo. The cost of real oud, if it can be found, is going through the roof. For incense and perfume makers who value real agarwood, it’s a real blow. I like some of the synthetics, and I like cultivated agarwood, but they do not come close to the real thing. I hope that in making this precious perfume, M. Durbano will be able to preserve some if its incredible aroma for future generations. Thank you for honoring one of the most amazing substances Planet Earth has ever produced.

  • Salaam says:

    Masha, you are indeed right and your information are very likely to be true. Whenever I got information from someone who deals with this precious material I got the same picture. These are the last years. I am making a small stock of Oud as I did in its time with the Mysore Sandalwood but it will be sufficient only for a few hundreds of bottles of Oud Caravan. This is a very limited perfume edition, and I am afraid that future generations will not ba able to count on me for knowing this smell.
    At one point the commerce of Oud may also become illegal as it happened with Muskdeer.

  • waftbycarol says:

    Very few perfumers today share their passion and knowledge as freely and generously as AbdesSalaam .
    His fragrances are difficult , deep and provocative , yet accessable . They are created to heal , to soothe and to provoke thoughtful reflection , and in this sense unique .
    I know from AbdesSalaam himself that the healing properties of the essences he uses are first and foremost his consideration . He is an alchemist in the best sense of the word and opens to us a world we have lost contact with in modern society , yet he keeps these gorgeous fragrances accessable and beautiful .
    I would be honored to be invloved in one of his projects , and ecstatic to own and wear a sacred OUD fragrance .
    In my imagination I also always felt OUD was a complete fragrance on it’s own as does AbdesSalaam . Yet I have never had access to nor smelled raw OUD wood , nor high quality oud oil .
    This is very exciting project , so thank you for the opportunity to be involved .
    A better than OUD oud ? count me in!!!

  • sandi L says:

    Masha, I loved your post and yes we are in danger of losing this precious natural wood that has been used in spiritual practice by by many for years. Carol, I too believe that OUD is a complete and complex perfume in and of itself. With all the Oud perfumes that have flooded the market over the past years, it makes we wonder if any have had the experience of smelling and putting into memory this most heavenly aroma. I do also believe Salaam, that the commerce of OUD will become illegal as well, there may be steps in this direction as we speak. In some area’s I do believe that it is already regulated by their governments. Salaam blessings to you, and what an amazing project. Michelyn, once again a remarkable interview.

  • Asali says:

    I just wanted to thank for the very insightful and inspiring interview. I really welcome initiatives like ASA’s Oud Caravan, this is truly a new way of thinking and creating fragrance. Unfortunately I’m still working on my oud appreciation, so in this particular project I should be of no value, however I shall follow with great interest.

  • Lucy says:

    A very beautiful project! La Via del Profumo is unique and always connects to a great depth of soul through the medium of perfume. Such deep knowledge of this ingredient and sharing it enlightens and gives profound dimension to the experience of oud in perfumes.

  • MamanParfum says:

    It always makes me happy to see a perfumer working with the earth to honour its sanctity. To support that true balance of nature is our duty for the future of our children. Oud is already a beautiful thing, and to support a little of it, like the precious jewel amongst other oils in order to glorify it, also goes a long way to preserving the balance of what there is left in the world. This ensures that the newest popularity of Oud does not overwhelm the quantity that is naturally obtainable.

  • Lyubov says:

    The interview is realy useful and informative! Thank you!
    I recently found myself interested in perfumes with attars and I still don’t have enough experience with them. I’ve tested some, but liked few…Montale’s creations are a bit over the top to me – only White Oud makes it through. I found that some men’s perfumes have a propper balance on my skin in terms of agarwood – Dirty English, Wonderwood or M7, for instance. Not too strong, not too comfortable. And it seems sometimes I smell it in compositions without oud – like Agent Provocateur.
    It is more than a great idea to provoke the customers and have a valuable feedback before the launch of a perfume. And it sounds better than just a simple marketing research. Writing sincerely about your feelings, without having the perfume pyramid in mind, is a challenge any perfume-lover (not only the perfumistas) would appreciate.
    I just want to add that I’ve tested some oud oils at the Egyptian market in Istanbul and I wrinkled my nose with the bizarre bitterness. I could only compare it to the Dentist’s cabinet and burnt old news-paper…

  • WillC says:

    I would love to be considered to take part in this project. I’m not an oud expert, but I hope I can make a contribution of some value anyway. I have sampled various perfumes containing oud, and I’ve also burnt oud chips at home, so that’s given me some idea of what oud smells like. I’ve also smelled some oud oils of lesser quality than what Dominique’s offering, and I would love to sample Oud Caravan. I also love the concept of Perfume Evolution, with the idea of restoring a more old-fashioned relationship between perfumer and consumer through the modern medium of the web. I’m sure if Dominique continues to adopt this approach in future compositions then the results will be stunning.

  • Barry says:

    I am a fan of Abdes Salaam Attar (or Dominique Dubrana) ever since I was introduced to him via Luca Turin about a year ago. I began experimenting with fragrance by ordering about 30 items from his Didactical Kit.
    Since then I have acquired dozens more, including some Oud samples which I received from people around the world. There is huge variation in oud quality, much of it very bad and stinky, yet there are a few rare outstanding examples of gorgeous oud available if you are lucky to find it, and if you can afford it. It’s not clear to me exactly what approach Dominique is going to take with his Oud Caravan project, but based on his many other perfumes and in particular his excellent recent Arabian series, I expect something very good to come out of this. I’ll be interested to see if he includes the classic “barnyard” elements of Hindi oud. I’m not sure if there’s a difference between this and the Bengali oud that he says he will be using. I am very excited to be part of this project via his Basenotes Club and to smell what he creates, and to see how it evolves through the democratic process of the club.
    Regarding Dominique’s comments about the state of the perfume industry and also the state of grass-roots perfumery via the Internet,
    The key point is that because science has not fully elucidated how the nose works (in the same way that we know how the eye and the ear work) much of olfaction remains a mystery. We don’t truly know why things smell the way they do. Yes there are theories, but nothing strong enough to allow the creation of an iPod or FAX machine for smell. It is precisely because of this mystery that perfumery, and especially natural perfumery is such an important art and craft. Synthetic molecules that dominate the perfume industry are good, but in the absence of true knowledge of how the nose works, they most likely are missing something essential. That’s why people like Dominique are so important. He is a key player in helping us all understand the sense of smell. He educates. He shares his knowledge. And he allows people to participate in his explorations through his club on Basenotes. What more could one wish for?