The Odorare Circle

Avicenna and Rose Distillation in the Middle Ages

In the 10th century, the Persian physician and scholar Avicenna perfected an ancient distillation process, turning it into a precision tool for processing roses. This article explores how the alemb...

Vetiver in perfumery: the root that smells of earth

Vetiver is a root, not a grass: it is this botanical detail that explains its smoky earthy scent and its place in perfumery. Haiti, Java, and Réunion Island each produce a different version, depend...

Patchouli in perfumery: from leaf to base note

Patchouli is a dried Indonesian leaf that is then steam-distilled, not a root as is often believed. This article explains the process that transforms a plant with a green scent into an earthy, wood...

Rose in perfumery: Grasse, Turkey, Taif

The rose that scents a perfume bottle is almost never the flower from the garden: it is a raw material derived from two specific species, harvested in three regions of the world, and processed usin...

How is oud extracted? From tree to bottle

Oud is not harvested like a resin: it is an infected wood that must first be identified, then cut, reduced to chips, and distilled with water for several days. This article details the actual steps...

Natural or synthetic oud: what sets them apart

Natural oud comes from the resin of an infected wood, harvested in Southeast Asia and distilled in very small quantities. Synthetic oud, on the other hand, recreates this scent using stable aromati...

Why is oud so expensive?

The price of oud is driven by three measurable factors: only a minority of trees become naturally infected and produce resin, distillation requires dozens of kilos of wood for just a few milliliter...