Chinese Oud

Note Profile

Botanical 4 perfumes

Drag to turn On Note Island

About

Chinese Oud, Chen Xiang, is agarwood oil from Aquilaria sinensis in southern China, chiefly Hainan. It is the clean end of the oud spectrum. It smells herbaceous, cool, quietly honeyed and faintly medicinal. It is less animalic than Indian oud and less fruity than Cambodian oud. Wild trees are scarce, and the species is now widely cultivated.

Scent Profile

Opens green and herbal, with a cool, slightly bitter freshness. The heart is a clean, dry wood with a subtle honey sweetness and a faintly medicinal note. It settles into a quiet, resinous incense base. Some oils add a trace of moss, leather or a mineral edge in the drydown. It is far less animal than Indian oud.

ScentWheel

Breadthmedium

EnvelopeBase · ~24h lasting

Family Woody & Earthy, Green & Aromatic

Read off the wheel, not a label applied to the note.

WorldSee it in Note Island

ScentArt

What is ScentArt?

Materials That Can Make This Note

Perfumers can make Chinese Oud from this natural extract.

Natural extract Agarwood oil resinous · aromatic · woody

Smell words come from published sources.

A given perfume with this note may use this material, or something else.

Origin

Aquilaria sinensis heartwood, infected and resinous, hydrodistilled or extracted with CO2. Hainan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian and Yunnan. Chen Xiang means sinking incense, the grade of wood dense enough with resin to sink in water. CITES Appendix II.

Usage in Perfumery

A heart-to-base note for clean, meditative and East Asian-inspired compositions, used where oud is wanted as depth rather than as shock. It is the origin a perfumer reaches for when the formula cannot carry an animalic oud.