Nepalese Oud

Note Profile

Botanical

About

Nepalese oud is agarwood sold under a Nepal or Himalayan origin. One trade source describes it as nutty and deep with a chocolate streak through the wood. Whether Nepal is an established agarwood origin at all is disputed.

Scent Profile

Dry_woody is the agarwood base and no source disputes it. Nutty and coffee_cacao are what make this origin its own row rather than a label on `oud`. Pure Incense is the only Nepal-specific description available and it reads in full: 'Nutty, deep, woody, with a streak of chocolate running through - and underneath it, that raw lift agarwood has before anyone's touched it with anything else'. Nutty leads cacao because 'nutty' is the first word of that sentence and the chocolate is a streak through the wood rather than the wood itself. Amber_resinous is the resin that Pure Incense says runs darker in slow-grown Himalayan trees, supported by the 'sweet-resinous' of Parfumo's genus paragraph. Smoky is the weakest of the four values above the line, because it comes only from that genus paragraph, 'very intense, warm-woody, sweet-resinous, smoky, ambery', which is not written about Nepal. Under the line sit earthy, sweet_vanillic, animalic and leather, held low for the same reason: the genus text lists them as origin-dependent, and no source says Nepal is one of the origins that carries them. Honeyed, creamy_woody and tobacco_hay are traces.

ScentWheel

Breadthbroad

EnvelopeBase · ~18h lasting

Family Woody & Earthy, Sweet & Gourmand

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

Origin

Sold as Himalayan agarwood oil sourced from northern Nepal. Pure Incense says of its Kathmandu batch that it 'came from a dealer working the northern reaches of Nepal, where the trees grow slower and the resin runs darker for it'. Parfumo files the term as 'a variant of Oud' and gives it no scent text of its own, reusing the genus-level agarwood paragraph.

Usage in Perfumery

Attested on 19 Parfumo perfumes across 6 brands, including Montale's Nepal Aoud. Not on Fragrantica as a separate note. Also appears as an attar trade name on body-oil listings that carry no origin claim behind it.