Shamamatul Amber Attar
Note Profile
About
Shamamatul Amber is a named Kannauj-style Indian attar, sold under that name by at least five houses. It is warm, woody and amber-led, with saffron and agarwood behind the amber and a floral layer over the top. Ali Brothers call it "a beautiful herbal, spicy, floral and woody fragrance". Cathy's Attars call it "complex, woody, floral. amber-like, warming". Raahi describe the opening as "warm, cozy" and say saffron and agarwood arrive as it settles.
Scent Profile
Amber_resinous leads and it is the facet all three sources reach for. Cathy's say "amber-like, warming", Raahi say "warm, cozy", and amber is in the product name and in Ali Brothers' own build. It sits just under the plain `amber` note's 0.85 because here the amber is a base that other named materials sit on rather than the whole subject. Warm_spice is second: Ali Brothers say "warm, spicy", both other sources name saffron, and Cathy's list adds turmeric and cardamom. Creamy_woody is the sandalwood, which both Ali Brothers and Cathy's name and which is the carrier oil every Kannauj attar is distilled into. Floral rests on two sources calling it floral outright, plus the rose and kewra attars in Ali Brothers' blend list. Dry_woody is the oud, named by Raahi as agarwood and by Cathy's as "maybe some oud"; the hedge in that second source is why it stays below the sandalwood. Aromatic_herbal comes from Ali Brothers' word "herbal" and from the nard and turmeric in Cathy's list. Below the line: sweet_vanillic is the cosy warmth all three describe, earthy and mineral are the mitti attar in Ali Brothers' build and nothing else corroborates them, powdery follows the floral and the labdanum, animalic is the ambergris and ambrette seed that only Cathy's names, and mossy_chypre is the oakmoss from that same single hedged list.
ScentWheel
Read off the wheel, not a label applied to the note.
Origin
A compounded attar, not a single extract. Ali Brothers describe their version as a blend of already-finished attars, naming rose, gulhina (henna), mitti (earth) and kewra, built on sandalwood and amber. Cathy's Attars give a different and wider guess at the recipe: "some combination of saffron, nard, labdanum, ambrette seed, oakmoss, turmeric, cardamom, maybe some oud, ambergris and other rare spices and of course sandalwood". The two lists do not agree, which is normal for a family-recipe attar. This is a second-stage blend built on the shamama tradition, not the same object as the published `shamama-attar`, which is a single hydro-distillation of 40 or more raw botanicals into sandalwood.
Usage in Perfumery
Worn neat as an attar and used as an amber-oriental base in Middle Eastern and South Asian style compositions. Attested on three Parfumo fragrances across three brands and none on Fragrantica. Cathy's instruct the buyer to "put a tiny drop on your skin to smell how it unfolds", which is the usual dosage for an aged attar. It sits with oud, rose, saffron and sandalwood.
Similar Notes
Perfumes featuring Shamamatul Amber Attar
A selection of reviewed perfumes where Shamamatul Amber Attar appears prominently.
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