The Middle East is a region where fragrance is deeply rooted into the culture and the traditions. Scent is ever-present in the day to day life and plays a crucial role in hospitality, grooming and rituals.

For too-long in Western eyes, there has been a nearly exclusive connection to oud, but a whole other world of ingredients exists where native fruits, flowers and spices take center stage. Consumers in the region are increasingly sophisticated, worldly and interested in discovering new olfactory experiences.

The fragrance market value in the Middle East surpassed $3,7B in 2023, and is expected to reach $5.4B by 2032, according to Expert Market Research, to be led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Against this context, at last, here is my latest installment in a recurring series with the Middle Eastern Approach to Perfumery.* Several industry insiders - locals who were born, raised and live in the region now - have graciously shared their insight, knowledge and expertise with me to provide the real story at the source. Let’s explore the heritage of this cradle of perfume culture, let’s vicariously delve into the traditions, let’s learn about the changing face of the retail landscape and let’s find out how the market has changed in recent times and what could happen in the next few years.

Fragrant Beginnings

Historically, perfume use in this part of the world dates back to the Ancient Egyptians and the people of Mesopotamia. Fragrance was used in religious rituals as well as in daily life. Flowers and aromatic plants growing outside of towns were harvested locally to be used in perfumes, cosmetics, culinary and therapeutic recipes. The region has a wealth of natural ingredients: myrrh and incense coming from the Southern coasts of Arabia and the Horn of Africa, grey Amber mainly collected from the coasts of Yemen and Oman. There is jasmine and narcissus, but the rose, coming from locales as varied as Isfahan, Damascus and Oman, has a special status. It is the flower of poets and was associated to beauty, love and purity.

Not only was the region rich in these raw materials but it was situated on the caravan trade routes which extended to Asia. As such, the assortment of spices, herbs, resins, precious woods and animal-based substances grew, and with it, the sharing of knowledge, techniques and cultural exchange.

Perfume Personalities

When looking into the history of this region, we find several historical figures, who lived more than a century ago, who made huge contributions.

The Arabs are renowned for having perfected the distillation process, the technique that made it possible to create essential oils and perfumed waters, such as the highly regarded rose water. Abu Musa Jabir ibn Hayyan was a Persian-born alchemist who settled in Baghdad. He is considered to be the founder of experimental chemistry and in fact many of his methods and classifications are still in use today. He developed techniques for evaporation, filtration and distillation and is credited with the creation of the alembic still used in the distillation process. He died at the ripe old age of 94 in 815 AD.

Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Kindi, an Arab chemist born in 801 AD, wrote several books dedicated to perfume: the equipment needed, how to make it, and methods for distilling essential oils. In addition to a comprehensive guide on how to distill essential oils and extract scent from plants and natural materials, he also wrote treatises on how to convert them into aromatic products. His contributions have shaped the way Arabian perfume is created.

Persian chemist Ibn Sina, known as Avicenna in the West (born in 980 AD), learned how to derive the attar of flowers from distillation. Working with the Damask Rose, he was able to obtain the essential oil and rose water through steam distillation. His methods led to the creation of liquid perfume as we know it today.

These men all lived during the Abbasid Caliphate (750 – 1258 AD) which was the Golden Age of Arabian culture and literature. Baghdad, with its strategic location between Europe and Asia, became the capital and a hub for learned scholars. The famous Tales of the Arabian Nights, which recount stories with the recurring themes of love, betrayal, honor and other moral matters, were compiled during this epoque. Perfume and scent are woven throughout the narrative, lending an olfactory link to the characters and the settings for the reader.

Alexandre Helwani, independent perfumer, explained that at that time perfume did not have a religious connotation in the world. “The art and craft of perfumery blossomed during that period. When the Abbasid Caliphate crumbled, the art of perfumery was kind of lost and by the 12th century perfume became somewhat religious in the Moslem world. That’s when they started burning incense and oud in mosques. Perfume became part of the faith and the religious ritual. “

(We’ll learn more about perfume rituals in the second chapter of this series so now let’s look at the ingredients.)

The Perfumer’s Palette

Perfumers, however, were (and still are) highly appreciated in the Arab society, evidenced by the fact that traditionally the district where they worked was located in the heart of the souk near the main mosque. Their palette is rich and varied comprised of ingredients from the region as well as those that come from other lands. Musk is one of the oldest substances used in perfumery and lends an earthy sensuality to fragrances. Opopanax and cistus-labdanum are hearty, flowering shrubs that thrive in the dry, arid climate.

Once again I called on Alexandre Helwani to dig deeper into this topic. “So, so many of the ingredients used in the perfume of the region don’t come from here. Oud doesn’t come from here. However, Oman has different types of myrrh and frankincense trees, and there are many aromatic plants in Saudi Arabia. Saffron and frankincense are my favorites because they are really tied to this region.”

Legend has it that the rose sprang from beads of sweat of the Prophet Mohammed, although scholars believe this to be fabricated. The hadith in question, a type of personal account, reads as such:

The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said that, ‘When I was taken into the sky then the earth started to cry because of my separation. When I was coming back from the ascension then my perspiration dripped on the earth, from which a red rose grew, whosoever wants to smell my fragrance, smell a red rose.’

In any event, rose was associated to beauty, love and purity and it’s scent was considered to carry a message of love and compassion.

I asked Alexandre specifically about the Ta’if Rose which is somewhat legendary. “I think the mystique comes somewhat from the rarity of it. It grows in Ta’if, an oasis in the middle of a desert country, up in the mountains. It has a particular smell, it’s quite crystalline, it’s very crisp compared to other roses. It wasn’t that known a few decades ago. Most of the production had been reserved for the Saudi Royal family, and that made it highly coveted. In a nutshell, it’s a local ingredient, highly valued and extremely rare.”

Rawya Catto, General Manager of CPL Aromas Middle East based in Dubai, gave me more information on this noble ingredient. “It is actually a variety of Rosa Damascena that smells slightly more mineral, fresher, greener. It was imported and started growing in Saudi.” I also discovered that the Ta’if Rose is used to perfume the Holy Kaaba, the shrine located near the Great Mosque in Mecca.

But what is the story behind oud? It appears to have made its way to Arabia via the Silk Route from Asia by way of India. It is sourced from the agar tree which grows in South East Asia. When trees become infected with a particular type of mold they react by producing a resin. The resin-impregnated wood is then harvested and can be burned as incense or as a raw wood on a coal or oil can be obtained through steam installation of the wood. Oud oil is the distilled product coming from this natural phenomenon. Depending on the age of the tree and other factors, the quality of the resin varies, as does the price it commands. As costly as gold, oud is associated with nobility, luxury and elegance, and is used in perfumes, personal grooming and even in medicines.

Why is it so prized and so associated to the region? This is a complex question because the answer is multifold. After all the interviews and my research I think there are two overarching factors about this ingredient that explain its significance, one being a religious link and the other more cultural.

Oud is purported to be one of the Prophet Mohammed’s favorite scents, along with musk and some say ambergris. He began the custom of fumigating oneself and one’s garments when oud was burned; this is a practice that continues today and will be covered in chapter 2. Oud is burned in mosques, and at home, as an important part of rituals for meditation, for spiritual connection and as a gesture of hospitality.

In addition, oud is a tenacious, long-wearing scent that brings with It a promise of a long “sillage”, the trail that your scent leaves even after you have left. Fragrances with a strong sillage are highly valued as an indication of the quality of the perfume as well the wearer’s presence.

Oud is found in various forms including wood chips, incense and oils. It is known for its deep, woody, and slightly animalic scent; the musky, leathery oil is also used in the preparation of mukhallat.

Mukhallat

Mukhallat is an Arabic term that means mixture or blend, or even “the blend of many flower oils”. Characteristic to the region, it is a type of fragrance compound created by combining a selection of essential oils, attars and essences that have already been tinctured, distilled or already produced. It’s is a highly regarded craft that is taught in the master to apprentice style. Mukhallat is typically sold in attar or oil format, in increments called tolas which are roughly 12 ml. The rose-oud blend is one of the most widely known although jasmine, amber, musk and saffron are also traditionally used.

Wearing a mukhallat is a special sensory experience. They are created with exceptional ingredients, they tend to be very tenacious, and complex. Normally they are produced in small batches meaning it’s quite unlikely that two people in the same inner circle would have the same one. They are often selected based on personal connections with the ingredients or may be custom made according to personal preferences.

Mukhallat is finding it’s way into Western perfumery. Rawya mentioned she had worked with an organization in the US that wants to use this term as a descriptor of fragrances. She explained, “A Mukhallat accord is a fragrance blend developed around a skeleton of Oud, Rose and Saffron. With that definition, it becomes easy to classify some of the recent western launches, like Rose Prick by Tom Ford for instance, or even Fenty Rihanna.”

New Horizons

If we fast forward to today we find that there is more to discover locally. Rawya explained. “Last year perfumer Kevin Mathys went on a trek in Al Ula and Neom in Saudi Arabia. Kevin walked around and smelled some local herbs, one in particular called “Habag Mint”. We were able to analyze this watery, aromatic green scent with our Aromaspace technology – CPL’s version of Headspace. This herb is often used in tea and is an interesting new top note that kind of smells like sage but it’s a little more watery and earthy with a cassis facet to it. We’re also looking at moringa, a tree that grows in extreme conditions like the desert.” In addition, her company just launched their version of Ta’if rose Aromaspace at Beautyworld 2024.

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We close this chapter with words attributed to the Prophet Mohammed:

In Chapter 2 we will explore the fragrance culture focusing on how it is used in daily life and we will look at the emergence of domestic brands.

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Note: The Middle East is a very complicated region to define, and in fact definitions have changed over the years. When I sourced this question, World Atlas stated “The Middle East is a geographically and culturally diverse region made up of 17 countries spanning northern Africa and western Asia.”

The Levant includes the historic areas of Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Syria, Cyprus and the Hatay Peninsula, located in modern-day Turkey, although a broader description defines it as the territories from Greece to Egypt.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) include the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, except for Iraq. This is a regional organization of six oil-rich countries who share common cultural and religious identities and seek to achieve regional cohesion.

*See also:

The German Approach to Perfumery

The Italian Approach to Perfumery

The British Approach to Perfumery

Sources

A Brief History of Perfume | Gordon'sBUGLE | Sir Gordon Bennett

The history of the perfume industry and its beginnings - riahh - Riah

Al-Kindi: The roots of Modern Perfumery · Anthony Marmin

The history and meaning of oud in the Middle East – Emirates Woman

“Hadith” about rose’s smell similar to the Prophet [ﷺ]’s fragrance – Exposing forged hadith and stories that plague our ummah

https://rohaoud.com/2021/12/27/oud-in-islam/

https://perfumeontheradio.com/s2e7-qatar-1

How Many Countries Are In The Middle East? - WorldAtlas

Thank These Master Alchemists for the Magic of Alcohol - Gastro Obscura (atlasobscura.com)

Thank you to CPL Aromas for providing photos