The first thing your sense of smell picks up in an Arab house is the heady aroma of Oudh wafting in the air.Oudh is considered a supreme fragrance in the Gulf countries. In Qatar, Oudh is burned as a mark of respect and hospitality and is a traditional gesture of welcoming and honouring guests. In fact, Oudh is considered an important feature at most social occasions. Oudh, which simply means wood in Arabic, has an extraordinary pedigree. Also known as aloes and agarwood, Oudh is found in the forests of Asia.
It is an aromatic resin found in certain species of Aquilaria and Gyrinops trees. The resin is produced by the tree as an immune response to a fungus – Phialophora parasitica , that invades the tree and, over many years, spreads through it. It is believed that it takes as long as 300 years for the fungus to spread through the bark of the tree. Unlike the otherwise pale wood of the tree, infected sections are dark and extremely heavy. In fact, the Chinese and Japanese terms for Oudh translate as ‘the wood that sinks in water’. The best grade of Oudh is hard, nearly black, and very heavy. In general, Oudh becomes inferior as it becomes lighter in tone and flecked with diminishing amounts of resin.
