Oud in warm and cold weather

kooolaid79

Well-Known Member
#1
Dear Oud lovers,
I don't know if this question has been asked before or not. Please forgive me if it has.
Does Oud play a difference in what season it is applied? The smell, strength, and sillage?
I have heard that Oud should be worn in more cold weather so it can stay stuck on you longer. There was no evidence of that just experience.
I personally put on Oud after a shower and it usually stays on a good part of the day.
Thoughts advices??
 
#2
I think the fun for you will be to research this by wearing oud in different seasons and seeing what changes and does not change for you.

from my own experience, oils are stronger and *may* last longer in warmer, more humid conditions. me being hydrated also affects things. and some oils my skin eats while others my skin blasts in dramatic difference to friends wearing the same oils.

enjoy exploring and satisfying your curiosity with oud!
 

Tuff

Active Member
#3
I can attest that Oud smells better to me in less humid and colder weather. No idea why. Bass notes seem more pronounced. Maybe better longevity with less sweat than in the tropics as well.
 

kooolaid79

Well-Known Member
#4
I can attest that Oud smells better to me in less humid and colder weather. No idea why. Bass notes seem more pronounced. Maybe better longevity with less sweat than in the tropics as well.
I have to agree with you, which I notice the longitivity seems to be more in cold weather. I haven't experienced putting so much Oud on in hot weather as much as I put it on in cold weather. I will have try out this summer IA.
 

Simla House

Well-Known Member
#5
Dear Oud lovers,
I don't know if this question has been asked before or not. Please forgive me if it has.
Does Oud play a difference in what season it is applied? The smell, strength, and sillage?
I have heard that Oud should be worn in more cold weather so it can stay stuck on you longer. There was no evidence of that just experience.
I personally put on Oud after a shower and it usually stays on a good part of the day.
Thoughts advices??
I'd say, absolutely!
In my experience, the hot and humid climate of South Asia alway seemed to "eat" whatever I was wearing, whether it be attar, or oudh.
This climactic FYI was also a blessing while being stuffed into 2nd class inter-city Mumbai trains everyday. The body odour of the average commuter magically disappeared.
Take a cooler climate, such as the one in Paris, and ride the trains in the same fashion and you'll need some therapy and possibly reconstructive surgery of your sinuses.

So, according to my experience, whatever I wore in cooler climates would hover over me with much more clarity, and I would be able to enjoy it more.
That being said, the scents themselves would change from climate to climate, as would their reaction on my skin, and I look forward to observing how an oudh or attar will change according to climate. It's like getting to know all the moods of your best friend or companion.
I've even noticed this with the koh I burn. I've kept notes on which seasons certain incenses are suited for, and when their best attributes are muted.
As I'm currently living in a cool rainforest, whenever I step out into the fresh air, I'm reintroduced to whatever I'm wearing.
This happened the other day while wearing EO Green Papua. The air at work was stuffy so I went outside for a bit, and everything hit me again in a blissful moment.
I felt like I was smelling in "3-D". (It's a really beautiful distillation btw, so perfectly suited to my current weather, I have no desire to bathe in khus anymore during winter since discovering it) Another thing I've noticed is in the dead of winter, when it's getting below frosty outside, the oudh or attar I was wearing also seemed to vanish, so perhaps there is a ideal temperature for projection?
These are just my rambling thoughts. I'll wait to hear from the masters and ustads of fragrance about the science of your question, brother kool.
 

PEARL

Well-Known Member
#6
It's like getting to know all the moods of your best friend or companion.
I was coming back to post a response that I had formulated earlier, then I read your response and I have to say that the above is spot on.
But first, some say that certain oils are better suited for different climates, saying things like traditional Hindi's are too heavy for warmer weather. I don't agree with that because I've never used a pure oud oil that became heavy or cloying on hot days. I've had the opposite experience with oils that contained synthetics, so much so that I personally use that as an indicator that an oil may have been tampered with. I do find that with stepping outdoors in circulating air that I'm able to better detect an oils scent.
Some oils, just like some friends and companions, are even-keeled; their behavior is consistent. Some oils are mercurial and moody; every time you interact with them, they take you on a ride and you can't predict their behavior.
An oil like Oud Nuh's character is stable but he has the peculiar habit of not liking you to get too close to him. If you put a wee swipe on your wrist and bring it up to your nose, he won't reveal himself to you. But if you take that same arm and stretch it out as far as you can, you'll find that his sublime fragrance has filled the room, strongly.
Oils like Lalitya and Pursat 2005, these rascal kids, are so temperamental that they can send me into a state of total bliss just as easily as sending me into a state of vexation with their odd and rambunctious ways. One day they're complex and multifaceted, the next day they're subdued. One day I want to have quiet conversation and listen to them but they're loud, they want to jump out of the sleeve of my undershirt and thump those around me in the nose. The very next day they're well mannered and quiet like mosque mouse; I think to myself, "why didn't you do that yesterday?", if I could I'd spank'em. While their behavior doesn't seem to be influenced by climate, I will do some further investigations.
 

RobertOne

Well-Known Member
#7
I do agree with the main points of previous distinguished members here.

Cold weather certainly extends longevity, coherence and hot weather increases projection depending on the Oud which chemically should be no surprise to anyone because: volatility.

As an aside I adore wearing Oud in the very hottest of climates. Oud seems to negate, at least psychologically, any and all unpleasant sticky-sweatyness. I seem to feel a strong sense of being at one with nature in that case.

However, I think humidity plays a large role here too. When in Oklahoma on a hot and arid day my Tigerwood '95 lept to new hights but Green Papua was subdued. On a rare humid day in summer their performance was reversed.

@PEARL

About those rascals, do you think your diet those days might have played a part? I seem to recall something someone sometime about consumption of honey altering skin chemistry.
 
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Simla House

Well-Known Member
#8
@PEARL

About those rascals, do you think your diet those days might have played a part? I seem to recall something someone sometime about consumption of honey altering skin chemistry.
Diet must be another factor, indeed. Good point.
We can perspire what we ingest, to a degree.
This is making me wonder if I should just consume sinking chips for breakfast and go for a run.
 

RobertOne

Well-Known Member
#9
Diet must be another factor, indeed. Good point.
We can perspire what we ingest, to a degree.
This is making me wonder if I should just consume sinking chips for breakfast and go for a run.
Well, you would certainly get your daily helping of fibre that way!

I would caution you to pop some baby wipes in the cooler the night before.
 
#10
Where I stay, its freezing cold here in the winters, can go as low as minus 5 Celsius, the oils on skin do last longer. However during summer it can reach 27 Celsius, I prefer it when its hot and humid, as the heat warms our bodies, it allows us to "notice" the aroma of oud oil around us a lot more.

Simla house brings to mind a good point, when you apply oud oil and go for a run, which I have done before in cold weither, the scent of oud oil can be smelt a lot more during and after the run, maybe that's because our senses are all refreshed but the heat off our bodies also makes a difference and the aroma of oud is much stronger.
 

Waqas

New Member
#11
Where I stay, its freezing cold here in the winters, can go as low as minus 5 Celsius, the oils on skin do last longer. However during summer it can reach 27 Celsius, I prefer it when its hot and humid, as the heat warms our bodies, it allows us to "notice" the aroma of oud oil around us a lot more.

Simla house brings to mind a good point, when you apply oud oil and go for a run, which I have done before in cold weither, the scent of oud oil can be smelt a lot more during and after the run, maybe that's because our senses are all refreshed but the heat off our bodies also makes a difference and the aroma of oud is much stronger.
wow, you are quiet lucky to stop at jist -5 omar, we consider it a good weather in winters. :) -25 have i observed several times where i live in norway. and its not even in the extreme area. although i have observed that cool air and oud are a lovely combination specailly if its the burned wood.
 
#12
-25 wow, It's gotten as low as -15 further up north of Scotland, but never as low as -25. Yeh I can only imagine heating wood in minus temperatures as low as that, the smoke must smell so crisp and clean.
 

RobertOne

Well-Known Member
#13
When I was a wee boy I lived a long trek out of a place called Fort St. John in Canada.

I remember quite clearly my time there from the froot-loops (should be banned!) The smell of forest undergrowth, tar, pine. Those were my halcyon days.

In winter, when the temp got to -35°C some trees easily burst open and that pine when the wood was carried inside was incredible. Not just pine but some mixed woods too. In retrospect it would have been the temperature differential causing whatever oils and aromatics in the sap to almost sublimate in the warmth of the cabin.
 

Adam

Well-Known Member
#14
@ Pearl… I am with you on that… today is + 33c in Bangkok and I am wearing super funky stuff… never enjoyed it in cooler weather as I do now…
just WOW...
 
#15
Here in Arizona, it can get as high as 50C/122F. It's going to be interesting to see what happens with my oud when it's that hot and either bone-dry, or about to rip loose with a five-alarm monsoon. People try to say 'Oh, but it's a dry heat!' Um. Not always... starting in about early July to sometimes as late as late October, we get a monsoonal air current from either the Gulf of Mexico or the Sea of Cortez. And the weather scares tourists. And we Arizonans run out in the rain like we don't have any sense. (Probably because the sun cooked our brains... )