Oud Collection

I began collecting oud in 2012 as a substitute for fine wine, which had satisfied my olfactory needs until it became so expensive. (A bottle of 2018 Romanée Conti costs $25,000, a wine I enjoyed more than once as an impoverished young man.)

I took up ouds for an analogous experience in which the terroir of a tree is expressed through wood while, of course, that of wine is expressed through grapes. After my initial preoccupation, I put the ouds away and didn’t think much about them. They have since aged 10 years (in the dark, but not in the fridge) and several have become rare classics.

I’ve sniffed them around the edges (it’s rarely necessary even to pull back the little dipstick). No one has ever taken a swipe. They are all in the original 3-gram bottles with hand written labels.