The Oud Review Wheel

THE CONCEPT

The Oud Review Wheel (TM) is a simple and elegant graphical tool, designed to provide objective and detailed information regarding the scent profile evolution, olfactory effect, progression, longevity, performance and sillage of an oud oil.  

Over time, Scent Legends aims to steadily create an Oud Review Wheel for each oud oil we offer.

 

READING THE OUD REVIEW WHEEL

The wheel is easy to interpret and the numbers in blue on the diagram are explained in the list below.

1.  Effect - this refers to the type of olfactory effect that an oud oil possesses and is displayed on the outer rim of the wheel.  I like to think of it as a texture, for example smooth or rough.  This property also includes the type of experience an oud oil evokes, for example, smokey, musky or powdery.

2. Top Note - the top note concept is borrowed from the three-tier fragrance pyramid (please refer to figure 2 below) and refers to the volatile opening notes that emerge from the dipstick and skin when first applied.  The type of top note is written in the segment as well, so for example, the oud wheel below shows a menthol/floral top note that emerges initially from minutes 0 to 5 (that is, the first 5 minutes).

3. Middle Note - the middle note concept is borrowed from the three-tier fragrance pyramid and refers to the middle or heart notes that emerge after the top notes have disappeared or weakened considerably.  The type of middle note is written in the segment as well, so for example, the oud wheel below shows a honey and tobacco middle note that emerges between minutes 10 and 15 after initial application of the oud oil.

4. Base Note - the base note concept is borrowed from the three-tier fragrance pyramid and refers to the final notes that emerge after the middle notes have faded.  The type of base note is written in the segment as well, so for example, the oud wheel below shows a coffee base note that emerges between minutes 20 and 30 after initial application of the oud oil..

5. Longevity (in hours), Performance (high, medium or low) and Sillage (in cm) - these parameters of an oud oil are displayed in the centre of the oud wheel with a traffic light system that gives an indicator of how the oud oil compares to others.  Green indicates an excellent relative score, amber indicates an average score and red signifies a below-par score.

6. Minutes and/or Hours - as you follow the wheel clockwise, there is a timescale of minutes from 0 to 30 minutes, after which the number of hours is displayed from 1 to 6.  This feature is used to display the performance of the oud oil at a given moment of time after application.

7. Wheel Colour - The colour of the wheel indicates the colour of the scent profile.  For example, a Koh Kong Cambodi oud oil with notes of prunes and raisins often evokes the colour red. 

 

Figure 1. The Oud Review Wheel

 

Figure 2. The Fragrance Pyramid

 

 

*The Oud Review Wheel (TM) is a unique tool developed by the team at Al Hashimi (www.alhashimi.com) and reproduced with their kind permission. If you would like to use it, please obtain their consent before doing so.