“Barnyard” is an association, not a literal scent. It’s the closest, and shared reference of people who have not smelled that type of agarwood before.
The fragrance that this term refers to is very complex and multifaceted and varies greatly from one source to another. It is complex and profoundly engaging like fine incense or cheese or wine. It’s hard to explain why someone finds a particular fragrance appealing but there is a wonderful pleasant delicious clean fragrance hiding behind that association with the smell of a barn. If you allow yourself to spend a day with one of these oils I suspect you’ll see why by the end of it. Though everyone has different associations and I have people in my family who have never come to appreciate the smell of any type of barn yard oud.
I do find some barns off-putting, and then there are some I like a lot. Strange isn’t itNot to put words in the OP's mouth, but abstracting the question to "why do people enjoy off-putting aromas," there's an interesting paper (link) that describes a theory of "benign masochism" - the principal idea being that when done in a "safe" context, people enjoy all manner of aversive substances and activities.
Yes. Today most camels are of the four wheel drive variety ..Well I guess if your sitting on camels, the smell of the barn will probably be over written by the smell of the camels.
These days with less camel rides barn type ouds have become more of an acquired taste.
But as some above have rightly stated everyone likes the smell of something, and one mans fragrance is another’s nightmare..personally durians smell heavenly for example..🤣
There's definitely a parallel there. In his defense, this site is part of the internet, and posting this question was likely part of his wider research. If I google why barnyard oud, ouddict is the 3rd result after basenotes and fragrantica. I'm a barnyard noob who has read and smelled a lot but hasn't developed that appreciation (at least not yet) but I still found value in this thread.There's some animalistic raw appeal in some "barns" I mean lets face it there are tons of "perfume" ingredients that are legit animal waste products. Urine Bile whale ambergris, deer musk sacks .. Bro no offense but do a little homework the internet is wide open for you to look this stuff up no ??
Civet: the anal secretions from a cat-like animal native to Asia and Africa.
Ambergris: sperm whale secretions.
Musk: animal anal secretions. Musk was a name originally given to a substance with a strong odor obtained from a gland of the musk deer.
Agreed Just offering my 2cents hope it wasn't offensiveThere's definitely a parallel there. In his defense, this site is part of the internet, and posting this question was likely part of his
Body odor is more common in warmer climates for obvious reasons. I think your experience with co-workers has more to do with engineers becoming excellent in their craft while neglecting other sections of their social life. I'm an engineer as well and have smelled that problem before. It's usually men in their 20s who haven't taken optics seriously but they tend to grow up eventually. I had the same problem with presentation but for me, it was uncombed hair or wearing sandals and shorts when everyone else was dressed professionally.Oooooh your treading on touchy ground hahahaha .
I'm a light skinned ( multi racial ) ( that means black in America last time I checked....) mid west city boy software engineer ( cloud now ) but I digress.
I have run into plenty of hindi (Eastern Indian) developers if you want to call them that I'll stop there and try to be nice.
I should poignantly note that I have met many excellent Hindi / East Indian software developers over the years that were excellent at our craft but they were the exception IMHO... Enough said .... AGAIN No offense intended -
Anyhoo... many of these developers chose to not wear deodorant in favor of various degrees (quality - amount ) of Oud Oils .
It almost stopped me from being interested in Oud. It was a NASTY NASTY indescribable Funk --- Oud and fermenting body odor. Regarding Barn I'm no elite oudh specialist but I believe ( My 2 cents) that many Hindi Oils have been attributed to having that barn yard olfactory experience. ( if I recall correctly )
Literally sheep shit. Horse manure. Wet hay etc... etc... Thus a barn ..
I, again not claiming to have any superior olfactory expertise, have found in my personal oudh journey that a certain Fragrance house that offered an Oud Trat had an original batch was supremely Barnyard-ish and I loved it.
So much so that I didn't even care how or if it offended other people. ( wifie mostly but she hates ALL ouds nothing specific about the barn yard notes there )
A few rare ( I don't recall which ones ) expensive PREMIER oudh samples from HIGH end connoisseur ELITE houses like Ensar Oud gave me the superior experience of supra clean elite complicated barn yard notes and again I'm kind of a fan.
I like the complexity in them, earthy depth. Almost a funky earthy Petrichor. There's something masculine and dominant and powerful, if you are--- please excuse the terminology --- ALPHA AF enough to wear something like that with confidence.
So back to your question of cultural. There are some cultures apparently where human body odor is an attractive fragrance. I dunno bro, that's too Krazy complex for me to even begin to care about.
I obviously like some funky Oudhs. But if it smells too much like sheep shit I'm out ...
Honestly, there are some Tom Ford Elite fragrances at like $350 / 50ml
(give or take) that have some barn notes in them. its a complex game
and well preference is subjective.
HAHAHAHAH yes the world has lost its Mind
.... the latest trend in fragrance.