Riyadhoudies

[ZenRiyoudhi]

Go-oud evening everyone! Excited to be a part of this blessed community.
Can someone point me to artisan Oud places of high quality in Riyadh - any brick and mortar type places with fixed prices that are deemed worthy of this talented pool of oudissours? I’ve seen some positive mention of sokkat alteeb? Any others similar or better I can go to for great oud oils and mixtures. My concern with the markets is frankly ones inability to discern quality. most appreciouded!

 

[zahir]

Go-oud day/evening everyone and salamaleycum! Excited to be a part of this blessed community.
I’m currently residing in Riyadh and look forward to learning more about artisan Ouds. I’ve seen lots of talk of online Oud vendors like EO etc. Can someone point me to where I can and should go that does artisan Ouds in Riyadh - any brick and mortar type places with fixed prices that are deemed worthy of this talented pool of oudissours? Surely, the best saudi has to offer can’t be Arabian oud and perhaps asq?? I’ve seen some positive mention of sokkat alteeb? Any others similar or better I can go to for great oud oils and mixtures. My concern with the markets is frankly ones inability to discern Troudh from falsehood. any direction is super appreciouded!

Focus on educating yourself by going over the posts in this forum for at least 1 week! Hold yourself back from any kind of rushed purchases, now or in the future. "Learn from the woods." This is my motto. Read, come back, ask questions and seek guidance. We'll be more than happy to help guide you.

 

[Obada]

I agree with @zahir
2nd point is you wont find any artisinal stuff in Riyadh in any store. You may find collectors and meet up.

After educating your brain and reading around in this forum. Educate your nose and get yourself 1 or 2 sample-sets. Smell the oils (even if you dont like one of them, keep it). Later you will appreciate different oud profiles and may like a sample that you disliked in the beginning. They will be good as a reference

 

[Modhie]

Good day everyone.

I echo and second the opinions mentioned, take your time learning and exploring until you understand and know what you are buying.

In Riyadh there are multiple places that you can buy very old and organic agarwood and oil oud, trustworthy shops and outlets that I buy from them blindly, namely: Afaneen Al Oud, Alissa for Oud, Alsaloom. There are other shops where they offer different categories and levels and types like Shuwaish Oud and Perfumes and shops next to this one.
If you want to explore the oud market where you'll find extremely diversity of quality (where you need to be very careful in picking and buying) you go to Al Maigliah Market Center.

I highly recommend an extremely slow buying behavior as you will learn on the go.

 

[ZenRiyoudhi]

Good day everyone.

I echo and second the opinions mentioned, take your time learning and exploring until you understand and know what you are buying.

In Riyadh there are multiple places that you can buy very old and organic agarwood and oil oud, trustworthy shops and outlets that I buy from them blindly, namely: Afaneen Al Oud, Alissa for Oud, Alsaloom. There are other shops where they offer different categories and levels and types like Shuwaish Oud and Perfumes and shops next to this one.
If you want to explore the oud market where you'll find extremely diversity of quality (where you need to be very careful in picking and buying) you go to Al Maigliah Market Center.

I highly recommend an extremely slow buying behavior as you will learn on the go.

Thanks so much!!!!! Absolute gem. I was going to ask where I should initially get a few mls from and initial purchase recommendations?

 

[Ahmaoud]

While I'm all for supporting local businesses, I'm not sure they'll show you the best stuff on your first trip, if you have an uncle or friend who purchases a lot, perhaps go with them to get exposed to the best of the best in the stores!

The vendors on here have two benefits which always ensure superior quality to what can be found in the markets. The lack of brick and mortar presence ensures they can keep costs low, so for each dollar you spend with them, you're getting more quality because they have less overhead.

The second point is something often overlooked, each vendor curates the oils they feature. They have a brand to protect and we as forum members have honed (sometimes I think it's closer to ruined) our noses, so if an oil falls from our expectations of said brand, we'll let them know. This means they're conscious of what they're putting out, and not concerned about volume. They also showcase profiles which aren't traditionally popular in many oud loving regions, I don't think you'd be able to find a no barn Hindi very easily outside of here, or even an emerald like Malay!

Off the top of my head, take Tai-O from TheOudLab and Oud Boran from HabzOud, both economical offerings similarly priced, both Thai oils, yet completely unique, I can guarantee you if you were to take both with you to the souk, you'd have a tough time finding oils similar to their scent profile, let alone what they cost! And just imagine what their higher priced oil offer, knowing the entry level oils are this good, you're guaranteed something incredible!

It's like if you've ever had real Olive Oil sent from someone in Greece, there's almost a liveliness to it which makes supermarket oils taste like they can't even come from the same tree, it's a similar case with oud oils.

 

[ZenRiyoudhi]

Thanks @Ahmaoud - I will definitely check out those ones you recommended. Any tips on how I can get the best of the best from the brick and mortar places suggested? I don’t unfortunately have an uncle as I am not from Riyadh, but recently relocated here for work!

 

[zahir]

Thanks @Ahmaoud - I will definitely check out those ones you recommended. Any tips on how I can get the best of the best from the brick and mortar places suggested? I don’t unfortunately have an uncle as I am not from Riyadh, but recently relocated here for work!

Replace the word uncle with the word friend 🤣

 

[ZenRiyoudhi]

Replace the word uncle with the word friend 🤣

😂 not sure how useful a non oudie saudi friend would be except to say bring out the best of the best law Samaht! Hence the company of you good folks…

 

[Ahmaoud]

Sadly I wouldn't know how to ZenRiyoudhi, perhaps @Modhie could guide you better, perhaps he can recommend specific sales assistants to make that connection. I hope it doesn't seem like I'm being biased towards oud shops specifically in Riyadh, or the people that work there, it's the age old problem salesmen face, how to guess your budget.

A sure fire way to get the access to the good stuff is to spend like 3000 riyals on a 3 gram bottle, that'll show you're a serious buyer, but you'll also be out of 3000 riyals 😅 And that sort of money can buy you a lot of artisan oud samples.

It'll be hard to judge the quality of ouds if you don't have a good benchmark, so I think you'd be better off getting a sampler, like Oudh Discovery from AlShareefOud or mesOud's sampler and then spending a lot of time with each sample, if you wear each sample for 5 days, spread out, you'll have scents for 40 days sorted, and even 0.2 gram is more than enough to get a good idea of both the profile, and what artisan grade oils are targeting.

I just fear that you're unlikely to find anything other than plantation Thai oils, Hindis (super fermented), "Cambodians" or a whole host of "Jungle Distillations" where the distillation parameters aren't carefully watched and you're getting all sorts of weird aromatic in the final oils.

 

[Sproaty]

Sadly I wouldn't know how to ZenRiyoudhi, perhaps @Modhie could guide you better, perhaps he can recommend specific sales assistants to make that connection. I hope it doesn't seem like I'm being biased towards oud shops specifically in Riyadh, or the people that work there, it's the age old problem salesmen face, how to guess your budget.

A sure fire way to get the access to the good stuff is to spend like 3000 riyals on a 3 gram bottle, that'll show you're a serious buyer, but you'll also be out of 3000 riyals 😅 And that sort of money can buy you a lot of artisan oud samples.

It'll be hard to judge the quality of ouds if you don't have a good benchmark, so I think you'd be better off getting a sampler, like Oudh Discovery from AlShareefOud or mesOud's sampler and then spending a lot of time with each sample, if you wear each sample for 5 days, spread out, you'll have scents for 40 days sorted, and even 0.2 gram is more than enough to get a good idea of both the profile, and what artisan grade oils are targeting.

I just fear that you're unlikely to find anything other than plantation Thai oils, Hindis (super fermented), "Cambodians" or a whole host of "Jungle Distillations" where the distillation parameters aren't carefully watched and you're getting all sorts of weird aromatic in the final oils.

this x100