Top Notes 
Black pepper
Rose
Heart Notes 
Laotian oud
Moroccan neroli
White blossoms
Base Notes 
Cedar
Frankincense
Haitian vetiver
Musk
Burmese oud
10/06/2012
Apicius
224 Reviews
Apicius
Helpful Review
5
High Priced Muckefuck?
When the availability of a good is limited as it seems to be the case with natural oud oil, high prices are not the only effect. Whatever is available is used sparingly, and there are attempts to replace it with something more or less resembling. This must have been the situation during and after WWII, when coffee, their favourite beverage, was hardly available to the Germans. Instead, there was “Muckefuck” - a coffee replacement made of barley malt. And the few leftover coffee beans were blended with succory. There is a German word for this way of coping with the situation, and it has also become a widely known expression for English speakers: “Ersatz”.
Metaphorically speaking, I admit, Zaraf is not pure ersatz, but it has been thoroughly blended with succory. Whoever only knows the Muckefuck by Montale and others might become confused by Zafar: the smell of the natural oil is far away from the respective oud ersatz by Givaudan and Firmenich.
For me, the smell of Zafar was not completely unfamiliar since it contains those typical animalic and fecal notes that can make natural oud oil so attractive. Yes, that's really in it, and it has at least average quality. Zafar is not a perfume in the literal sense of this word. In the first place, Zafar is woody, and this is basically also what oud is about. Any other ingredients serve only one purpose: to – well – extend the impression of natural oud oil. This is still very attractive: next to the warm, woody note there is something tart, and then there are hints of a transparent, ethereal camphorous note. In the base, I also got the impression of a little bit of smoky amber. Longevity is about 3 hours on my skin; after this, there are only leftover traces.
I resisted the temptation to buy since I know something better: Dahn Oud Al Shams by Ajmal. Zafar is roughly resembling this natural oud perfume, especially concerning the animal and fecal aspects. But this Arab perfume is in every way superior to Zafar, and most of all, it is not extended with ersatz.
With about 300 € per 50 ml (~390 USD / 1,7 fl) Zafar is the most expensive fragrance within Xerjoff's Oud Stars series. As a comparison: Dahn Oud Al Shams is available at ASL Dubaishop for 61 USD / 1 fl plus shipping plus duty taxes. Only the unfortunate circumstance that the Arab perfume shops do not sell samples of their Dehnal ouds allows Xerjoff to ask such a high price for a rather moderate quality.
Metaphorically speaking, I admit, Zaraf is not pure ersatz, but it has been thoroughly blended with succory. Whoever only knows the Muckefuck by Montale and others might become confused by Zafar: the smell of the natural oil is far away from the respective oud ersatz by Givaudan and Firmenich.
For me, the smell of Zafar was not completely unfamiliar since it contains those typical animalic and fecal notes that can make natural oud oil so attractive. Yes, that's really in it, and it has at least average quality. Zafar is not a perfume in the literal sense of this word. In the first place, Zafar is woody, and this is basically also what oud is about. Any other ingredients serve only one purpose: to – well – extend the impression of natural oud oil. This is still very attractive: next to the warm, woody note there is something tart, and then there are hints of a transparent, ethereal camphorous note. In the base, I also got the impression of a little bit of smoky amber. Longevity is about 3 hours on my skin; after this, there are only leftover traces.
I resisted the temptation to buy since I know something better: Dahn Oud Al Shams by Ajmal. Zafar is roughly resembling this natural oud perfume, especially concerning the animal and fecal aspects. But this Arab perfume is in every way superior to Zafar, and most of all, it is not extended with ersatz.
With about 300 € per 50 ml (~390 USD / 1,7 fl) Zafar is the most expensive fragrance within Xerjoff's Oud Stars series. As a comparison: Dahn Oud Al Shams is available at ASL Dubaishop for 61 USD / 1 fl plus shipping plus duty taxes. Only the unfortunate circumstance that the Arab perfume shops do not sell samples of their Dehnal ouds allows Xerjoff to ask such a high price for a rather moderate quality.
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