Top Notes 
Cumin
Cinnamon
Clove
Cardamom
Nutmeg
Heart Notes 
Carrot seed
Spikenard
Borneo oud
Tobacco
Coffee
Base Notes 
Labdanum
Bengali sandalwood
Opoponax
Costus
Muhuhu
Fossilised amber
06/12/2025
ClaireV
731 Reviews
ClaireV
1
Heavy, smoky, slightly sour-meaty oud
Oud Piccante calls a very specific image to mind, or at least, it does to mine. Imagine a small, country cottage in the West of Ireland, one of those whitewashed hovels left over from the Famine days clinging to the edge of a rundown fishing village. The cottage is inhabited by an Irish bachelor, a miserable Flann O' Brien character whose Mammy never prepared him for a life of looking after himself. Inside the cottage, his hairy fisherman's sweater - never washed - hangs over the lone chair, absorbing and also exuding decades of soot, the sweaty miasma of old lamb grease, and the yellow grime of nicotine.
One sniff of Oud Piccante and I am instantaneously looped back to my paternal grandfather's claustrophobically small, grimy terrace house, which smelled like this. These smells make me anxious because they are the signal bearers of neglect. This is the smell of a house inhabited by an older male, once the female has shuffled off the mortal coil, leaving him alone to fend for himself. And old Irish men don't tend to do well alone. Oud Piccante makes me feel sad, and this is hardly an auspicious start.
Where Russian Oud is sweet, and Oud Zen is nutty-smoky (neutral), Oud Piccante is savory. The astringent meatiness of the castoreum, tobacco, oud, and metallic clove/cinnamon accord makes me think of a fat steak encrusted with peppercorns hitting the sizzling lamb fat in a pan, the pungency of its Maillard reaction mingling with centuries of soot and yellow tobacco stains emanating from the greasy walls. There is a sourness here, too, which makes me think the bachelor mixed up asafetida or something pickled with the rest of the spices by accident. This is a kitchen spice rack oud, saline and metallic, peppered and lamb-fatted. The alpha to Russian Oud's beta.
Later on, this central 'peppered steak' accord gets wrapped up in a buttery, sweet labdanum; I like this part of the scent much better than the opening, but I also recognize that it could be perceived as a weakness by other people take their oudiness straight up, cut free of any oriental bits and bobs, like amber or vanilla. But for me, it's a relief, like moving on swiftly from a macho-spiced, half raw plate of entrails to dessert, which, mercifully, seems to have been bought in.
To summarize, Oud Piccante is a sour-savory take on oud that, for me, strays too far into 'old man' leather territory and seems to trigger a bad set of memories. The castoreum contributes tobacco, but it also contributes a tannic, astringent 'over-brewed tea' accord that when combined with the saltwater taffy of labdanum smells very much like Ambre Loup by Rania J, which I grew to dislike quite intensely.
One sniff of Oud Piccante and I am instantaneously looped back to my paternal grandfather's claustrophobically small, grimy terrace house, which smelled like this. These smells make me anxious because they are the signal bearers of neglect. This is the smell of a house inhabited by an older male, once the female has shuffled off the mortal coil, leaving him alone to fend for himself. And old Irish men don't tend to do well alone. Oud Piccante makes me feel sad, and this is hardly an auspicious start.
Where Russian Oud is sweet, and Oud Zen is nutty-smoky (neutral), Oud Piccante is savory. The astringent meatiness of the castoreum, tobacco, oud, and metallic clove/cinnamon accord makes me think of a fat steak encrusted with peppercorns hitting the sizzling lamb fat in a pan, the pungency of its Maillard reaction mingling with centuries of soot and yellow tobacco stains emanating from the greasy walls. There is a sourness here, too, which makes me think the bachelor mixed up asafetida or something pickled with the rest of the spices by accident. This is a kitchen spice rack oud, saline and metallic, peppered and lamb-fatted. The alpha to Russian Oud's beta.
Later on, this central 'peppered steak' accord gets wrapped up in a buttery, sweet labdanum; I like this part of the scent much better than the opening, but I also recognize that it could be perceived as a weakness by other people take their oudiness straight up, cut free of any oriental bits and bobs, like amber or vanilla. But for me, it's a relief, like moving on swiftly from a macho-spiced, half raw plate of entrails to dessert, which, mercifully, seems to have been bought in.
To summarize, Oud Piccante is a sour-savory take on oud that, for me, strays too far into 'old man' leather territory and seems to trigger a bad set of memories. The castoreum contributes tobacco, but it also contributes a tannic, astringent 'over-brewed tea' accord that when combined with the saltwater taffy of labdanum smells very much like Ambre Loup by Rania J, which I grew to dislike quite intensely.
Chnokfir
Carlossp
