Does anyone if there’s a set of ingredients/notes used in fragrances that you could buy to better understand what the individual note actually smell like?. For example small samples of cedar, amber, pink pepper, benzoin etc.?
@Nsamiee great question! Because there are countless fragrance notes, kits for these are often broken down by theme - like educational kits from the Perfumer's Apprentice (I'm not affiliated with this brand/site, and have never tried their kits - but have seen them recommended on Reddit).
You can also search for "perfume organs" to have a wider variety of size/set options.
If there are specific notes you're unsure of, you can always order any single note fragrance oils you want to explore.
I would recommend 
Mukhallat Shams which is almost simple indian oud. If you haven't gotten acustomed with the note, this will skip the western style ouds and will get you up the mountain instantly. Pretty challenging at first but the dry down is superb and easily you will get the acquired taste.
Eden Botanicals is a great resource for this!
