I recently met a perfumer and oud trader/collector who comes from a family with multiple generations in the craft. It could have been an ordinary meet-and-greet—except that, I kid you not, he told me he works in two ways: one path bound to meticulous, fully documented formulas, and another that is entirely freestyle, much like yours truly—where ingredients are not always recorded, sometimes not even remembered once they’ve been poured into the composition.

We sat down in his office, and he began sharing some of his creations. One caught me by surprise. It landed all at once: Is this Izz al-Din?

The profile, the texture, the overall character—it immediately reminded me of Izz al-Din, my very first attar. I decided to acquire a small batch of his creation and offer it to you, curated as-is.

To distinguish it from the original while acknowledging the resemblance, I chose the name Salah al-Din.

It opens with soft motia-like florals and a delicate, powdery veil before settling into a rich musk and oud structure. The perfumer shared that the blend contains seven ouds of varying ages and that it has been resting for nearly two years—coincidentally just a little younger than Izz al-Din.

Update:

I finally managed to send the oil to a customer who owns Izz al-Din. After trying both side by side, he found them to be quite different.

I was relying on memory—as you know, I don't keep samples or retain any trace of my blends once they're gone. In hindsight, what likely led me to the comparison were certain facets of Salah al-Din that felt familiar, probably because I've spent so much time working with many of these materials in their raw form.