Attar Lao Oud

Olfactory Description

I have created many compositions with oud – each with its own soul. But never before had the oud note in my work been so intense and primal as in the creation of Attar Lao Oud.

A few years ago, I was fortunate to acquire a rare oil from Laos — a material with the scent of honey and blossoms, layered with an unmistakable feral depth.

I’ve visited Laos more than twenty times. It is a serene and hospitable land, where time seems to have slowed to a 19th-century rhythm. The memory of its ancient monasteries, its misty mornings, and the warmth of its people became the backdrop for this composition.

The central note — Laotian oud — is remarkably close to Indian oud in depth, but softer and more harmonious. I paired it with Laotian coffee, frangipani, pink pepper, and cinnamon. Wisps of incense, reminiscent of those rising from golden temple rooftops, complete the picture.

This is how Attar Lao Oud was born — a fragrant walk through Vientiane, the quiet capital on the banks of the Mekong. Perhaps the most intensely oud-forward and coffee-rich fragrance in the Bortnikoff collection, Lao Oud is a journey captured in scent — full of memory, warmth, and complexity.