The essentials
Natural oud is a resin that forms in the wood of Aquilaria trees after injury and fungal infection. It is sold as wood chips or distilled into oil. Synthetic oud is an accord built by a perfumer to imitate that woody, smoky smell without any agarwood in it.
Natural oud is scarce, its international trade has been regulated under CITES since 1995, and it ranks among the most valuable wildlife commodities. The accord is consistent and far cheaper. The ingredient list on a bottle almost never tells them apart; only the brand’s own disclosure does.
Aquilaria, infection and resin
Healthy Aquilaria wood is light brown and nearly odourless. When a tree is wounded by storms, insects or microbes and then infected by fungi, it produces a defensive resin. The wood turns dark brown, then black.
Several fungal genera have been found in agarwood. Lasiodiplodia, Fusarium and Trichoderma all induce resin in Aquilaria sinensis. The resinous wood is sold as chips, powder, incense and oil, known as dehn al oud.
Oil is often distilled from lower-grade chips, either in the country of origin or in a major re-exporting hub. Expert graders rank chips and oils by origin, resin content, scent and colour. Our oud entry covers species and origins in detail.
What CITES says
Oud falls under CITES Appendix II. Appendix II does not ban international trade; it requires permits. Aquilaria malaccensis was listed in 1994 on a proposal from India, effective 16 February 1995.
At the 2004 conference in Bangkok (Thailand), Indonesia secured the listing of all Aquilaria and Gyrinops species, effective 12 January 2005. Finished products, such as a bottled perfume, are exempt from CITES controls.
From 2011 to 2020, recorded trade was mostly wood chips (43 percent), oils and extracts (27 percent), timber (11 percent) and powder (8 percent). For Aquilaria, 42 percent of records came from wild trees and 50 percent from cultivated ones.
Wild, cultivated and inoculated oud
To relieve pressure on wild trees, many producing countries now grow Aquilaria in plantations. Young trees are wounded and inoculated with fungi or chemicals. Nails, screws, wood or plastic keep the wound from healing. Harvest is possible after one to two years.
Cultivated oud is still natural oud: the same resin from the same tree. It is often rated below wild agarwood and goes mainly into oil, low-value chips and incense. Research aims to bring it up to wild quality.
Synthetic oud: accords and biotech
Synthetic oud is not a single molecule but an accord. The perfumer combines woody, smoky, leathery and resinous notes to suggest agarwood. Synthetic agarwood oils appear in low-grade perfumes and incense, and are not considered good enough to replace high-grade agarwood oil.
Some materials blur the line. Akigalawood, a Givaudan captive introduced in 2014, is made by enzymes acting on patchouli oil residues. Givaudan classes it as a natural material. Its woody, peppery facets recall patchouli and agarwood.
Alberto Morillas, on Perfect Oud: “créer un parfum autour du oud sans intégrer aucune note de oud” [to create a perfume around oud without including any oud note].
Scent, longevity and cost
Scent. Natural oud varies with species, origin, wood age and distillation, which is why graders sort it by country of origin. An accord is designed for one effect and stays the same from batch to batch: burnt wood and incense in Perfect Oud, warm wood against passion fruit in Oud Maracujá.
Longevity. It depends mainly on concentration and formula, not on where the oud comes from. Woods and resins sit among the least volatile notes in a pyramid. An extrait such as Oud Maracujá, at 32 percent, will outlast an eau de toilette.
Cost. Agarwood is often described as the most valuable wildlife commodity in the world. Prices depend on origin and on grades set by experts. We do not publish a price per kilo until a named source documents one.
How to tell them apart on the label
In the European Union, the ingredient list groups perfume compositions and their raw materials under the word “parfum” (Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009, Article 19). Natural oud therefore rarely appears under its botanical name.
Oud Maracujá’s published list is a case in point. It names patchouli oil (Pogostemon Cablin Oil) but no Aquilaria ingredient. That absence proves nothing, since “parfum” covers everything else.
Three clues help. The word “accord” signals a reconstruction: Mizensir lists “Accord oud” for Perfect Oud, and Maison Crivelli describes “an oud wood accord”. A named origin signals a natural claim: Maison Francis Kurkdjian cites oud wood from Laos for OUD. The word “notes”, as in Tom Ford’s description of Oud Wood, says nothing about origin.
Examples from our perfume pages
- Perfect Oud, Mizensir, 2016, Alberto Morillas: declared oud accord, no natural oud essence.
- Oud Maracujá, Maison Crivelli, 2023, Jordi Fernandez: oud wood accord with Akigalawood, extrait at 32 percent.
- OUD, Maison Francis Kurkdjian, 2012, Francis Kurkdjian: oud wood from Laos; the house claims fair and sustainable trade.
- Oud Wood, Tom Ford, 2007, Richard Herpin: “oud notes” with no stated origin.
Sources
- CITES, "The history and challenges of agarwood and CITES", CoP19 Doc. 62.2 (Rev. 1), Panama City (Panama), November 2022 (accessed 4 November 2026)
- Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 on cosmetic products, Article 19, EUR-Lex (accessed 4 November 2026)
- Richard Goller, "Akigalawood: Givaudan’s Jordi Fernández And Pierre Arnoux Talk About The Captive Ingredient", Fragroom, 17 May 2026 (accessed 4 November 2026)
- Mizensir, official Perfect Oud page, notes and perfumer’s note (accessed 4 November 2026)
- Maison Crivelli, official Oud Maracujá page, key materials, concentration and ingredients (accessed 4 November 2026)
- Maison Francis Kurkdjian, official OUD eau de parfum page (accessed 4 November 2026)
- Tom Ford Beauty, official Oud Wood page (accessed 13 September 2026)