Atmospheric scents; Of Oud chips, Bakhoor and Incense

---

Authors note: I originally wrote this back in 2011, I have gone through and updated it to the best of my ability, enshaAllah. Let me know what you think!

Note: Updated links for sites selling authentic Khaleeji Attar, Oud and Bakhoor worldwide or are USA-Based are at the end of this post.

---

There is nothing more beautiful than coming into your home and finding the atmosphere laced with the rich scents of rose, oud, amber, frankincense, and other equally delicious fragrances. It’s so warm, inviting, and the scent lingers on your furniture, clothing, and hair. It’s delightful.

During my time living in Saudi Arabia (2009-2010), my family and I came to really love burning oud chips and bakhoor to scent our villa and clothing. Although I had always loved burning incense in my bedroom and home prior to moving to the Gulf, my husband absolutely could not stand it, saying that the incense I was burning irritated his throat and lungs and made him cough. So, I stopped burning incense and put up with spritzing Febreze to make wherever we lived smell good. But when we moved to Saudi, suddenly we were surrounded by the inviting scents of bakhoor and oud burning everywhere we went. When you walk through malls and shops in Saudi Arabia, there are the rich scents of bakhoor and oud chips being burnt in their signature mubkhars (bakhoor burners). When you go to a Saudi family’s home, they are usually burning bakhoor or oud chips in their home. We came to truly enjoy how delightful the burning oud chips and bakhoor were.

As most of my husband’s work colleagues were Saudi and all of his students were Saudi, we were often invited to their homes for meals and socializing. During these visits, we came to both learn about the tradition of burning oud chips and bakhoor and how integral they are to the local Gulf culture. We also enjoyed going to the many attar (perfume) and oud/bakhoor shops, which every mall and souq (bazaar) has in abundance. We found that most Saudi and Gulf locals were more than happy to educate us on this important local tradition, and we often were able to get samples from shopkeepers to try at home, along with a related history or cultural lesson. I also made a couple of local Saudi female friends while in Saudi Arabia and was beyond pleased that their families gifted me with their familial bakhoor blends before I left Saudi in 2010. I learned that each family has their own bakhoor blend that they make at home, and the recipe is passed down through the family for generations.

Although we did bring back quite a selection of oud chips and bakhoor blends to the USA with us, we went through them pretty quickly because we loved burning them so much. It was like I had brought a little bit of my life in Saudi Arabia back with me.

Authors note: I am providing an updated list of sites (at the end of the post) based out of the USA that sell authentic Khaleeji (Gulf) Attars (perfumes), Oud chips and Bakhoor blends;

I’ve been on the lookout for someplace in the USA that sells real authentic Oud chips, authentic khaleeji Attars, and Bokhoors directly from the Gulf countries. I found that Swiss Arabian (which is based in the Gulf and has physical stores all over the Gulf region) has an online presence here in the USA called Mukhalat (updated; site is no longer active, see new links above). Did you know that? I didn’t…but then I found them. LOL. They ship from Massachusetts and are extremely speedy. I ordered Bokhoor Bayt al-Arab from them, and I received it literally 2 days later. Alhamdulillah.

Within Saudi Arabia we tended to shop at Arabian Oud or Syed Junaid but did stop into Swiss Arabian a couple of time.

A short review of this Bokhoor by Swiss Arabian. Bakhoor Bayt al-Arab (literally Arab house incense) is, overall, quite nice; it has a rose top note which mellows down to an amber-oud scent. The first two times I burnt it, I admit I wasn’t a fan; I thought it was a bit too floral and feminine, but then after the scent mellowed and the amber/oud scent popped out, I came to really enjoy the scent. I plan to buy more once this container runs out.

Difficulty with purchasing Khaleeji perfume and incense outside of the Gulf; While Ive found a couple other online shops based out of USA, Canada and the UK that sells the real Khaleeji (Gulf) made Ouds, Bokhoors and Attars. There are a couple issues I’ve run into; namely, some of these sites inflate their prices, sell only on Ebay which requires payments via Paypal, overcharge for shipping or are not very reputable. Allahu A’alam.

Negatives to buying Khaleeji perfumes and incense online imho; Of course buying bokhoor online, regardless, is a gamble because you can never be quite sure how it will smell once you get it and burn it at home. Unlike in the Gulf, you can request the sales clerk to burn a sample of the Bokhoor for you to smell, so you get kind of an idea of how it will smell at home.

---

OK, onto a bit of a story time; I will never forget this one Bokhoor-related moment when my husband, son, and I were invited by the father of one of his students to their house in Qatif (Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia) for Friday lunch. They were decently better off, and their home was massive. That Friday lunch after Friday prayers (Jummah) entailed lunch with the entire family. The parents had 12 grown children along with grandchildren and an entourage of Indonesian household help (who overall seemed fairly happy and probably looked forward to Fridays as they all sat in the kitchen socializing while the family socialized in their separate women’s and men’s Majlises). Before the entire clan showed up, I had some alone time with the mom. She was older, seemed fairly traditional, was illiterate and just, I don’t know…kind of “rough”…but she was extremely jubilant and excited that we had come for lunch. We were sitting in the women’s Majlis and her husband brought in some of the “men’s” Bukhoor that was burning for me to smell and she jumped up, told her husband off for bringing those manly scents into the women’s space, and got some women’s Majlis appropriate Bukhoor that she makes at home—yes, she makes her own Bokhoor (I learned through her daughter that traditionally the women of the family made the family’s Bokhoor using a variety of Oud chips, resins, and attars (perfumes)—because back when, you didn’t buy it ready-made). So, she came back in, shut the door behind her, got the Bokhoor burning—her youngest daughter who was fluent in English had arrived by then so she helped translate for me—sat the Burner (Mubkhar) down on the ground and then proceeded to straddle the Mubkhar with her voluminous floral Jalabeeya (Kaftan) carefully draped around her legs while she began to shake her hips around in a circle, scenting her Jalabeeya with the Bakhoor perfume. At this point, I turned beet red and was giggling from embarrassment; her youngest daughter was telling her mom…NO! NO! The mom then moved away from the Mubkhar and burning Bokhoor, and she grabbed me while I was sitting on the sofa and proceeded to rather aggressively encourage me to do the same with my abaya, although I really couldn’t because I was laughing so hard. The “fun” with the Bokhoor ended when some more of her daughters and grandchildren came into the women’s Majlis. Of course, the mom told them all what she had done and made me do, and everyone got a great laugh out of it. I was later told by another daughter that what her mother had done to scent her Jalabeeya was considered very old-fashioned and that nowadays people just scent their clothing by sprinkling Attar (perfume) on the clothing or leaving the Mubkhar to burn in the closet of one’s home.

---

List of sites based in the USA (or that will readily ship to the US/Abroad) that sell authentic Khaleeji (Gulf) Attar, Oud and Bakhoor.

Swiss Arabian	https://us.swissarabian.com/
Dukhni	https://dukhni.us/
Fragrance Arabia	https://fragrancearabia.com/
Arabian Oud	https://us.arabianoud.com/en
Maison d’Orient	https://shop.sa-usa.com/

Ok, I shall end here, let me know what you think about this post, I love reading your comments and let me know more about Khaleeji Oud, Bokhoors or Attars.