Aoud Cuir d'Arabie 
Montale (2006)

Aoud Cuir d'Arabie by Montale (2006) came out the same year as the most-popular and beloved Montale Black Aoud (2006), representing something of a flip-side to the synth oud coin that Pierre Montale has been minting for damn near 20 years. Whilst Black Aoud is a rose and medicinal oud bomb that would help inspire countless designer clones in its wake (yet honestly why someone would pay more for them is beyond me), Aoud Cuir d"Arabie goes more for what the folks really into natural oud oils might wear, if those are the more-fecal or crotch-stink type of oils coming from India or Cambodia. Yep, that's right folks, this is a full-cheese skatole phenolic wonderland of naughty nickers and unwashed nethers, which is something western brands typically avoid, or want to charge you anywhere from $450 to $1,500 for the privilege of experiencing, even if this kind of oud is usually considered cheaper or lower-class in countries of origin. There is of course, more going on here besides just stinky oud, or else I wouldn't bother with it, myself. There are stinkier things than this, but they're either discontinued or only come as attars.

For the most part, Aoud Cuir d'Arabie is what is says, consisting of a rather raw-smelling oud that follows into leathery notes propagated by castoreum and birch tar. There is some Turkish rose in the heart of this because there almost has to be with the way Montale does these things, and frankly, I'm glad there is. Without that rose, some smoothing tonka, patchouli, and resins, this might be a rather dry scent. Instead, we get something that's rather warm, perspirant, and alive. Due to how oily (and I assume concentrated in materials) Aoud Cuir d'Arabie is, some may be upset that it wears more like a parfum or extrait than some other Montales. In other words, this goes closer to skin faster than the others, but you'll have to scrub it off in order to make it go away. The final dry down is the pay-off for those who don't like the full stank of the fragrance's opening and mid, as leather finally takes over for the barnyard oud, joined by that muted smooth rose and what feels like a bit of oakmoss. Performance is eternal, although other Montales project more. I'd say oud of this type is pretty masculine, although I'd be proven wrong by the number of women who spring for over-priced bottles of The Night by Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle (2014).

All told, I'm actually glad this one isn't a screamer in quite the same way Black Aoud is, because holy shit do I ever have to scrub that one off when I'm done wearing it, with only two sprays. Aoud Cuir d'Arabie in contrast sort of melts into skin and can really "disappear" given enough time, likely due to how well animalics sort of blend with our own "brand" of smell, as it were. Thus, it seems like Aoud Cuir d'Arabie is actually somehow a bit more wearable once you get past the first hour or so, and also more easily-removed when showering, being just a more-manageable fragrance overall to use. Of course, none of this matters if you can't abide just how virile and hormonal a fragrance this is, almost existing in the way Sécrétions Magnifiques by Etat Libre d'Orange (2006) does, to slap snobby perfume connoisseurs around who think they can handle challenging fragrances. This type of oud is rare in the mostly-rubbery and medicinal canon of Montale ouds, but it does turn up a few places if you know where to look, just not stronger and more directly than it does here in Aoud Cuir d'Arabie. Thumbs up

I finally came to conclusion, that I love Montale Aoud Cuir d'Arabie.

It opens up on me with oud, actually with quite well pronounced floral aspect of it. After 1-2 hours this moves to the deep background and let the leather do its job.

The leather is quite in your face, bold and animalic, with huge impact of birch tar - which even makes it more bold and raw. It is an absolute star of this fragrance.

Here and there you can smell faint traces of tobacco, bu IMO it's rather a tobacco smoke, not a pipe tobacco and surely not a "raw" tobacco nor tobacco leaves. And that's actually all I can smell.

Longevity is very big, the average length is 8-10 hours, quite often more than that. Projection is above average.

I think it is my favourite out of all Montale fragrances, but it was a slow love for me, I had to spend some time with it to really appreciate what it is and what it can offer to me.

Like the old Kraft Macaroni and Cheese slogan, "It's the easiest because it's the cheesiest!"

In all seriousness though, wow. Montale. I know they are often mocked for assembly line ouds and overall garishness and lack of subtlety, but this, my friends, this is where Pierre and his team deviated from the template just a bit. It is really a take no prisoners wallop of not just the cheesy, the barnyard, the phenolic, the dirty birdy, but if one can appreciate, even lean into this caterwauling, cabbalistic detonation, they are treated to a dry down that has one of the most evocative castoreum notes, with birch tar, tanned leather, Montale's signature rose, and something that reminds me of the recent Halston miniseries where his perfumer inhales his lover's jockstrap. Skanky wanky.

Boom.

Montale is a joy. What they dare to do is completely outside of the domain of the “Black Afghanos,” “Reins,” “Liquides Imaginaires” and etceteras of the perfume industry, hell bent on finding such an obscure niche that they're willing to rely on adcopy and marketing for a certain cool factor related to marijuana or existentialism or gothicism yaddayada to carve out their Instagramming clientele. Montale, on the other hand, does one thing and one thing well: orientalism.

Aoud Cuir d'Arabie is perhaps that pinnacle, excluding their more straightforwardly named Arabians, of course, but then again, what about Cuir de Russie or even the abomination of a name Afrika Olifant? Also pertinent is the fact that Montale, here, has not sacrificed or compromised an iota of their identity, even if they've done a few things differently!

Differently, they've managed to not make yet another perfume that is nuclear in strength and that lasts forever. Aoud Cuir d'Arabie, after its initial blast of car interior, cheese (yes, I can confirm), and dung, works through a gorgeous rose and leather that approximates the smell of skin more and more as time passes and the notes change. Whereas perfumes such as Montale's Black Aoud divide and conquer, staking a claim to more and more space as you self-consciously decide to not move too much or pass by *that* person lest they smell your histrionic aura, Aoud Cuir d'Arabie might actually cause some unsuspecting strangers to second guess, and only when they get close enough: Is he (or she or they or it) gorgeously sweating?

Although this fragrance smells nothing like sweat, there is something utterly human and sebaceous about it, as if we all–or at least the sexiest of us–exude a faint smell of tobacco ripeness as the day goes on.

I first bought a bottle of this wonderful juice 3 years ago, before I knew what was good for me. I sold it because I wanted to go out into the world and try new things, because I fell in love with Dior's Leather Oud (another masterpiece, albeit one that smells much more “perfumey” despite its animalic features), because I didn't know my tastes. I now find myself with a new 10ml decant of Montale's fragrance and with the desire to maybe pull the trigger on a full bottle. In the heat of summer, this leather fragrance smells wonderful: natural and hot. The heat of New York literally makes this scent meld to my skin. Gone are the worries that I smell like a fool who's got on some kind of buzzing, fuzzy sandalwood synth; or an unfathomably dense, resin-based oriental that's crystallizing on my body like honey; or an aquatic, citrus-centric splash that is trying too hard to scream “I'm not sweating, I'm fresh.” Instead, Montale's Aoud Cuir d'Arabie accentuates all the smells that accompany our bodies in this life, throughout the seasons, irrespective of place.

Fake real oud

I've always thought this one would just be another of the Montale ouds, so harsh and synthetic that it makes me wish to get it off. But this one is one of the only synthetics that seems to go after the actual smell of oud. Its got some cheesy opening, animalic. The leather is the chemically tan stuff. Astringent tobacco of the best kind, not trying to smell like a cigar, but giving that bitter medicinal vibe. The oud is synthetic smelling, but the addition of the leather and tobacco start to give it a more realistic profile. I find this rather enjoyable. A couple hours in it reaches a more polite profile, though it is still leather, tobacco and oud.
This is a really good one. I hate metal bottles, but I may make an exception for this one if the price is right. Thumbs up.