Thaqeel was our ode to the archetypal Khaleeji-style thick and viscous Cambodi oud. Now, there are those in some quarters who decried the very concept of the Cambodi as marketed and understood in the Gulf. To some extent, coming from an Artisanal Oud perspective, this is understandable, but a cursory analysis of the actual situation provides a different take. Oud is mainstream in the Gulf in a way that it is not anywhere else in the world and to cater to a mainstream market, it is simply impossible to scale the production of high-quality oud to meet supply. Instead, you find generic oils being sold to the masses who don't have any other frame of reference. There were a few exceptions to this and one was the original Thaqeel by Abdulsamad AlQureshi, a tola of which I managed to procure from literally the last remaining bottle in the Gulf in 2012 from their Medina branch. This sublime vintage oud inspired us to create the first Thaqeel last year and unfortunately, despite creating quite a large batch we were slightly bewildered that it sold out before ever reaching this website. One sniff of that Thaqeel and I was hooked to the extent that it became my daily oud for months on end, with it's beautiful red amber opening and smooth dry-down immediately capturing my attention. Well it was so good that we had to create another batch which we can finally present to you! However, I wouldn't advise a delay if you're thinking of acquiring a bottle as we don't expect it to be available for long. 2.5g bottle depicted is for illustration purposes only
