Cypriol

Cypriol is the material that made oud possible for a generation of perfumers. It is the root of a humble Indian grass, and it smells of smoke, wet wood and dark earth in a way that comes astonishingly close to agarwood. I use it beside real oud and beneath it, and the two are so alike that they speak as one voice.

What cypriol is

Cypriol oil, also called nagarmotha, is steam distilled from the dried tubers of Cyperus scariosus, a sedge that grows wild in the wet lowlands of India. The oil is rich in cyperene, rotundone and related molecules that give it a smoky, woody, leathery depth with a faint spice, and it has long been used in India for scenting textiles and in traditional attars. Ours is a rectified heart cut, which means the crudest, muddiest fractions have been removed and the clean smoky wood remains.

Where our cypriol comes from

Cyperus scariosus is a plant of India, and the oil is produced there, where the tubers are dug from riverbanks and wet fields after the monsoon and dried before distillation. Our formula books record the species and the process rather than a farm, so the pin on our map marks the country of the grass rather than a place I can name. What I can say is that the material is Indian by nature, and that its character, smoky, earthy and close to oud, is the character of the plains it grows in.

How cypriol smells

Woody, smoky, earthy and close to oud. It opens dry and slightly leathery, with a faint spice, and settles into a dark, smooth wood with a smoke that never quite clears. It is one of the longest lasting materials in the natural palette.

Cypriol in our chapters

• IIParadis de BleuThe Leaves · in the base

  In Paradis de Bleu it is the smoke beneath the moss, the dark note that turns the forest floor into something ancient.

• VIImpériale OudThe First Root · in the base

  In Impériale Oud it extends the oud, deepening the first root with its own smoky wood.

• VIISultanat OudThe Deep Roots · in the base

  In Sultanat Oud it stands beside the oud and sandalwood, the second voice of the deep roots.

• VIIIRoyale OudThe Taproot · in the base

  In Royale Oud it is one of the many roots of the taproot, the smoke that runs through all the resins.

A note from the atelier

Oud is precious and cypriol is generous. Beside each other they make the oud go further without diluting it, because they are speaking the same language.

Questions about cypriol