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B Side, Fashion & Style

How Oud Became the Power Scent for Nigeria’s Elite

Wealth must be seen, heard, and in this case, smelled.

  • Daniella Damilola
  • 12th February 2025
How Oud Became the Power Scent for Nigeria’s Elite

There’s a running joke that you’ll know a rich man by the strength of his oud. If your cologne isn’t battling the humidity and winning, are you even wealthy? Scent has long been used as a marker of status, power, and cultural identity. Across different cultures and eras, the fragrances people wear have doubled as status symbols, signaling wealth, class, and influence. In ancient times, only the elite had access to rare and exotic perfume ingredients, flaunting their power through scent. Royal courts and aristocrats took it even further, drenching themselves and their surroundings in rich, complex fragrances that were out of reach for the average person. Between the high cost of raw materials and the craftsmanship needed to create these scents, perfume remained an exclusive luxury for centuries.

 

Today, not much has changed; expensive perfume continues to function as a form of “olfactory capital,” a term borrowed from Bourdieu’s concept of cultural capital, which refers to non-economic assets that confer social status. High-end fragrances, often formulated with rare and natural ingredients, are marketed as exclusive and aspirational products.

 

Oud, in particular, has been a prized scent for centuries, revered in multiple civilizations. In Ancient Egypt, it was used in religious rituals, embalming processes, and personal perfumery. Egyptian royalty often infused their garments and surroundings with oud, believing it to have divine and purifying properties. In India and China, oud was similarly prized for its role in spiritual ceremonies and traditional medicine, with texts from the 7th century CE documenting its use in Ayurvedic and Chinese healing practices. However, it is in the Middle East that oud’s association with power and wealth became most pronounced. In Arabian culture, oud has been used for centuries in hospitality, religious ceremonies, and personal grooming. The region’s wealthy rulers, particularly in the Persian and Ottoman empires, reserved the finest grades of oud for their exclusive use. Arabic poetry and literature from as early as the 9th century CE describe the scent as a marker of nobility and divine favor.

 

In recent decades, oud has experienced a surge in popularity in Western perfumery. This increased demand has led to its rapid commercialization and integration into high-end fragrance lines. Oud, also known as agarwood, is a dark, fragrant resin produced by the Aquilaria tree when it becomes infected with a specific type of mold. Its rich, complex aroma — characterized by deep woody, smoky, and slightly sweet notes — has long been associated with opulence and authority. The highest quality oud — derived from aged trees — can cost between $50,000 and $100,000 per kilogram. Some of the most luxurious oud-based perfumes retail for over $500 per bottle, making them inaccessible to the average consumer. The rarity of oud is compounded by its dwindling supply. Due to high demand, Aquilaria trees have been overharvested, leading to their classification as an endangered species under CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) regulations. As with any rare commodity, its limited supply has only heightened its desirability, validating its status as the gold standard of fragrance luxury.

 

For the Nigerian elite, everything is a status symbol — cars, watches, even the water they drink. Wealth must be seen, heard, and in this case, smelled. It is not enough to be rich; one must also perform it. The louder, the better. In men’s perfumery, oud is a highly sought-after ingredient. Even in the 20th century, as men’s fragrances became more commercialized, the most successful ones — like Drakkar Noir, Paco Rabanne One Million, and Dior Fahrenheit — shared one thing in common: they weren’t soft. They were spicy, heavy-hitting. The industry is drowning in bombastic, chest-thumping concoctions, olfactory battering rams that assault the senses. The modern man isn’t just concerned with smelling good; he’s concerned with smelling like something. Like success, like confidence, like adventure, like the idealized version of himself. And the fragrance industry has capitalized on this desire, transforming everyday scents into potent elixirs of masculinity. Nigerian masculinity, like most, is performative, rooted in strength, dominance, and the constant projection of power.

 


Therefore, oud-based perfumes are often associated with masculinity, strength, and sophistication. Unlike the citrusy, fleeting scents of mass-market colognes, oud is bold, heavy, and impossible to ignore. It lingers. It dominates. It is a scent that refuses to be subtle, much like the men who wear it. A man who wears oud is not just rich; he is in control. He commands rooms. He has an entourage, a convoy, a reputation. To put it bluntly: original oud is expensive. And in a country where wealth is often measured by how loudly it can be displayed, the ability to drench oneself in a fragrance derived from the rarest agarwood is a necessity.

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