The heady aroma of oriental perfume wafts through Saudi Arabia's shopping malls, luring customers to drop hundreds of dollars for a tiny flask of oud, the signature scent of Arabia.
Oud oil, extracted from the Agarwood tree, is cherished in the Gulf where it is used to scent mosques, greet guests, ward off evil spirits and win lovers in a culture that believes the way to a man's heart is through his nose, not his stomach.
Today, one Saudi firm wants to give a whiff of this sharp, wood-scented fragrance to the West where it hopes it will catch on.
"We are offering our beloved oud perfume to the world. It's part of ancient Arabian heritage and now there is growing fondness and appreciation for it among non-Gulf Arabs and the West," says Abdul Aziz bin al-Jasser, president of Arabian Oud, one of the world's largest retailers of oriental perfume.
"Pleasing scents have always been part of our religious and social culture and today, people are going back to essential oils which have no alcohol and are purer than Western perfumes."
His family-owned company has a 30 percent share of the Gulf's $800 million oriental perfume market and draws well-heeled patrons like Gulf royals and the Sultan of Brunei.
In 2002, Arabian Oud opened a branch in London, soon to be followed by stores in Paris and the United States. Last year, sales in the Gulf and Saudi Arabia alone were $150 million.
A 12-gram bottle of oud can cost up to 3,000 riyals ($800) and one kilogram of incense can fetch up to 45,000 riyals.
"Westerners love our exquisite perfume bottles shaped as camels, Aladdin lamps and Arabian coffee pots. They buy them by the dozen to give as gifts or keep as a decoration," Jasser said.
Dubbed the "Master of Oriental Perfumes", oud is an integral part of Gulf Arab culture. Arab poets serenaded the scent and the Prophet Mohammad taught Muslims the importance of smelling good.
Women permeate their clothes and skin with oud incense before going out, men splash on oud cologne as a status symbol and hosts offer honoured guests dabs of oud oil along with the standard cups of boiled coffee and dates.
"On special occasions like weddings, women will often wear more oud, but if it's a normal outing it is more refined to dab only a little on clothes," says Ragaa, a mother of three.
But oud doesn't strike the right notes with all Gulf noses. "I am the odd one out in my family because I don't like any oriental perfumes. They're too heavy," says Mariam.
The commerce in oud is one of the oldest trades in the Gulf. Traders used to import it via the ancient silk and spice route to Asia, home to the Agarwood tree, where it is also revered as a spiritual and medicinal product.
Eastern legend has it that Adam was only allowed to take the Agarwood tree with him from the Garden of Eden.
Today, Arabian Oud has built a factory in Thailand where the oil can be distilled from the nearby Agarwood forests.
The wood is chopped, soaked in water for some 10 days, then boiled to release the oil, which is later stored in sealed containers for three to five years to concentrate the fragrance.
Because the pungent smell does not appeal to all people, oud is also mixed with other essential oils such as lavender, jasmine and sandalwood to dilute it.
Arabian Oud offers some 2,000 perfume mixtures and says sales forecasts for Western markets are encouraging, even though it may take time to build an acquired taste there.
"I find the perfume too strong. It smells of Arabia, and that's just not me," says British expatriate Yolanda.
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