Roja United Arabian Emirates Parfum

Roja Dove built this one around a scene rather than an idea. The house's own text describes arriving at a rooftop party in Dubai, where smoky frankincense and warm pink pepper set the scene, fresh rose provides relief from the heat, and sugary blackcurrant releases the scent of shisha into the night. Released in 2017, it is described by the house as a contemporary, energetic oud perfume crafted to reflect the thrilling pace of the United Arab Emirates, and it is notably more urban and more modern than most oud compositions at this level.

The opening is brief: bergamot and artemisia, bitter and herbal, gone within minutes. What follows is a substantial floral heart that is easy to underestimate in an oud fragrance, with Rose de Mai and Grasse jasmine, both French materials, alongside geranium, ylang ylang, cistus and clove buds adding spice and a slightly medicinal sharpness. Blackcurrant buds supply the sweet-tart, faintly sulphurous quality that makes the shisha reference land.

The base is where it becomes serious. Frankincense and oud sit together, two materials with centuries of trading history through the Gulf, with cypriol and guaiacwood adding dry smoke, patchouli and oakmoss adding earth, and benzoin, labdanum and musk giving warmth. Cumin appears in Roja's own listing and contributes the animalic, skin-like edge that some wearers love and others cannot get past. Sample first if you are unsure about cumin.

This is unmistakably an evening fragrance. It suits a warm Highveld summer night, where the smoke and resin read as atmospheric rather than heavy, and it would be a great deal at a daytime function. It is sold as unisex and works that way, though the rose gives it more range on women than most oud parfums manage.

Roja sells it as a parfum in a 50 ml presentation and it performs accordingly, with ten to twelve hours and a rich trail through the first several. Two sprays is the sensible maximum. Roja Dove established his house in Mayfair, London, in 2011, having joined Guerlain in 1981 and spent close to twenty years there before going out on his own.