Let's set expectations first: Black Beast is not a crowd-pleaser, and it was never meant to be. It's our take on Nasomatto's Black Afgano, and a close one at about 95%. It's thick and resinous from the start, green and incense-like over tobacco, coffee...

If you've smelled a really good attar at a Lahori wedding, you already know roughly where Navab is going. It's our reading of Ormonde Jayne's Nawab of Oudh, and a close one at about 96%. Bergamot and a little green open it, but the...

If oud usually feels like too much, this is the one to start with. Oudwood Noir follows Tom Ford's Oud Wood, about 91% of it, and it's the smooth, modern side of the note. Rare woods and a little spice open it gently, the...

Burning resin and oud, the sort of smell you might catch drifting from an old majlis. That's the world Nomade Ombry lives in, our reading of Louis Vuitton's Ombre Nomade, and we'd put it near 90%. Smoky spices and resins open it, a dense...

This is one of the scents other shops in Pakistan now copy and sell as 'inspired by MHB Essence', which tells you something. Ouleather Imperium is Mazhar's own, and it has become a reference point rather than a copy of one. It's dark and...

Rose-oud is easy to do badly and hard to do well, so this was a careful one. Isfahan Roseoud is our reading of Dior's Oud Ispahan, around 94%. A little bergamot and citrus lift the opening, then a full, velvety rose takes over, sitting...