EXCLUSIVE: "HOW TO",TRADITION & HISTORY OF THE USE PERFUME AND BAKHOOR IN AL-KHALEEJ/العطور والبخور في الخليج

Khaleejia said: Today we will enter local house to witness & share the secret of making boukhoor at home, but in the beginning, lets remember the history of perfume and boukhoor in the Khaleej. For that we did some research and even asked a grandmother (Ask Allah, make her life long and easy) who told us a long story of how it was here in the Khaleej in fact before.. 

History and types of the Bakhoor* (Incense)

If the pearl diving was one of the most important aspects of life in the old time, and disappeared with the passage of days due to the development of the society, there is still some semblance of life at the time, yet exist in some homes, and there are still some families who are keen to hold on to them, such as Bakhoor* incense. The incense is still used so popular today. in some homes its is used daily and and other  burn incense only on special occasions.

In ancient times the incense was a manifestation of everyday life. There were many types of the incense and their use was also significant.  There were  incense for  women and another for men, incense was different  for every occasion.

The interest in incense and the way to use it goes to the Musilm doctrine, It is saying that when Prophet Mohammad ,peace be upon  him, while entering city, he was greeted with aromas of burning ladan &incense as an expression of joy & happiness from  welcoming Mohammad, peace be upon him.  

Therefore, the use of the incense associated in people's minds with  the remembrance of the Prophet, peace be upon him.

Incense for men is usually limited in choice to burning oud alone, by using burners which are made of pottery, and still this kind of bakhoor burners used so far on some occasions, though it is common to use incense burners made of copper..

AL-OUD

Usually Oud was imported from India, men were keen to apply perfume in the holidays and before going out to pray and while gatherings. Women used the kind of incense named Al-dkhoun. Most women were knowledgeable in the way of making All-Dkhoun and know well components and proportions of each  one.  The home made paste composed of Saja oud and misk, amber, absorbent and after kneading it was formed in the shapes of tablets or balls.which were placed in a wicker  bags attached to dresses and the remain odor stayed for always, even after washing .But this did not prevent  women from burning incense at home every evening as well.

Al-Bakhoor

Bakhoor and smoke are considered as basic and necessary things in the Arabic houses. There are many kinds of them like Al-Hassat, Al Amber, Al-Misk and Al-Haboob.

Dakhoon al Oud -  made by adding to powder of the oud tree misk , rose oil, mix of oil perfume, amber. Then all getting kneaded and small ball are shaped. They can be used after some time when all ingredients are filled each other and get a little dry. Then it is put on the coal to welcome the guest or for other occasions or reasons:

Bakhoor for ill people.

One of the most common habits to use bakhoor as cure for ill people and also against demons, envy and jealousy. It is known that rooms where medicine are used have specific smell, and than more ill people lay in the bed, than more it effects the smell of the room. So bakhoor is the best way to change this smell.

Bakhoor for Weddings

It is a must on the weddings. Not earlier than one hour before the wedding starts a bakhoor carrier starts going around the halls and guests smoking the atmosphere with bakhoor and splitting perfume and saying salawat* (Greetings) to the Prophet , peace be upon Him : "Allahumma solli w sallem Aleik ya habib Allah Mohammad!"As a reason to avoid jelousy or envy from people by mentioning the Prophet. Saying Salawat to the Prophet on the big occasions considered to be beautiful and good.

Bakhoor for Guests.

"Smoking the guests out" one of the funniest stories that mentioning tradition of using bakhoor for the guests when a host want his guests to leave the house after long seating and getting bored from the conversation he start burning the bakhoor walking around the guests and saying " Khitam misk" which means "Beautiful ending like the smell of bakhoor" and the guests used to reply by saying " Ma baad el oud- gouod" which means "No sitting after the oud (bakhoor)".

The Weight & Price

All best khaleeji perfumes are weighted by units called - Tola. The price varies from the quality of the ingredients. There for the same kind of perfume can be different in the price. For bakhoor the rose oil and oud  are one of the most expensive among the ingredients. 

Kinds of Dahn el Oud:

Best Oud in Khaleej considered to be from Asam (India) will cost for tola = 11.5 gr about AED 2300 and for 1 kg = AED 25000.

  

العطور والبخور

أنواع البخور

إذا كان الغوص من أهم مظاهر الحياة في الزمن القديم، واختفى مع مرور الأيام بفضل تطور المجتمع ، فما زالت بعض مظاهر الحياة في ذلك الوقت، موجودة حتى الآن في بعض البيوت ، وما زالت هناك بعض الأسر تحرص على التمسك بها، ومن ذلك مثلاً البخور. والبخور ما زال استعماله شائعاً حتى اليوم في بعض البيوت وقد يحرص البعض على استعماله كل يوم ويكتفي آخرون بحرقه في المناسبات . وفي الزمن القديم كان البخور أحد مظاهر الحياة اليومية، بل أكثر من هذا، فإن للبخور أنواع عديدة، ومنها ما يستعمل بحالته الطبيعية ، كما هو كنابت ، بل أكثر من هذا أن هناك بخوراً خاصة للنساء وآخر للرجال، وبخوراً لكل مناسبة يختلف عن غيرها. واهتمامهم بالبخور وحرصهم على استعماله يرجعونه إلى عقيدة إسلامية ، فهو يقولون أن الأنصار لدى خروجهم لاستقبال الرسول صلى الله عليه وسلم عندما وصل المدينة مهاجراً وهم ينشدون طلع البدر علينا من ثنيات الوداع، كانوا يطلقون البخور ، كتعبير عن فرحتهم وترحيبهم به، ومن ظاهر هذا الترحيب أن يستقبلونه برائحة عطرة. ولهذا فإن استخدام البخور يرتبط في الأذهان بذكر الرسول عليه الصلاة والسلام. والبخور للرجال يقتصر عادة على حرق العود وحده، وتستخدم له المباخر المصنوعة من الفخار ، ومازال هذا النوع من المباخر يستعمل حتى الآن في بعض المناسبات، وإن كان الشائع استعمال المباخر المصنوعة من النحاس. والعود عادة يستورد من الهند، ويحرص الرجال على التطيب به في الأعياد وقبل الخروج للصلاة وعند الزيارة. أما النساء فيستخدمن نوعاً من البخور اسمه الدخون. ومعظم النساء يتفنن في صناعة الدخون ويعرفن جيداً مكوناتها ونسب كل منها، فالدخون تصنعه النساء من عجينة مكونة من سجا العود والمسك والعنبر ، تخلط ماص وتعجن، وتشكل على شكل أقراص مستدرة، توضع في الخوص وتعلق عليها الثياب لتظل الرائحة عالقة بها دائماً ، حتى بعد غسلها. وهذا لا يمنع أن تحرص المرأة على حرق البخور في البيت كل مساء.

البخور للمريض

من العادات الشائعة لاستعمال البخور ، حرقه في حالة المرض، وترجع هذه العادة إلى اعتقاد آخر بأن رائحة البخور الذكية تطرد الشياطين ، وتذهب الحسد فيشفى المريض، ولكن هناك اعتقاداً آخر لإطلاق البخور في غرفة المريض، وربما أكثر موضوعية، يرجع إلى أن طول رقاد المريض على فراش المرض يؤثر على رائحة الغرفة، والبخور أفضل وسيلة لتغيير هذه الرائحة. ويستعمل البخور أيضاً في حفلات العرس، فلا تكاد تمضي ساعة حتى يطوف حملة المباخر، بالمدعويين ينشرون بينهم الدخان العطر وهم يرددون الصالة على النبي .

البخور للضيوف

ومن أطرف ما يروى عن تقاليد استعمال البخور، أنه إذا ضاق صاحب البيت بزواره بعد أن طالت فترة زيارتهم أو مل حديثهم، فإنه يهرع إلى المبخرة، ويشتعل فيها المسك ويطوف عليهم متمتماً » ختام مسك « فينهض الضيوف للانصراف ، فالقول الشائع بينهم هو » ما بعود العود قعود « .

البخور

يعتبر البخور والدخان أشياء أساسية وضرورية في البيت العربي، وهي أنواع كثيرة منها الحست والعنبر والمسك والحبوب ، ودخون العود على سبيل المثال تصنع بطحن العود ثم إضافة المسك ودهن الورد إليه ، ثم يعجن مع مجموعة من العطور ويضاف إليها العنبر، وتشكل على هيئة أقراص وتستخدم بعد أن تجف، أما البخور فعادة ما يكون من العود ويوضع مع الفحم المشتعل لتحية الضيوف .

وزن البخور

توزن معظم العطور الخليجية الجيدة بوحدة زينة تسمى التولة، ويختلف سعرها من عطر لآخر حتى النوع الواحد يختلف ثمنه حسب النوعية، ودهن العود ودهن الورد من أغلى الأنواع.

THE TRADITIONAL WAY TO MAKE BAKHOOR AT HOME:

1.Prepare all ingredients

2.Take 

T سحال* Sahal powder oud

(by  two fanjan(arabic coffe cups

then add

3/4

parts of the sugar powder

add 3/4 parts of MISK powder 

mix sahal misk and sugar powder well together 

 Add AMBER

three spoons

each spoon in its own place

mix all well together

Add attar/perfume 6 spoons

tree by two times.

add pure rose oil

Add SKAP سكاب*

two spoons

mix well and form the balls

one ball- about 12 gramm

 once all done, store in the room temperature for about 3 days. After that put  them in box or cover  with alluminium folia and  place in fridge .

. now you can burn it on the coal or electric mabkhora.The best will be special coal that has no any own smell and can give reach of bakhoor scent smoke

Some little quantity of bakhoor placed over the coal itself

. Presentation of making Bakhoor is done by A.Al Shamsi and her own private company Daaj, Dubai.exclusively for Khaleejia.Blogspot.com 
: For orders of Bakhoor and perfume please order through WatsApp or BBM

List of Western Brands creating Arabian OUD perfumes–2013. Dubai edition. Review.

Khaleejia said: It is well known that every perfume has its owner. In multinational Dubai you  can even recognize nationality by the smell of perfume that is used by an individual.  It’s noted that for example American prefer perfumes with  fresh and clean notes, European gives preferences to citrus&cold, Saudis like spicy attars, those who are from South Asia seem like being addicted to pure smells of flowers jasmine and roses, but about  Emiratis’ choice, mainly it will be traditional arabian fragrant such as dahn el-oud, Amber and Musk with a very old history and secret technic of mixing  that is still kept and shared from mouth to mouth as an inheritance.  Therefore khaleeji and specially Emirati attars are considered to be one of the best in the Arab World. 

European perfume designers who are oriented to the GCC market probably decided  to conquer oud lovers by training  their perfumers  to reach the level of perfection mixing the same ingredients that in fact come out still  little far from the original perfumes made by using secret home made and purely amazing khaltat (mixes).Probably the main mix starts when the West mix with the East... 

 So lets see. We went around the shops in Dubai to find out which famous Western brand perfume has got its own Oud & Amber attar. How pure they are and close to the original ones. We also checked if it is popular or not in the local market. Must say, some perfumes are really caught our attention and made us fall in love with their fragrant…

So here we go:
1. BY ARABIAN ATTARS (YELLOW) 790 drh
(nice local-look design though smell is not that great as expected from the price & the bottle)

2. BY ARABIAN ATTARS (BROWN) 790drh
(same, see above)

3. BY ARABIAN ATTARS (WHITE) 790drh
(same, see above)

   

4.BY MANCERA “BLACK INTENSIVE AOUD” 445 drh
(nice and long lasting )

5. BY MIEL SAUVAGE “OUD” 385drh
(that is ok but not a long lasting one)

6. BY TIZIANA TERENZI 660 drh
(yes it is light oud but smell disappeared in couple of hours)

7. BY ROBERTO CAVALLI " OUD EDITION"
One of the best in the market. Deserve to be among your home perfume collection. The bottle is a very attractive as well.

8. BY LANCOME “LAUTRE OUD” 660 drh
(beautiful high notes with that earth oud)

9. BY VERSACE '”OUD” 490 drh
(good but nothing special)

10. BY SAKS FIFTH AVENUE “KHALTAT”
(another good mix)

11.BY ARAMIS “CALLIGRAPHY”
(one of the most popular here)

12. BY CHOPARD “OUD MALIKI” 550 drh
(beautiful notes of the oud, long lasting and my favorite)

13.BY TOM FORD “BLACK ORCHID”
(smells expensive, high quality fragrance everybody love and respect TOM FORD for his “TUSCAN LEATER”& “WOOD OUD”)

14. BY DUETO PARFUMS '” CITY OUD”
(new in the market and promise to be popular)

       
15. NOIR DE NOUR 850 drh-50 ml
(expensive & mild)

16. BY OPULENT (BAHRAINI) “SHAIK BLUE” 1500 drh – 80 ml.
(Another exclusive and expensive perfume with attractive design though not our favorite)

17. BY ESTEE LAUDER “AMBER MYSTIQUE”
(one of the best in the list, loved it)

18. BY ESTEE LAUDER “WOOD MYSTIQUE”
(less likes then to “Amber Mystique” but still –a very good one)

19. BY ST.DUPONT “OUD ORIENTAL”
(well, its ok, but seems like it was made in a hurry)

20. BY MONTALE “BLACK AOUD”
(enough deep to be oud)

21. BY YVES SAIN LAURAN “OUD ABSOLU”
(probably many can say oud but less absolute)

 
22. BY ALEXANDER J. “OSCENT”
(yes, they try and went not bad )

24. BY TOM FORD “SAHARA NOIR”
(a little different from that oud but still a beautiful fragrance in all means)

25.   BY JULIETTE HAS A GUN “MIDNIGHT OUD” (made us feel that “oud “ is written on the bottle just to attract oud fans.)

 
We know there are much more are left behind, and if you have something to share,we would only feel happy to know what else among Arabian oud and Amber fragrant that mixed by Western brands  we can find in the markets around the world. Here we shared situation in the local UAE market and hope this post will give you some useful tips. Would appreciate your feedback. New special exclusive posts about perfume await you. What means homemade perfume in khaleej, what is that special way to use perfume in houses and for clothes, that you always can say “This is a house of an Arab family”. We will keep posting and hope you will keep reading and thank you all for following our Facebook page and support!

EMIRATI- Watch a TV Show ON-LINE! :)

Khaleejia said: I'm happy to introduce you a wonderful  program about Emirati culture - "Emirati" on DubaiOne  TV channel. The program is in English and you can watch it on-line!!!!!

"Emirati" talks about culture and traditions, lifestyle of Emirati people. You can watch all epsiodes of the program here: Emirati ON LINE

Below is one of my favourite episodes about traditional clothes (dishdasha/kandura for men and abaya and jalabia for women), Arabic perfumes, bukhur, golden jewellery.  Enjoy!! 

* don't forget to let me know if you liked it please :)  I love it :))

Some Advice on Buying Perfumes in the Emirates

Khaleejia said: Arabic perfumes and bukhoor can be a good present from the GCC countries.


In UAE you can buy bukhoor or perfumes from many different shops.

You can visit these most BEAUTIFUL websites: Rasasi, Ajmal -best Emirati companies. Abdul Samad al Qurashi - is a famous manufacturer from KSA (I just love them!).

Products of the following companies are widely presented on the UAE market: Amalia, Al Haramain, Swiss Arabian, Arabian Oud

The price on Arabic oil perfumes varies greatly. You can buy a pleasant scent for AED 35 or AED 45. And there are luxurious oils in beautiful bottles and boxes for AED 500, AED 1,000, AED 3,000 and more.
Some stores have huge glass bottles with oil from which they pour perfume into small bottles and sell to the customers. The perfume stores usually sell beautiful bottles of different capacity and shape. You can also bring your own bottle to the shop.

Oud (agarwood) is expensive and can cost anything from AED1,000 to AED40,000 depending on the quantity and quality.
Bukhoor can cost you between AED 50 and AED500

The Bukhoor burner costs from AED50 to AED500, but you can also buy very expensive ones which are made of gold or silver.
The coal is relatively cheap. The "magic coals" which are the best quality and last for longer cost about AED50 for a box.