Sheikh Khalifa Attar 2017 *RUNNING LOW top

Sheikh Khalifa Attar

*An inspired Attar from my travels in Dubai in September 2017

One of the interesting cultural things I noticed while in Dubai...nearly every shop and restaurant and hotel had photos of the country's current leadership hanging somewhere on a wall.

As an Amercian, I found this to be a very curious custom, as we are not a royal family kinda country. Every so often you might see a photo of the current president somewhere...but not in 90% of the spaces that you enter. There was a cultural pride that I found myself to be rather fond of - and considering that 85% of the population of the country are non-Emirates...it seemed infectious to quite a few of the locals, as well.

The most notable of these was Sheikh Khalifa - the current President of the United Arab Emirates. His photo - the very same that you see above - seemed to be everywhere!

As Crown Prince, he had already been acting as president since the late 1990s while his father was in ill health, becoming the official President in 2005. Khalifa is also chairman of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, which manages over $600 billion in assets. The Al Nahyan family is believed to have a fortune of $150 billion collectively. Yowzah!

(I bet they own some really spectacular Oud Oils and Woods!!)

Another interesting custom was that many of the shops had oils named Sheikh This or Prince That - often named after a local Royal or cultural Royal Icon - as well as Attars that were made for a frequent customer to the shop which was converted into something sold to the public.

This was a very bizarre practice for me, personally. It's not like you walk into a store here in the US and find President Obama EdP or Pres Bush EdT for sale. So I found this practice to be a very interesting one - and a unique cultural reflection in that it speaks to the importance of fragrance in the region, and that people really do want to smell like their spiritual and political leaders.

Not surprisingly - many were cheap and often entirely synthetic, while others were made with a mix of synthetics and quality naturals. One thing I didn't see much of, though - were high quality pure naturals...which had me feeling like there was an Attar Gap that needed to be filled.

Considering that Sheikh Khalifa seemed to be following top me everywhere in Dubai (spying on me from near every wall!) it was a no brainer that he was going to be my inspiration.

While I was there, I saw many Attars bearing his name, and the common themes seemed to be that he liked T'aif Rose, Saffron, and Oud.

I do want to make special mention that genuine T'aif Rose was difficult to find. Most of the stuff being sold as T'aif was really a T'aif smelling fragrance (often sold for crazy sums of money considering that they were not pure or altogether natural).

I never saw more than a Tola or two of genuine T'aif in any given place. Most were diluted, which many of the shops admitted to, as well as admitting that most of the T'aif was not pure or all natural.

Bulgarian Damask, when very good quality, can be citrusy smelling like T'aif, as well. Most folks don't realize that they are actually the same species of Rose simply grown in two different locations - so it is no surprise that most of what I saw being sold was likely Bulgarian rather than T'aif in origin.

Top quality Bulgarian can smell almost as citrusy as genuine T'aif.

You really have to know what your nose is smelling to differentiate them.

Given that I saw very little genuine T'aif - I bought what I could when I'd find it at all, let alone at a reasonable price (which wasn't much). It's also why I decided to use it to make this particular Attar.

Many of you that placed orders from the first Dubai Newsletter may have received a sample of this Sheikh Khalifa Attar that I composed from materials that I picked up while out there.

So far, the feedback I have gotten on it has been spectacular.
I recommend picking up a bottle while it is available.

Sheikh Khalifa Attar

Citrusy T'aif Rose
Kashmiri Saffron
Mysore Sandalwood
Rich and Tobacco'y Aged Hindi Oud