# The House of Oud — Crop 2018

> Crop 2018 is the third entry in The House of Oud's annual "Crop" series - limited runs built around whatever oud oil the previous year's harvest happened to yield. The conceit is deliberately anti-per

## Essence
Crop 2018 is the third entry in The House of Oud's annual "Crop" series - limited runs built around whatever oud oil the previous year's harvest happened to yield. The conceit is deliberately anti-perfumery: rather than a fixed formula, each Crop is a near-raw presentation of a single year's Kalimantan oud oil, paired with one supporting material, in a tiny edition that can never be repeated. In 2018 that pairing material was palo santo, and the edition ran to 347 numbered bottles. Where 2016 used mint and 2017 used licorice, the 2018 release is the most stripped-down and confrontational of the early Crops - essentially a wearable oud oil rather than a constructed fragrance, which makes it less a "perfume" than a document of a specific batch of agarwood.
## Scent Profile
This is the Crop that divides people, and it does so right at the opening. On most skins the first 30-45 minutes are aggressively animalic - published coverage wearers reviewers reach for "fecal," "feral," "barnyard," "manure" - the unmistakable signature of a genuine, undiluted oud oil rather than a sanitized synthetic stand-in. The published coverage house review describes the oil as Kalimantan Super 2018, characterized as "sweeter and easier to wear than the other oud oils," with its main accents "in the dry and dark woody part of the spectrum (patchouli and tobacco) with a delicate hay-n-barnyard animalic shade." Critically, it lacks the cheese-like facet of Assamese oils and the sharp earthy nagarmotha of Thai Trat oils.
What's notable is the development arc. Multiple wearers independently report that the funk burns off in roughly 45 minutes - and they're careful to note this isn't nose-fatigue, since others around them also stop smelling it. What remains is a deep, smoky "ancient wood" accord with quiet incense in the background - a profile reviewers associate with Borneo/Kalimantan ouds - drifting toward leather and a faint sandalwood-like creaminess as the oil ages on skin. The palo santo, the supposed co-star, is barely perceptible: most note it plays only a "supporting role," brightening and lifting the oud rather than asserting itself.
On fabric, the house review notes a chocolate-patchouli shade emerges and the balance tips toward leather and castoreum; the far drydown turns dry, bitter, and woody with a mineral, almost engine-oil facet. A dissenting view exists too: one reviewer found it stayed "dark and sour and nearly acrid throughout," all "gasoline and burning rubber rather than cinnamon and teak," with none of the sweetening (rose, honey) that usually rounds an oud blend.
## Performance
Strong and long. published coverage aggregates rate longevity at 8 and sillage at a qualitative assessment - both well above average - across documented assessments, with the scent profile itself at 7. published coverage wearers reports support this, with the dried-down woody-smoky accord persisting around 10 hours on skin and projection described as moderate-to-strong. On clothing it is essentially indelible.
## Wearing Context
Cold-weather and evening territory, and frankly a connoisseur's wear rather than a crowd-pleaser. The animalic opening makes it socially risky in close quarters for the first hour - not an office scent, not a warm-weather scent. It rewards solitary or intimate wear where the wearer can ride out the barnyard phase to reach the smoky-leather payoff. Strongly masculine-leaning despite the unisex designation. This is a fragrance for someone who already knows they like real oud oil and wants it presented with minimal interference.
## Comparisons & DNA
The obvious internal comparison is to its siblings: reviewers explicitly warn that Crop 2018 is "nothing like" the more approachable Crop 2016 (mint-chocolate woody) and Crop 2017 (the fleshy-patchouli incense scent Persolaise singled out as a stand-out, comparing it to the agarwood-sandalwood-cedar smell of Kyoto incense shops). Crop 2018 is the harsh outlier of the run. One published coverage reviewer likened its bitter, acrid, citrus-green-over-burnt-leather character to the oud base of Extra Virgo's Monte Kush, while preferring the latter for its aromatic rose/hemp/rosemary framing. The broader DNA is that of traditional Middle Eastern oud oil rather than Western niche oud (which typically leans on rose, saffron, or synthetic "oud accords"); a fairer reference set would be genuine Kalimantan/Borneo oud oils sold as attars.
## Reception
Polarized but respected. Among dedicated oud wearers the verdict is high: "an oud lover's dream come true," "of all the oud perfumes in my collection this is my favorite - no rose, just rich high quality oud and sandalwood." The recurring praise is for authenticity - this is repeatedly flagged as one of the few retail niche releases containing genuine high-quality oud oil, with the price reflecting it. The recurring warning is equally consistent: "genuinely pungent, and for serious oud fans only." Critic coverage is thin - Persolaise reviewed Crop 2017 enthusiastically but not, in what I could find, 2018 - so the wearers carries reception here. published coverage's small sample skews positive 7 scent).
## Versions & Reformulation
By construction, the Crop series cannot be reformulated - each year is a one-off tied to a single harvest, and 2018's run was fixed at 347 numbered bottles, each accompanied by an authenticity certificate stating the bottle number. The marbled-coloring technique used on the bottles means no two are visually identical even within the same run. The fragrance is discontinued in the only sense that matters: once the 347 were gone, that was it. Note that the House of Oud later folded the standalone Crop/Klem Garden/Desert Day experiments toward its main THOO line; the Crop concept itself continued in subsequent years (2019 palo santo is sometimes referenced, 2021 chocolate, 2022 spice), but the 2018 batch is unrepeatable.
## Acquisition Notes
A genuine rarity. With only 347 bottles made, secondary-market availability is sporadic and pricing is high - consistent with a product whose raw material has appreciated steeply: co-founder Andrea Casotti told Lampoon Magazine in January 2022 that oud "ha subito un aumento del prezzo del 500% negli ultimi vent'anni" - a 500% price rise over twenty years. Each legitimate bottle is numbered and certificated; the marbled bottle and certificate are the authenticity markers to look for. Given the polarizing opening, sampling before committing is strongly advised - this is the rare case where "blind buy" is genuinely ill-advised, both because of the price and because the animalic opening is a hard no for a meaningful share of wearers.
## Notable Facts & Lore
- The House of Oud is the project of Andrea (Thero) Casotti, a Politecnico di Milano-trained nuclear engineer who entered artistic perfumery essentially by accident, and Mohammed Abu Nashi, a Jakarta-based oud producer who introduced Casotti to the oud world and personally prepares the oil for each Crop.
- Casotti has described the brand as having begun not as a business but as a batch of 200 bottles meant as Christmas gifts for friends.
- The harvest-driven philosophy is the whole point: production numbers vary with the unpredictable yield of wild jungle agarwood - 250 bottles in 2016, 547 in 2017, 347 in 2018.
- Casotti frames a perfume lab as "a place where art and engineering have the opportunity to blend together," and the Crop series is the clearest expression of that - a perfume that admits it is partly an agricultural accident.