Steam Aoud
by Montale

As already stressed this is an heavy aoud fragrance where some other notes as rose and sandalwood hardly manage to interact with the main note of aoud. The powerful presence of aoud blended with some indonesian herbs with a scarce presence of sweetness causes a sort of steamy smell that lingers around in loneliness for hours with its shadowy edge till when an hint of mildness starts rising from the brew of roses and sandalwood. The herbs (hoggar Mota) procure a certain level of drought although the final amber exudes a touch of mellifluence. I don't catch the dissonance of caraway. It leans on the manly side in my opinion. Longevity and sillage are in line with the Montale's standards.

27th May, 2011. (Last Edited: 30th September, 2011.)

All I get is aoud – Montale aoud... no rose, no amber, no caraway… Nada. So I guess it comes down to whether or not I consider a straight aoud note to be good enough to satisfy my definition of a worthy niche fragrance. It doesn’t. All I can catch from this fragrance, is a straight-forward aoud note… nothing exciting...

Steam Aoud has a definite sillage, and it lasts a long, long, long time. As Montale aoud notes go, it’s a typical enough but certainly not at all compelling.

1st February, 2010. (Last Edited: 2nd February, 2010.)

I like this one, though I don't really care for most of the Montale line. It starts off with the smell that you know from freshly dried clothing out of your dryer. A bit of powdery detergent, and fabric softner.

I like the drydown though: it reminds me of something between Timbuktu and Dzongkha. A slightly spicy woody dry white musk.

28th January, 2010.

OK, I don't get this. Of the half-dozen Montale Aouds I tried this one is the most puzzling. Black Aoud, Royal Aoud, and Attar are a set of rose-oudh cousins, each with it's own distinct personality. Aoud Ambre is candied oud, and will probably appeal to those with a big, long sweet tooth. Aoud Lime gambles on discord and loses. But Steam Aoud?

Steam Aoud goes on as simple oudh. I don't detect much of anything else. The oudh note is far less powerful than in the rest of the Montales I've sampled, which makes its isoltation that much more puzzling.

After an hour or two, there still isn't all that much going on. Maybe a touch of rose, and a whiff of sandalwood, and neither particularly deep or rich. Steam, they say? My impression is of something very dry indeed - desiccated even - and a bit hollow.

Over the next several hours the mild mannered rose-sandalwood sweetens a bit, then begins to integrate tightly with the remaining oudh note, but nothing terribly exciting results. The drydown is more pleasant and balanced than the opening but the overall effect remains anemic.

Wimpy: that's the word that comes to mind as I wear Steam Aoud. I can see objecting to some of the Montale Aouds because of their bluntness and their overwhelming power, but at least they give the nose something to reaspond to. Steam Aoud leaves me saying "So what?" For a scent based on so expensive and powerful a note as oudh, that's just not good enough.

17th December, 2009.

I try to enjoy this one but I keep envisioning a hot, humid basement boiler room infested with waterbugs. ICK!

5th December, 2009.

I'm sitting here with a new set of Montale samples, almost all have Aoud or Oud in the name (save for Attar) and Steam Aoud is the first one I'm trying. My previous experiences with Montale were very overpowering, too sweet, too aggressive - even for me. All in all, I've been disappointed with everything except Blue Amber, which still suffered from simply being *too* powerful. (It is so strong I can still smell it vividly the following day after a shower.) But, I'm pleased to say I absolutely love Steam Aoud. The transition is lovely and the resulting sweetness is gentle, smooth and very relaxing. If there are claims of amber in this then I can't find it. This is surprisingly fresh and quite lovely.

24th October, 2009.