C&S Dark Rose _ POTL A.Maze _ Montale Black Oud

Czech & Speake Dark Rose has been out of production longer than a year now. More like two to two and a half years. It's permanently discontinued as far as I know.

When Czech & Speake stopped having its fragrances made in Milan (2005) and moved the production of their fragrances to England (2006), the Italian company got to keep or refused to relinquish the formula to Dark Rose claiming it as their creation or something to that effect. If you have a bottle of Dark Rose, or even a decant, you're a very lucky person.

I am not an oud person, so it wouldn't be fair for me to comment on your question since as a non oud person none of the Montales appeal to me, but I will say that Czech & Speake Dark Rose is the only oud based fragrance I like and can wear. I predominantly think of it as rose fragrance, though.

scentemental

i love the smell and like to wear it but black oud is no masterpiece. fortunately it doesn't contain saffron. for overall satisfaction, i've come to prefer aoud lime. it's just another variation of the rose x oud accord. it contains saffron but to me it's barely perceptible if at all.

czech & speake dark rose's blending is superior to black aoud. as scentemental said, it's more about rose than oud. it develops but not in a profound way. unfortunately, it contains saffron so i wear it less than i used to. saffron just isn't my thing. it also has some mild oriental sweetness. aside from dark rose, diptyque's opone is the best saffron, rose fragrance. overall i usually prefer opone. it's woodier, very little genuine sweetness. opone's a great one

a maze is as much or more about orange blossom than rose or oud. it contains a lot of saffron. it feels feminine and is relatively loosely blended. it smells good on my girlfriend but she doesn't like it. calls it "perfumey." sillage is big. the oud is almost non-existent compared to black oud and much tamer than that of dark rose as well.

dark rose and a maze have more in common with each other than they do with black aoud. for starters, black aoud doesn't contain the saffron, and the other two don't possess the patchouli, labdanum, leathery qualities of black aoud.

dark rose - thumbs up, superior blending though they need to reformulate it, substituting other ingredients in place of the saffron and mild oriental features.
black aoud - thumbs up. a success for what they were attempting.
a maze - neutral and best worn on women.