The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Gino Percontino designed Agar Wood in 2020 as a meditation on the material that gives the fragrance its name. Agarwood, oud, is one of perfumery's most prized and polarizing ingredients: resin-soaked heartwood that forms when aquilaria trees respond to infection. The name isn't metaphor. It's the point. Percontino built outward from that base rather than using it as a finishing accent, placing oud at the center of a composition that asks what British restraint looks like when applied to something as bold as agarwood. The result sits somewhere between the brand's leather-goods heritage and a quieter vision of masculine luxury, refined without being precious, confident without being loud.
The heart of this composition is the black iris, a material that doesn't get deployed casually. Iris root (orris) requires years of curing before it develops the powdery, violet-like character that makes it one of perfumery's most expensive ingredients. Here it threads between the fresh opening and the deeper base, adding a soft floral dimension that prevents the oud and tobacco from becoming heavy or one-dimensional. The Sichuan pepper from Nepal adds an aromatic, slightly citrusy bite that lifts the bergamot's brightness without competing with it.
The evolution
The opening is brisk. Bergamot and Sichuan pepper hit clean and recede within twenty minutes, leaving space for what comes next. The heart arrives gradually, iris powder blooms first, then the blue cypress and violet leaf add a quiet green undertone that keeps things from becoming too soft. Around the ninety-minute mark the base begins to assert itself. The oud emerges not as a single bold statement but as a slow settling, its resinous depth deepening the composition without overwhelming it. Tobacco enters around the three-hour mark, weaving with the suede into a warm, almost smoky leather that feels like something worn and lived in. The drydown holds close to skin, a quiet, persistent presence that the next morning reveals as a faint trace of oud and tobacco on fabric.
Cultural impact
Dunhill entered this landscape with Agar Wood, taking a distinctly British stance: restraint over opulence, structure over spectacle. Rather than competing on oud intensity, the house positioned its composition as an evolution of its heritage leather-tobacco identity. This was a deliberate alternative to the performative excess that defined much of the oud category at the time. The fragrance offered a way to engage with the material through compositional rigor rather than raw declaration, speaking to those who valued nuance alongside luxury.
