Although I will be doing a much deeper dive on both agarwood and sansalwood in their respective sections, I wanted to use this chapter as an introduction to the two fundamental substances that are so important to attars (perfumed oils) and mukhallat ( oil blends) perfumery – sandalwood and oud oil.  Chandan and oud are truly essential oils, in that they are the building blocks of their respective styles of perfumery. In traditional Indian attar perfumery, raw materials are distilled directly into sandalwood oil, while in Middle-Eastern mukhallat perfumery, the Arabian passion for oud means that a blend that doesn’t feature it, is considered a poor excuse for a perfume.  Furthermore, both sandalwood and oud feature such complex aroma profiles that they wear more like a complete perfume than an essential oil.