For the past five years, I have travelled to Thailand and Cambodia several times each year for what I call my “oud runs.” These trips are not really holidays, but a mix of logistics, relationships, and long hours spent sampling oud. Still, they are moments I value.

On my last visit, Muhammad from Assam, India, told me he could not supply the Kashmiri saffron I usually source from him. It is a key ingredient in a saffron oud blend that took nearly two years to develop. I would have to wait another year.

Then, just last week, Safuan, my Cambodian supplier of nearly a decade, shared that he too was out of stock. His next batch will only be ready in another year. He explained that the trees must first reach the right stage of maturity before they can be processed.

Moments like these are a reminder that rare ingredients follow a different rhythm. Not the pace of factories, but the pace of nature.

Oud forms slowly inside a wounded tree, sometimes over decades. Saffron is harvested thread by thread from thousands of flowers.

Quality like this cannot be rushed.