A cloud of white aromatic smoke rises slowly, forming an almost discernible shape. This must be where the idea of a jinni emerging from a magic lamp originates.
As the smoke climbs higher the air-conditioning system breaks up the cloud and distributes it throughout the mall. The source of this fireless smoke is a pretty little shop specialising in Arabian perfumes.
Among the instantly recognisable global brands that comprise the mallscape, these highly distinctive Arabian perfumers stand out. Here, things are measured in tolas (1 tola = 11.66 grams) not grams or ounces. These shops are a living part of old Arabia. They sold essential oils, before oil was essential.
To get an idea of just how culturally significant perfume is in the Arabian Gulf, we need only consult Google Trends.
This is a free service from Google, providing statistics on the relative frequency with which certain terms are searched for. The results are ranked by location.
Worldwide, the product category “perfume” is most commonly searched for in Saudi Arabia. In fact, four of the top 10 countries searching perfume are Gulf states: the UAE, Oman, Kuwait and Saudi.
This fondness for fragrance is not a new thing.
Writing about the sedentary inhabitants of the Arabian Gulf more than 700 years ago, the great explorer, Ibn Battuta noted: “They will spend the night hungry to buy perfumes with the price of their food ... When one of these women goes away the odour of the perfume clings to the place.”
The perfumes that Ibn Battuta caught a whiff of back then are still going strong today.
One of the most prized fragrances – Wardh Taifi – has been produced in Saudi Arabia for centuries.
Distilled from the prized pink roses of Taif, a city in western Saudi Arabia, one fluid ounce of this perfume requires around 30,000 hand-picked flowers, all of which have to be picked before 7am and only in the month of April.
You will find Wardh Taifi, gazelle musk and oud being sold by perfumers in all of the UAE’s malls.
For this reason, not only is Dubai Mall the largest shopping mall in the Middle East, it is arguably the best smelling mall in the world, too.
In recent years many of the big fashion houses have begun exploiting fragrances that have been popular in Arabia for millennia.
You can now find perfumes in department stores in Europe and North America with names like Tom Ford Oud Wood, Gucci Oud and Armani Oud Royal, to name just three.
Aromatic substances such as frankincense, gazelle musk and oud have featured on the ingredients lists of European perfumes for centuries.
However, perfumery has traditionally been viewed as having two distinct traditions: French and Arabian. The new oud-based designer fragrances are a break with this tradition. This is “French” perfumers dabbling in “Arabian” perfumery. This is old Arabia in new bottles.
The Arabian perfumers now have greater competition for hearts and noses.
Perhaps this increased competition will cause the old masters to further raise or reinvent their game. It might even be that the growing global appetite for Arabian perfumes will open new overseas markets for them.
It would be truly sad, however, to see perfume go the way of coffee – a handful of big players, none from the Arab world, dominating the bulk of the market.
Furthermore, the malls of Arabia would lose a great deal of their distinctiveness, and smell far less beautiful, should the traditional perfumers begin to fade.
Dr Justin Thomas is an associate professor at Zayed University and author of Psychological Well-Being in the Gulf States
On Twitter: @DrJustinThomas
