Amouage originally released Ubar in 1995. It was meant to celebrate Oman’s Silver Jubilee year, and was named for the lost Omani city of Ubar, long believed to be an important center of the historical frankincense trade and re-discovered in 1992 with the aid of satellite imaging. The original bottle (see below) was by Pierre Dinand, and while it was a striking design, there was something about it that I always thought a poor fit with the juice.

Ubar has been relaunched this year (2009¹). It has new packaging (see image above), a new concentration (the original was an Eau de Toilette; now it’s an Eau de Parfum) and a new price (much higher). The notes (bergamot, lemon, lily of the valley, Damascena rose, Bulgarian rose, jasmine, sandalwood, synthetic civet and vanilla) are reportedly the same. Here’s what I had to say about the original Ubar when I reviewed it in 2005…

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