The 12 days of Christmas, day eleven

“On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…11 pipers piping.”

Not surprising, our holiday word-associating game led us to smoking pipes rather than musical pipes for this, our eleventh day in our 12 Days of Christmas series.

Clearly we have a perfume pre-disposition, so when we think pipes, we think smoke. And when we think smoke, we think oud.

Oud is one of the hot-topic perfume ingredients of the moment and so yes, it does make a wonderful gift—in the form of an oud fragrance, of course.

One of our favourite oud scents: Byredo Oud Immortel. This is one sultry, earthy smoky wonder, with top notes of cardamom and incense; a heart of rosewood, papyrus and patchouli; and a warm delicious base of tobacco and moss.

Give it to someone with refined tastes and a bohemian-leaning soul.

Byredo Oud Immortel, $155 (50 ml), www.holtrenfrew.com

ILLUSTRATION: LAURA GULSHANI