The irony of natural perfumery is that it consumes botanical products that are not all thriving on this planet anymore. On the flip side, synthetics use petroleum which is also not here for the long game. At Phoenicia we strive to use ecologically sound products as much as possible but there are no ecology police so it is sometimes hard to buy into the rigorous honesty of all distillers, wholesalers and sources. So if you are a small vat producer like me it is hard to honestly know all sources, see CITES papers, know the living conditions of the growers. That's why I like to form as many personal relationships with my sources as possible. There is no lie detector built into Facebook Messenger but I have gotten to know some of my sources and their families through ongoing contact and I feel really good about these people and in helping to sustain their economies. All our oud oils are from cultivated sources and we only use sandalwood that is sustainable. The photo at the top here is deer musk, an endangered species that has been poached for its valuable glands. Our deer musk, which will appear in 2 upcoming launches, is over thirty years old so we are not contributing to ongoing depletion of the population. When this is gone, it's muscanone and other synthetics for us. I know this is a volatile subject so I will shut up. In the meantime enjoy our article on burning agarwood in Fragrantica: http://www.fragrantica.com/news/OUD-SERIES-How-to-burn-Oud-Wood-5094.html