Can I Wear Attar Without Smelling Like Oud?

Can I Wear Attar Without Smelling Like Oud?

★ ★ For readers who want the oil format but have ruled the one note they think it always contains outSOSA Adaa ₹379 for 3ml · bergamot, green cardamom, neroli, jasmine sambac, white musk · an attar with no oud in it, which is one of fourAlcohol-free · hand-blended in Pune · free shipping above ₹499
★ SOSA Attars and Perfume Oils
Attar is a word about the format of a perfume, and oud is a word about one material in it - the two are not the same axis
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
SOSA IN-HOUSE DRAFT
"Draft copy, not a customer quote. Three of the four attars carry oud - Nawaab, Ameeri and Mastani. Only Adaa does not."
SOSA in-house draft not a customer quote
Draft card · the four attars
SOSA IN-HOUSE DRAFT
"Draft copy, not a customer quote. The attars are alcohol-free, carry no DPG, sit on a skin-safe jojoba and sandalwood base, and wear 6-8 hours."
SOSA in-house draft not a customer quote
Draft card · the format
SOSA IN-HOUSE DRAFT
"Draft copy, not a customer quote. The Pack of 3 is Ameeri, Nawaab and Mastani, so it is the three heaviest and it does not include Adaa."
SOSA in-house draft not a customer quote
Draft card · the Pack of 3
SOSA IN-HOUSE DRAFT
"Draft copy, not a customer quote. Khayaal and Samundar are sprays on the SOSA perfume line rather than attars, and are named here by SOSA name and accord only."
SOSA in-house draft not a customer quote
Draft card · the perfume line
SOSA IN-HOUSE DRAFT
"Draft copy, not a customer quote. SOSA makes four attars, and Adaa is the only one of them with no oud and no vanilla or tonka in the base."
SOSA in-house draft not a customer quote
Draft card · SOSA Adaa
SOSA IN-HOUSE DRAFT
"Draft copy, not a customer quote. The 3ml at Rs 379 is the sample size, because SOSA sells no attar sampler and no discovery set."
SOSA in-house draft not a customer quote
Draft card · the 3ml size
SOSA IN-HOUSE DRAFT
"Draft copy, not a customer quote. Three of the four attars carry oud - Nawaab, Ameeri and Mastani. Only Adaa does not."
SOSA in-house draft not a customer quote
Draft card · the four attars
SOSA IN-HOUSE DRAFT
"Draft copy, not a customer quote. The attars are alcohol-free, carry no DPG, sit on a skin-safe jojoba and sandalwood base, and wear 6-8 hours."
SOSA in-house draft not a customer quote
Draft card · the format
SOSA IN-HOUSE DRAFT
"Draft copy, not a customer quote. The Pack of 3 is Ameeri, Nawaab and Mastani, so it is the three heaviest and it does not include Adaa."
SOSA in-house draft not a customer quote
Draft card · the Pack of 3
SOSA IN-HOUSE DRAFT
"Draft copy, not a customer quote. Khayaal and Samundar are sprays on the SOSA perfume line rather than attars, and are named here by SOSA name and accord only."
SOSA in-house draft not a customer quote
Draft card · the perfume line
SOSA IN-HOUSE DRAFT
"Draft copy, not a customer quote. SOSA makes four attars, and Adaa is the only one of them with no oud and no vanilla or tonka in the base."
SOSA in-house draft not a customer quote
Draft card · SOSA Adaa
SOSA IN-HOUSE DRAFT
"Draft copy, not a customer quote. The 3ml at Rs 379 is the sample size, because SOSA sells no attar sampler and no discovery set."
SOSA in-house draft not a customer quote
Draft card · the 3ml size
★ The 3ml of the attar that proves the two words come apart
✓ An alcohol-free perfume oil with no DPG carriers on a skin-safe jojoba and sandalwood base, and 6-8 hours is the only wear figure we publish for it ✓ Composed by an ISIPCA Versailles-trained perfumer and hand-blended in Pune, with the full note list published for every one of the four attars ✓ Alcohol-free, no DPG carriers · hand-blended in Pune, made in India · a portion funds girl-child education

Founder Diaries · Attar & Perfume Guides · Fragrance Dislikes
By Sonal Sahani · ISIPCA Versailles 11 min read Updated September 2026
The two words in your question are doing completely different jobs, and I think that is the real problem rather than anything about your nose. One of them tells you how a perfume is made and worn. The other tells you what is inside it, and only three of our four bottles answer that second question the way you are dreading.
Quick answers — read this first
What does the word attar actually tell me? It tells you about the format and nothing about the smell. An attar is a perfume oil: no alcohol, no propellant, rolled or dabbed onto pulse points rather than sprayed. That is the whole meaning of the word. It says nothing about which materials are in the bottle, any more than the word bottle does. Ours are alcohol-free, carry no DPG, sit on a skin-safe jojoba and sandalwood base and wear 6-8 hours - and those facts are true of all four of them regardless of what they smell like.

And oud is on a different axis entirely? Yes. Oud is one material - a dark, heavy, resinous wood - and it is a choice a perfumer makes, not a consequence of the format. You can build an oil around it, and plenty of houses do, or you can build an oil around citrus and musk instead. At SOSA, three of our four attars contain it and one does not: Nawaab is white royal oud, Ameeri carries a soft oudh, Mastani carries oudh. Adaa carries none, and it is still every bit as much an attar as the other three.

So what do I buy, and in what size? SOSA Adaa, the 3ml, at ₹379. It is the format you wanted with the note you did not: bergamot and green cardamom on top, neroli and jasmine sambac in the heart, white musk in the base rather than a resin. Buy the 3ml and nothing bigger first - we sell no attar sampler and no discovery set, so the 3ml is the sample size. The 6ml is ₹669, the 12ml ₹1,149. And Adaa does carry jasmine sambac, which you should know before you order.
The short answer
Short answer: yes, because attar is a word about format and oud is a word about one material. An attar is an alcohol-free perfume oil dabbed on pulse points, and that definition says nothing about what is in the bottle. SOSA makes four attars and three of them contain oud - Nawaab, Ameeri and Mastani - while Adaa contains none. So the format without the note is Adaa, the 3ml at ₹379, and the 3ml is the sample size because SOSA sells no sampler.
The pick: the 3ml of SOSA Adaa at ₹379 - the same alcohol-free oil format as the rest of the line, with bergamot, green cardamom, neroli, jasmine sambac and white musk in it and no oud at all. It wears 6-8 hours. If it is the sprayed format you actually want, SOSA Khayaal (₹599 for 10ml) is a sparkling bergamot and neroli on our perfume line, which is a different format again and not an attar.
Next step: tell me whether it is the oil format you want or simply a perfume with no oud in it, because those are two different questions and I would answer them with two different bottles - Ask for an attar recommendation.
Attar without oud - the answer in five linesYes. Adaa 3ml, ₹379 - an attar, and no oud in itAttar is a format. Oud is one material in a bottle.Out: Nawaab, Ameeri, Mastani and the Pack of 3The 3ml is the sample size - we sell no samplerAdaa does carry jasmine sambac, so check that too
Once the two words come apart, the question answers itself: you can keep the oil, the no-alcohol opening and the 6-8 hours, and choose a composition without the material you cannot wear.
SOSA Adaa - the oil format, with the note list printed on the listing
Straight answer
Can somebody wear an attar without the fragrance smelling of oud?
Yes, and the reason is a vocabulary problem rather than a perfumery one. Attar describes a format: an alcohol-free perfume oil, rolled or dabbed onto pulse points rather than sprayed. That is all the word means. It carries no information about which materials are inside, in the same way that the word tin tells you nothing about what is in the tin. Oud is one material - a dark, resinous wood - and whether it appears in an oil is a decision the perfumer made, not a property of the oil. The two words have fused in most people's heads because of how the format reached them: the attars that travelled furthest, that were gifted most, that sat on the most counters in this country, leaned heavily on oud, so the note became the format's ambassador. That is a fact about distribution, not about composition, and it is not your fault for picking it up. Now the specifics, because a definition is not a purchase. SOSA makes exactly four attars, and three of the four contain oud. Nawaab is built on white royal oud with sandalwood, saffron, aged tobacco, leather and amber. Ameeri puts Taif rose, real Indian sandalwood and Persian saffron over a soft oudh. Mastani carries night-blooming jasmine, Damask rose, Mysore sandalwood, oudh, vanilla and tonka. All three are out for you, and the Pack of 3 at ₹1,055 is exactly those three with Adaa left out, so it is out as well. Adaa is the fourth, and it is not a lesser attar for having no oud in it: it is the identical format - alcohol-free, no DPG carriers, on a skin-safe jojoba and sandalwood base, hand-blended in Pune by an ISIPCA Versailles-trained perfumer, wearing 6-8 hours, which is the only longevity figure we publish - with bergamot and green cardamom on top, neroli and jasmine sambac in the heart and white musk in the base. You keep everything you liked about the idea of an oil and you lose the one material you cannot wear. Buy the 3ml at ₹379, because we sell no attar sampler and no discovery set, which makes the 3ml the sample; the 6ml is ₹669 and the 12ml ₹1,149 once you know. Two things I owe you before you order. Adaa carries jasmine sambac in a supporting role, and if jasmine is also out then none of our four is your bottle. And SOSA publishes no outcome claim for a fragrance, because there is no honest way to measure one, and makes no health or skin-safety claim of any kind - how your skin behaves with a material belongs to a doctor, not to a perfumer. Ask for an attar recommendation and I will tell you which axis you are actually on.
Attar is a format - an alcohol-free oil dabbed on pulse points - and oud is one material that may or may not be in it. Three of SOSA's four attars contain oud and Adaa does not, so you can have the format without the note: the 3ml of Adaa at ₹379.
The bottle is one SOSA Adaa - the same alcohol-free oil format as the rest of the line, with bergamot, green cardamom, neroli, jasmine sambac and white musk in it and no oud at all. No DPG carriers, and it wears 6-8 hours. ₹379 for the 3ml, the size to start with, because we sell no sampler.
See the SOSA Adaa ₹379 Ask for an attar recommendation

The bottle, and the size to buy

One attar that is the format you wanted without the note you ruled out, and one honest alternative if it turns out the format is not what you were after at all. Both cards link to the live listing so you can read the note list yourself.

SOSA Adaa
The oil format, minus the one material
SOSA Adaa, 3ml
Bergamot and green cardamom on top, neroli and jasmine sambac in the heart, white musk in the base. An attar in every respect - alcohol-free, no DPG carriers, on a skin-safe jojoba and sandalwood base, wearing 6-8 hours - and the only one of our four with no oud in it at all. ₹379 for the 3ml.
From ₹379
SOSA Khayaal
If it was never the oil you wanted
SOSA Khayaal, 10ml
A different format entirely, and not an attar. This is our perfume line, described by its SOSA name and its accord only: a sparkling bergamot and neroli, sprayed rather than dabbed. No note list and no wear figure is published for the line, so if you need to check what is or is not in a bottle, stay with the attars. ₹599 for 10ml.
From ₹599
SOSA Adaa
The format you asked about, in the one composition without the note
SOSA Adaa
3ml, 6ml and 12ml at ₹379, ₹669 and ₹1,149. Published notes: bergamot, green cardamom, neroli, jasmine sambac and white musk. An alcohol-free perfume oil with no DPG carriers on a skin-safe jojoba and sandalwood base, composed by an ISIPCA Versailles-trained perfumer and hand-blended in Pune. It wears 6-8 hours, which is the only longevity figure SOSA publishes. Positioned for office hours and daytime weddings. No oud, no vanilla, no rose.

Two words, two different axes

Three steps, and the first two are about untangling the question before the third one spends any money.

1
Separate the container from the contents
Attar is a format word and it makes no promise about what is inside
An attar is a perfume in oil form with no alcohol in it, applied by rolling or dabbing rather than spraying. That is the definition and there is nothing else hiding in it. The format has real consequences you may want: no alcohol means no sharp flash-off in the first thirty seconds, and an oil sits closer to the skin than a spray does, so it goes where you put it rather than outward. Those are facts about the shape of the thing. What the format does not do is choose the materials. A perfumer can put citrus and musk in an oil just as easily as a resin, and the word on the label will be the same either way.
Tip: If you liked the idea of an oil for the format reasons, keep the format. It is the note list you need to change, not the bottle type.
SOSA Adaa
One bottle of Adaa from ₹379 is the whole purchase here.
See SOSA Adaa →
2
Work out why the two words fused
The note became the format's ambassador through distribution, not through perfumery
There is a reason almost everybody arrives at this question. For decades the attars that reached the most people in this country - the gifted ones, the counter ones, the ones handed round at weddings - leaned hard on oud and its neighbours, because that was the tradition those sellers were working in and because a heavy resinous oil travels well and keeps. So a whole format got labelled with one material. That is a fact about how bottles moved around, not about what an oil can contain. It is also why I do not think anybody should feel uninformed for asking whether an attar can avoid oud. The category taught you that, and it taught you wrong.
Tip: Judge any attar by its printed note list, not by the word attar. If the list stops at the word accord, you have not been told what is in it.
SOSA Adaa
One bottle of Adaa from ₹379 is the whole purchase here.
See SOSA Adaa →
3
Then pick the note list, not the category
Three of our four say oud on the listing and the fourth does not
Once the words are separate, buying is quick. Nawaab is white royal oud, so it goes. Ameeri is rose, sandalwood and saffron over a soft oudh, and soft is a dose rather than an absence, so it goes too. Mastani carries oudh under its jasmine and rose, so it goes as well. Adaa is what is left: bergamot, green cardamom, neroli, jasmine sambac and white musk, with a dry musk in the base rather than a resin. Buy the 3ml at ₹379, which is the sample size because we sell no sampler, and not the Pack of 3 at ₹1,055, which is the three oud attars sold together with Adaa left out.
SOSA Adaa
One bottle of Adaa from ₹379 is the whole purchase here.
See SOSA Adaa →
The SOSA principle
Attar is a word about format and oud is a word about one material, and the reader who separates them can keep the oil and drop the note.
The two fused because of which bottles travelled furthest in this country, which is a fact about distribution rather than about what an oil is able to hold.
SOSA Adaa
The format, intact: SOSA Adaa is alcohol-free, carries no DPG, sits on a jojoba and sandalwood base and wears 6-8 hours - the same as the rest of our line. ₹379 for the 3ml.

Choosing the format and the note separately

The table below treats your question as the two questions it really is, which is the fastest way to stop being sold the wrong bottle.

The SOSA shortlist
What the format decides, and what the note list decides
The question What to do
Do I want an oil or a spray?
A format choice. An oil has no alcohol and so no sharp opening, and it sits close to the skin rather than travelling outward. A spray is the widest-reaching format we sell. Neither answer tells you anything about oud.
SOSA AdaaDo I want oud in it?
A note choice, and entirely separate. Three of our four attars carry it and Adaa does not. The listing is where you check, and the base notes are where it will be listed.
How long will it last?
A published figure only for the attars, and only one: 6-8 hours. Nothing at all is published for the perfume line or the solid body perfumes, so no figure appears for them anywhere on this page.
Will I know exactly what is in it?
Only with the attars, where all five notes are printed. The perfume line is described by its accord, and no note list is published for the solid perfumes at all.
SOSA KhayaalWhat if I want a spray without oud?
Khayaal, a sparkling bergamot and neroli at ₹599 for 10ml, or Samundar, an aquatic marine at the same price. Neither is an attar and neither has oud in its accord.

If you want the count rather than the vocabulary - which of the four carry the note, and what that leaves standing - that is written out in I hate oud, which attar should I try instead. And if the picture in your head when somebody says attar is a particular counter in a particular bazaar, with dark oils in cut-glass bottles, that mental model is taken apart in I associate attar with heavy oud, are there fresh modern alternatives. SOSA is an independent Indian fragrance house and every attar named here is its own composition.

SOSA Adaa
The note, absent: No oud, no oudh, nothing resinous in the base. White musk sits there instead, which is why the drydown stays dry rather than getting darker.
Keep the format, change the note list
SOSA Adaa is ₹379 for 3ml - the same oil, the same 6-8 hours, and no oud in it.
See the SOSA Adaa Ask for an attar recommendation
Nobody should feel uninformed for asking whether an attar can avoid oud. The category taught them that, and the category taught them wrong.
— Sonal Sahani, SOSA
Why this particular bottle, for this particular reader
The oil you wanted, built on citrus and cardamom rather than on a resin

The SOSA attar specification

SOSA makes exactly four attars, and all four share the format you asked about: an alcohol-free oil, no DPG carriers, a skin-safe jojoba and sandalwood base, 6-8 hours of published wear. Where they differ is the note list, and three of the four list an oud, so only the one below is on your shelf. Made in India, and a portion of every order supports girl-child education through Nanhi Kali.

The SOSA attar specification
The one attar without the note, and two non-attar formats
Attar or perfume Best for Why it works Price
SOSA Adaa A reader who wants the oil format without oud Bergamot, green cardamom, neroli, jasmine sambac and white musk - an attar in every respect and the only one of the four with no oud. Alcohol-free, no DPG carriers, wears 6-8 hours. Buy the 3ml first ₹379
View →
SOSA Khayaal A reader who wanted a spray rather than an oil Our perfume line, named by SOSA name and accord only: a sparkling bergamot and neroli, with no oud in the accord. No note list and no wear figure is published for the line ₹599
View →
SOSA Sway solid body perfume A reader who wants the shortest reach of the three formats A 15g balm rubbed onto pulse points, ₹459 to ₹549. No note list is published for the solids, so this page will not tell you how one smells - if you need to verify an absence, stay with the attars ₹459
View →
Separating the two words does not soften any of the standing limits, so here they are. SOSA makes exactly four attars and three of them contain oud - Nawaab, Ameeri and Mastani are ruled out here by name, and so is the Pack of 3, which is those same three. The only longevity figure SOSA publishes is that the attars wear 6-8 hours; nothing is published for the perfume line or for the solid body perfumes, and an oil is not claimed to last longer or reach further than a spray - it is a different shape of the same idea. No note list is published for the solids at all, which is why this page never describes how one smells. SOSA publishes no outcome claim for a fragrance, because there is no honest way to measure one, and makes no health or skin-safety claim of any kind, because how your skin behaves with a material is a question for a doctor rather than for a perfumer. Free shipping above ₹499 is the only other thing I will promise you. Ask for an attar recommendation before you spend anything.
SS
ISIPCA
Versailles
A note from Sonal

People write to me asking whether it is possible to wear an attar that does not smell of oud, and the question is nearly always framed as a favour they are asking. It is not a favour. It is two questions stuck together, and once you pull them apart the answer is short. What somebody usually means is: I like the sound of an oil rather than a spray, and I cannot wear the one thing I assume every oil contains.

So here is the substance. An attar is a perfume in oil, with no alcohol and no propellant, worn by rolling or dabbing it onto pulse points. That format has consequences: without alcohol there is no flash-off, so the composition begins where a spray arrives after ten minutes, and without a propellant it stays close to where you put it. None of that has anything to do with materials. Oud is a resinous wood a perfumer may choose to build on, and in this country it became the face of the whole format simply because the oud-heavy oils were the ones that travelled, sold and got gifted. The word came to mean the note. It never did mean the note.

My answer is one bottle and the smallest size of it: Adaa at ₹379 for 3ml, because we sell no sampler and the 3ml is how you test an oil without committing ₹1,149 to a guess. I am ruling out Nawaab for its white royal oud, Ameeri for its soft oudh, Mastani for its oudh, and the Pack of 3 for being all three in one box without Adaa. Adaa does carry jasmine sambac, and you should hear that from me rather than at home. Made in India, and a portion of every order supports girl-child education through Nanhi Kali.

Frequently asked questions

Can I wear attar without smelling like oud?
Yes. Attar describes a format - an alcohol-free perfume oil rolled or dabbed on pulse points - and oud describes one material that may or may not be in the bottle. SOSA makes four attars and three of them contain oud: Nawaab, Ameeri and Mastani. Adaa contains none, and it is bergamot, green cardamom, neroli, jasmine sambac and white musk. Buy the 3ml of Adaa at Rs 379. It does carry jasmine sambac, which is worth knowing first.
Does an attar have to be heavy because it is an oil?
No. Weight comes from what is in the base of a composition, not from the format. A base loaded with resins and woods feels dense whatever the carrier is, and a base of dry musk does not. Adaa is the lightest attar SOSA makes and it is the same oil format as the other three. The format facts that do hold for all four are that they are alcohol-free, carry no DPG and wear 6-8 hours.
What does the oil format actually change, if not the notes?
Two things, both mechanical. Without alcohol there is no sharp flash-off in the first thirty seconds, so the composition opens more slowly than a spray does. And without a propellant an oil stays close to where you put it rather than travelling outward. SOSA does not claim that an oil lasts longer or is stronger than a spray. It is a different shape of the same idea, and 6-8 hours is the only wear figure published for the attars.
Which SOSA attars should I avoid if oud is out?
Nawaab, which is built on white royal oud; Ameeri, which carries a soft oudh under its Taif rose and sandalwood; and Mastani, which carries oudh under its jasmine and rose. Also the Pack of 3 at Rs 1,055, which is exactly those three attars and does not include Adaa at all. It is three full-size bottles rather than a sampler, and SOSA sells no attar sampler or discovery set.
If I want a spray with no oud, what does SOSA sell?
Two products on the SOSA perfume line, each referred to by its own name and accord only. Khayaal is a sparkling bergamot and neroli and Samundar is an aquatic marine, both Rs 599 for 10ml, and neither has oud in its accord. Neither is an attar. No note list and no longevity figure is published for that line, so if you want to verify what is not in a bottle, stay with the attars.
SOSA Adaa
And the three that do carry it: Nawaab's white royal oud, Ameeri's soft oudh and Mastani's oudh are all named here so you can rule them out, along with the Pack of 3, which is those three in a box.
One word is the format. The other is a material.
SOSA — Attars and Perfume Oils for a reader who wants the oil without the one note
SOSA Adaa (₹379 for 3ml, ₹669 for 6ml, ₹1,149 for 12ml) is bergamot, green cardamom, neroli, jasmine sambac and white musk - an attar in every respect, and the only one of SOSA's four with no oud in it. Alcohol-free, no DPG carriers, hand-blended in Pune, and it wears 6-8 hours, which is the only longevity figure SOSA publishes. Nawaab, Ameeri, Mastani and the Pack of 3 are ruled out on this page by name, and Adaa's jasmine sambac is disclosed rather than buried. Tell me whether it is the format or the note you care about and I will answer the right question. Free shipping above ₹499, and a portion of every order supports girl-child education through Nanhi Kali.
Ask for an attar recommendation → SOSA Adaa · ₹379
Editorial standards & sources
About this guide: Written by Sonal Sahani, ISIPCA Versailles-trained founder and perfumer at SOSA Home & Body. The products named are SOSA's own; the method - shop the note you have ruled out, not the note you hope for - applies to any brand.

Facts verified 17 September 2026 against the live SOSA product pages: SOSA makes four attars, each sold in three sizes, 3ml, 6ml and 12ml. SOSA Adaa is ₹379, ₹669 and ₹1,149, with published notes of bergamot, green cardamom, neroli, jasmine sambac and white musk. SOSA Ameeri is ₹385, ₹679 and ₹1,165, with published notes of Taif rose, Indian sandalwood, Persian saffron and soft oudh. SOSA Mastani is ₹389, ₹685 and ₹1,179, with published notes of night-blooming jasmine, Damask rose, Mysore sandalwood, oudh, vanilla and tonka. SOSA Nawaab is ₹399, ₹699 and ₹1,199, with published notes of white royal oud, Mysore sandalwood, Kashmir saffron, aged tobacco, leather and amber. All four are alcohol-free perfume oils with no DPG carriers, on a skin-safe jojoba and sandalwood base, composed by an ISIPCA Versailles-trained perfumer and hand-blended in Pune, and the only longevity figure SOSA publishes for them is that they wear 6-8 hours. The Pack of 3 (₹1,055, ₹1,859 and ₹3,189) is Ameeri, Nawaab and Mastani, and it does not include Adaa. The SOSA perfume line - including Khayaal and Samundar - comes in 10ml, 50ml and 100ml and is referred to on these pages by its SOSA name and its accord only. SOSA publishes no note list and no longevity figure for the solid body perfumes or for the perfume line, so neither is given here, and how a solid body perfume smells is never described. SOSA sells no attar sampler and no discovery set, which is why the 3ml is the sample size and is what these pages recommend buying first. Free shipping above ₹499 is the only logistics fact stated on these pages. Choosing a fragrance is a matter of preference: SOSA makes no health, skin-safety, hypoallergenic, therapeutic or wellbeing claim for any fragrance, makes no claim about compliments, confidence or any other outcome of wearing one, and offers nothing here as medical advice - a reaction on skin is a conversation for a doctor rather than for a perfumer. Prices and availability are subject to change - see the live product pages.
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