Al Gadhi Rose Factory

Al Gadhi Rose Factory, not far from the center of Taif, is one of the oldest and biggest rose factories in town. The rose bushes sourced for this business center bloom first in the Wadi Mahram valley, then higher up in Al Hada, and ultimately at 2,500 meters in the highlands south of the city, in Al Shafa. 

For almost a century, the Gadhi family has operated this business in Taif, refining an ancient but notoriously complicated procedure, mainly gathering the pure oil that many consider the best in Taif. King Khalid bin Abdulaziz, the monarch of Saudi Arabia in the 1970s and 1980s, was rumored to purchase all of the season's oil. 

Today, tourists from the United Arab Emirates shell out astronomical sums for liters of the purest Al Gadhi rose oil, which is revered in Arabic culture as a gift of the utmost respect. A tolah of rose oil has also developed as a traditional souvenir for pilgrims visiting Makkah because the Yemeni corner of the Holy Kaaba in the Grand Mosque is fragrant.

Highlights of Al Gadhi Rose Factory:

• It is open for visitors from early March to the end of April when the floor is typically covered in a thick coating of rose petals in the central area, where guests are welcomed beneath stained-glass windows and chandeliers. It houses delicate, intensely fragrant 30-petal flowers that play a significant role in Taif's economy and sense of self.
• A form of magical alchemy determines the ability of the roses to create products. The crop is brought to factories throughout the city, where it is distilled into some of the most expensive rose oil, or attar, and rose water, which is blended with other ingredients to create perfumes by high-end labels like Givenchy and Jimmy Choo.
• With nearly constant effort, a team of 15 people can process up to 100 million rose petals in a season.
• During this time, the factory's 100 traditional copper alembic pots, covered by a corrugated iron roof, are almost constantly in use. A few liters of rose water and, on a good day, a tiny tolah of rose oil—just 12 grams but selling for as much as SAR1,600 (about US$430)—are produced in each pot by distilling tens of thousands of petals at a time.
• To make rose oil, which is utilized in high-end perfumes across the area, local rose farmers weigh their rose petals using vintage scales. Visitors can observe local farmers lining up outside to have their rose petals weighed on vintage scales at this location.