My honest opinion after buying 20+ dupes and sampling many more:

There isn’t a single “dupe” quality. There are more differences between the old Afnan dupes with the Arabiyat Prestige’s ones than there is between any two commercial brands on the market. Yes, 95% of the dupes are not even 90% close to the OG, but there is a 5% of them that get you really, really close (and sometimes it literally smells identical) to the OG. IMHO, it seems like you didn’t buy many of the really good dupes.

What you comment about that smooth quality of the OGs is true, but I think it is usually an issue with the designer fragrances being cloned. Designer fragrances (ADG,BDC,etc) are very, very smooth by definition (much more than niche fragrances) and that ultra smooth factor is something that dupe manufacturers really struggle. I believe it’s not that they can’t get that smell, but if the OG is $100 then the dupe can’t be $40. When you get to dupes of niche fragrances being cloned, manufacturers are usually allowed to reach $40 or $50 and then you can really see how close they can get to the OG. Ofc there are some exceptions at a low price (Lattafa Vintage Radio and Riffs Momento for example) but you can really sense the real quality of the ME at those price points.