Agarwood, Gaharu, Chen Xiang or Oudh is the most precious and expensive wood presently in existence. Also known as natural treasure and the wood of God due to the numerous uses and benefits each tree provides. The use of this treasured wood is dated as early as 600 AD and it is even mentioned in the Bible as aloeswood.
Agarwood is formed when an Aquilaria tree gets infected by a certain type of fungus. This dark, aromatic resinous heartwood is then known as Agarwood or Gaharu is highly valued for its distinctive fragrance used for incense and perfumes.
A kilogram of unprocessed gaharu’s heartwood can fetch as much as RM 10,000 per kilogram. Distilled gaharu essential oil can command up to RM 100,000 per kilogram and the price is expected to rise due to increasing international demand.
This prized wood can only be found in the South East Asia Region and each region produces a different species of wood which are all highly sought after by the Middle East, China, Taiwan and Japan. Currently, Annual Gaharu exports from Malaysia amounts to RM 72 Million a year.
Due to the high value and demand for Agarwood, there have been many reported cases of robbery and theft in the wild.
Health benefits
Gaharu tea has been traditionally know to provide many beneficial properties to its consumers..
It is rich in essential nutrients such as calcium, zinc, iron, manganese and vitamins
It contains high levels of anti-carcinogen, anti-oxidant and anti-aging properties
Treats poor liver function and is a tonic for healthier liver
Maintains, stabilize and lower blood pressure
Reduces Insomnia (sleeping difficulty)
Produces a calming effect, a stress-reliever
Maintains, stabilizes and reduce blood sugar level for diabetic
Agarwood has been treasured for thousands of years by cultures around the world for its one-of-a-kind, complex fragrance. Like sandalwood, agarwood is a fragrant wood which retains its pleasing aromatic qualities. It’s also similar to sandalwood in that it’s been used to create incense, essential oils, and perfumes since ancient times. China, Vietnam, India, New Guinea, parts of Europe and many other places have long cherished or even revered agarwood for its various qualities. Relative scarcity and the potential for overharvesting have endangered the future of this precious wood, but the introduction of cultivated agarwood chips to the market is helping to protect it.
Agarwood In The Wild
Agarwood and sandalwood share another characteristic: both are found in multiple tree species. Unlike sandalwood, however, finding a tree that produces agarwood relies upon more than simply knowing which species to choose. That’s because agarwood is actually formed due to a special reaction between the tree and a mold which grows inside of it. Harvesting prized agarwood chips from wild sources has always posed a challenge.
In order to procure agarwood chips or the essential oils produced by agarwood, the harvester must first find trees known to be able to produce it. Then, they must ensure that the trees have already been exposed to the mold which results in the production of the rich, dark resin that makes agarwood unique. Even once this is identified, the entire tree isn’t composed of agarwood; only the heartwood. The demand for agarwood has always outstripped the supply, but with modern harvesting technology, it became easier to overharvest wild sources of agarwood.
Cultivated Agarwood
Because of their special significance to many cultures and its unique fragrance profile, agarwood chips are still in great demand today. However, continuing to harvest agarwood from wild sources is problematic. First, wild sources could not come close to meeting the demand for this much beloved scent. Second, overharvesting could endanger the future supply of agarwood. The common sense solution to this problem is cultivated agarwood. Cultivated agarwood is produced by the same species of trees as agarwood found in the wild, but it’s carefully propogated and harvesting is responsibly scheduled in order that these agarwood resources may be renewed.
The Future of Agarwood
Wild trees which produce agarwood chips are now under legal protection in many locales in order to prevent their extinction, while cultivated agarwood chips have grown in popularity.
Al-Nuwayrī (1279–1333 CE) offers a detailed report on the countries of origin and the different kinds of agarwood. However, their botanical source, local origin, and trade are still shrouded in mystery (Wiedemann and Grohmann, ‘Benutzte Drogen’, 33–4).
The best quality agarwood is known under the name al-hindī (‘from the Indian world’,, while “India” in historical sources referred to a vast and indistinct area along the Indian Ocean Rim and from South Asia up to Southeast Asia)/(al-mandalī).
There are three known agarwood sub-groups – the qāmurūbī, the samandūrī (also called rayḥān al- ūd), and the al-qamārī (34–5), thereby indicating regional origins within the vast area of “India.” Qāmurūbī may refer to Assam, qamārī to Cambodia.
A Study of Arabic Texts, e.g. 75. However, even if agarwood exists in these areas, and these agarwood types are generally valued,, such geographical hints should be taken with caution; the historical quotations may not be identical with our current geographical understanding.
First, West Asian geographical knowledge was only developing at the time when those sources were written, second, long- distance trade and cultural exchange was characterized by – often multiple – resale and mediation, third, geographical knowledge was interwoven with legends and imaginative ideas, fourth, the identification of agarwood samples is generally extremely difficult and requires decades of personal experience, and fifth, geographical labels may have been used for heightening prestige or promoting business).
Various additional types of agarwood are known, like al-qaqūlī [al-qāqullī; associated with the Western coast of the Malaysian peninsula], al- anfī [affiliated with the region of today’s North Vietnam], al- andafūrī, al- īnī [associated with South China] (al-qaṭa ī), and a few more of minor importance. However, the specific quality of especially these minor kinds of agarwood in comparison with each other is a matter of discussion (and perfumery taste!), according to the often incongruent information provided by different informants. (Al-Nuwayrī bases his encyclopaedic information on the notes by several earlier authors).
Several years ago, in the perfume and incense market in the old city of Sana’a in Yemen, I caught sight of a large apothecary jar full of wood chips. The jar sat on a dusty shelf, tucked away in a dark corner of the stall owned by Mohammed Hamoud al-Kalagi. When I asked him to show me its contents, he placed the jar on the front counter and pulled out a chip of wood. Mohammed called the wood ‘ud (pronounced ood), a name I did not recognize, but it looked very familiar. I could hardly contain my growing sense of excitement as I examined it closely.
Mohammed placed a tiny sliver of the wood on the end of a lit cigarette. Within moments we were inhaling a rich, sweet, woody fragrance that I had first smelled in the Borneo rain forest 15 years earlier. At that time, I was traveling with a group of nomadic hunter-gatherers known as Penan. We were looking for herbs used in traditional medicine, but one day the Penan cut down a tree and collected pockets of fragrant wood from within the trunk and branches. They called these dark patches of wood gaharu. I rubbed a small piece of gaharu between my palms to warm it, and it smelled like cedar and sandalwood, but with subtle fragrance notes of roses and balsam. For years I had wondered what the wood was used for and where it was sent after leaving Borneo. The Penan thought gaharu might be used in Chinese medicine,, because it was the upriver Chinese traders that bought it, but apart from that, they were mystified as to why anyone would want to buy those gnarly bits of wood.
Mohammed al-Kalagi, who thought that ‘ud came only from India, was the first person to help me begin to unravel the long and convoluted history of this scented wood. He told me it was burned as incense throughout the Islamic world, and an oil was extracted from it that retailed for nearly $20 a gram ($500 an ounce) as a perfume.
When I told Mohammed that the gaharu collectors in Borneo considered the wood to have only a modest barter value, he laughed and recited lines that he attributed to the eighth-century Egyptian jurist and poet Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi’i:
Gold is just dust when still in the ground.
And ‘ud, in its country of origin,
Is just another kind of firewood.
A few days after my visit, I walked through the narrow streets of old Sana’a to the home of Yemeni friends. The family lived in a tastefully restored stone tower house in the Turkish Quarter, and during the meal that night I discovered that ‘ud has domestic uses beyond simple incense: A small chip placed amid the tobacco in the bowl of the mada’ah, or water pipe, sweetens the smoke and keeps the pipe fresh. And although ‘ud is generally considered more of a man’s scent, it is also used by women who place bits of the wood in a mabkharah, a small, hand-held charcoal brazier used to scent clothes; it is also used to perfume hair and skin. My host explained that at women’s get-togethers it would be considered strange not to pass around a mabkharah of smoldering ‘ud or other incense so the female guests could perfume themselves.
“When you walk by a woman on the street and you smell ‘ud, you know that she is from a good family,” the husband told me.. “It is a sign of wealth, good breeding, refinement and status.”
Similarly, when Yemeni men congregate, it is customary for them to pass around a mabkharah of ‘ud. Each man opens his jacket and censes his shirt and underarms, then his face and his mashedah, or head scarf, if he is wearing one. The mabkharah is always passed counter-clockwise, and each man wafts the smoke onto himself and says, “God’s blessings and peace on the Prophet Muhammad.” ‘Ud is burned ceremonially at weddings, too, and the oil is sometimes used to perfume the body of the dead before burial.
In Yemen, the price and quality of ‘ud varies considerably: At an average wedding party in Sana’a it is considered appropriate to spend about $30 to $50 by burning 50 or 100 grams (two or three ounces) of one of the less expensive grades of ‘ud, but for the well-heeled, 30 grams (a single ounce) of a superior grade can set one back $250 to $300.
Before I left the dinner party that night, my host placed a tiny drop of ‘ud oil on the front of my shirt and explained that the fragrance would survive several washings—which it did. ‘Ud oil is often placed on older men’s beards or younger men’s jacket lapels so that during the traditional cheek-to-cheek greetings its sweet, woody scent dominates.
Although the southern Arabian Peninsula has been long identified with aromatics, few Westerners are familiar with ‘ud, a word that means simply “wood” in Arabic. This obscurity is partly due to ‘ud rarity and cost, but it is also a matter of varying taste and differing cultural traditions. During the Hajj, for example, Muslim pilgrims from around the world come to Makkah and Madinah, where many are introduced to the scent of ‘ud, which is burned in the Great Mosque as well as in many other mosques throughout Saudi Arabia. ‘Ud produces a fragrance that is not soon forgotten, and for this reason small packets of ‘ud chips are a common souvenir to take home from the Hajj.
In various other places in the Islamic world, ‘ud is burned to help celebrate the important events of everyday life. In Tunisia, for example, ‘ud is burned on the third, seventh and 40th days following the birth of a child, a time when the mother traditionally remains at home while female relatives and friends come to visit.
Throughout Malaysia and Indonesia, ‘ud is called by the name I first heard in Borneo, gaharu, a Malay word derived from the much older Sanskrit term agaru, meaning “heavy.” The scented wood was given that name because, indeed, a high-quality piece of gaharu will sink in water. The Susruta Samhita, one of the “great three” texts of Ayurvedic medicine, describes how people of the Ganges plain used smoldering agaru for worship, as perfume and to fumigate surgical wounds. In those times, agaru came largely from the tree Aquilaria agallocha, which was found in the foothills of Assam.
In the 16th century, the Portuguese, who were actively trading in Goa, Malacca and Macao, adapted the word agaru to pao d’aguila, or “eagle wood”—which at least had a meaning in Portuguese, though there is no connection between eagles and ‘ud. In the English-speaking world today, the most common terms for ‘ud are aloeswood or agarswood; this last word preserves a clear link to the original Sanskrit.
The best grade of ‘ud is hard, nearly black and very heavy. In general, ‘ud becomes inferior as it appears lighter in tone, flecked with diminishing amounts of resin. The only truly reliable way to test for quality, however, is to burn a small bit and evaluate the complexity and richness of the smoldering wood. ‘Ud oil can be taste-tested: Touch a bit to your tongue, and a bitter taste points to high quality.
Historians are uncertain when ‘ud first reached the Middle East. There are several references to “aloes” in the Old Testament, and estimates by historians of China Friedrich Hirth and W.W. Rockhill put the date as far back as the 10th century BC. This was when King Solomon began trade with the south Arabian Sabaean kingdom, which was already trading with merchants on the Malabar (western) coast of India. (See Aramco World, March/April 1998.) Written accounts of Arab and Chinese travelers and merchants that mention it date to more recent times, approximately the first century of our era, a time of accelerating trade among the Arabian Peninsula, the Malabar coast and China that was made possible by the exploitation of the seasonal monsoon winds across the Indian Ocean. At this time, frankincense and myrrh from Oman and the Hadhramaut region of southern Arabia were being traded in the Far East, so it seems reasonable to assume that a reciprocal trade in ‘ud would have traveled on the same maritime routes.
The Chinese role in the ‘ud trade has been significant since the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220), when Imperial perfume blenders used it along with cloves, musk, costus-root oil and camphor. Like the Indians, the Chinese named the wood for its density, calling it cb’en hsiang, “the incense that sinks in water.” In those days, ‘ud was sorted into as many as 20 different grades. Responding to the increasing domestic and international demand for ‘ud, Chinese traders ventured into Annam, now part of Vietnam, where they found top-quality trees in abundance. This new source of supply allowed them to become wholesale dealers and middlemen, and to this day they retain this position worldwide.
Arab and Persian traders had established settlements on the outskirts of Canton as early as 300, and a Chinese traveler named Fa-Hien noted the riches of the Arab ‘ud traders from the Hadhramaut and Oman who lived comfortably in Ceylon. The Greek geographer Cosmas Indicopleustes, writing in the sixth century, also noted that the China-Ceylon-Middle East trade included large shipments of ‘ud.
In his book Silsilat al-Tawarikh (Chain of Chronicles), Zayd ibn Hassan of Siraf (now in Iran) tells of the experiences of two mnth-century traders, one Ibn Wahab of Basra and another named Suleyman. Although they traveled at slightly different times, both reported that the price and availability of ‘ud in both Basra and Baghdad was much affected by frequent shipwrecks and by pirate attacks on trading ships. Their roughly similar routes went from the Arabian Gulf to the Maldives, Ceylon, the Nicobar Islands and then on to Canton by way of the Straits of Malacca and the South China Sea. At the time, the round-trip took at least two years, for the traders had to wait for seasonal winds, and customs formalities and the complexities of doing business in China consumed a good deal of time. Hassan relates that in Canton, Suleyman saw Arab and Persian traders playing a board game that appears to have been similar to backgammon: Occasionally the playing pieces were made of rhinoceros horn or ivory, but most commonly they were carved from fragrant ‘ud.
Reading up on the history of the 12th- and 13th-century Arab-Chinese sea trade, I also came upon the Chu-fan-chi, a trade manual written by Chau Ju-kua, who was a customs official in the southern Chinese province of Kwangtung in the mid-13th century. In the text he mentions that the search for ‘ud had intensified to the point that it was being collected from Hainan Island, parts of present-day Vietnam, lands about the Malay Peninsula, Cambodia and the islands of Sumatra and Java. By this time, he observed, it had become an established custom for well-to-do Muslims to wake up, bathe and perfume themselves with ‘ud smoke before going to the mosque for the morning prayer.
In the early 14th century, Ibn Battuta described a visit to Ceylon where during a visit to Sultan Ayri Shakarwati he was shown “a bowl as large as a man’s hand, made of rubies, containing oil of aloes.” Ibn Battuta also mentioned that in Muslim lands every ‘ud tree was private property, and that the best trees grew in Qamara, or Cambodia. (See Saudi Aramco World, July/August 2000.) In Saudi Arabia today, ‘ud kambudi—Cambodian aloeswood—is still usually the most treasured and costly variety.
Isaac H. Burkill, in his 1935 Dictionary of the Economic Products of the Malay Peninsula, described ‘ud in scientific terms. It is an aromatic resin deposit found in certain species of Aquilaria trees, especially Aquilaria malaccensis, whose species name recalls the days when the ‘ud trade was centered in Malacca and dominated by the Portuguese. Burkill explains that the resin is produced by the tree as an immune response to a fungus (Phialophora parasitica) that invades the tree and, over many years, spreads through it. It is these diseased sections of the tree that are collected by people in the jungles of Southeast Asia.
To better understand the modern trade cycle from Southeast Asia to Middle Eastern homes and mosques, I returned to Borneo and traveled upriver to talk again with the Penan tribesmen who make their living collecting ‘ud, which they call gaharu.
The Penan, I learned, recognize seven types of gaharu. To collect it they paddle up small tributaries by dugout canoe, and then climb the slopes of remote mountains to locate the best trees. A gathering journey can take a week or more. Once a likely looking pohon kayu gaharu (a “gaharu-wood tree”) has been found, they make a series of shallow, exploratory cuts into its trunk, branches and roots; they cut it down only when they are persuaded the tree has the fungus and will yield a reasonable amount of good gaharu. If the tree contains only low grades of gaharu, they will often let it grow for another few years before retesting it. If they do decide to cut it down, they will spend days extracting the gaharu and cleaning it with smaller knives. Traditionally, the Penan used gaharu themselves to treat stomach aches and fevers, and as an insect repellent, but now they sell or trade all they find.
In the backwaters of Borneo, the Penan sell the very best gaharu for about $400 a kilogram, or approximately $12 an ounce. They usually sell to local Chinese traders who stockpile it until they have enough to send to wholesalers and bigger middlemen in Singapore. The Penan claim that gaharu is getting more difficult to find because large-scale logging operations have destroyed many of the hill forests where the gaharu trees are found. If a Penan group has good luck, it might collect a kilo (35 oz) of average-quality gaharu in three or four days—but it is increasingly common for them to return with nothing, or with only the lowest grades.
Thirty years ago Hong Kong played an important role in the ‘ud trade, but today the international hub is Singapore. There, the wholesale business is dominated by Chinese traders who receive ‘ud from agents scattered across Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Thailand, Borneo, Hainan Island and, most recently, Irian Jaya, Indonesia. C. P. Ng, owner of Buan Mong Heng, a emporium on North Bridge Road, is Singapore’s undisputed ‘ud king. He tells me that his best ‘ud sells for $5000 to $10,000 per kilogram ($2275-$4545/lb). At present, the rarest and most expensive type, known as Keenam, comes from Vietnam; it must be stored in a cool place to keep its scent from deteriorating. In Irian Jaya alone, he says, more than 50,000 part-time collectors supply some 30 collection centers. Throughout the Chinese community in Singapore, he says, people use ‘ud as incense in the home, for worship and during marriage ceremonies. He also explains that it can be taken with herbs to cure a stomach ache, and that the sweet smell is a cure for insomnia. “A tea made from ‘ud will warm the body and restore youthful vigor to older men,” he says.
In Singapore, ‘ud is graded in descending quality from Super AA, which is weighed out on a jeweler’s scale, to Super A, Super, and lesser grades numbered 1 through 8. The lowest quality, called kandulam in Malay, is used to make incense sticks; it sells for roughly three cents a gram ($1 per oz). The value of ‘ud shipped out of Singapore each year has been estimated to exceed $1.2 billion.
In the Middle East and in Borneo I never saw more than small amounts of ‘ud, amounting to a few pounds at most, but Singapore was different. There I visited the Nk Kittai warehouse, where cardboard boxes packed with ‘ud reached tall ceilings and wheelbarrows and shovels were the tools of choice to move quantities that perfumed the entire surrounding neighborhood. The owner, C. F. Chong, waited on buyers from India, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and even Japan. In Japan, ‘ud is used in a complex fragrance guessing game called koh-do, part of the ceremonial appreciation of incense adopted from the Chinese, who still use the expression wenxiang, “listening to the incense.”
The fragrance in the hot warehouse was overpowering, and as I wandered the narrow aisles surrounded by a fortune in scented wood, I saw ‘ud logs as thick as my thigh and nearly three meters (10’) long. Workers sat on the floor cleaning up pieces of ‘ud with modified rubber-tapping knives. When I remarked that it must be a risk to store so much ‘ud in one place, Chong replied that he, like other dealers, kept his very best ‘ud locked up in vaults.
Out on the warehouse floor, buyers specified the type of ‘ud they wanted by region and quality, and then a worker would dump a pile at the buyer’s feet so that he could hand-select the individual pieces. “This is an on-the-spot business,” said Chong. “Each piece has to be evaluated.”
Each buyer’s selection was weighed, and as all of the buyers that morning were old customers, only a minimal amount of haggling led to an agreement on a price. Nobody, it seemed, bought more than he could easily carry by hand, and each parcel was tied up for stowage as in-flight baggage. The visits concluded with tea and soft drinks in Chong’s air-conditioned office.
Before leaving Singapore, I went to visit Haji V. Syed Mohammed. His shop, V. S. S. Varusai Mohamed & Sons, is just across the street from the Sultan Mosque. The store sells ‘ud, perfume, money belts, cassette tapes, shawls, skull caps and highly decorative incense burners made in Bangladesh. While we were talking, he told me of one of the most renowned ‘ud dealers in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates: Ajmal’s Perfume Manufacturing & Oudh Processing Industry. It was a fortuitous meeting, for Dubai was my next stop.
In Dubai, there are entire streets lined with shops selling ‘ud. Among them, the family-run Ajmal company is one of the largest dealers in pure and blended ‘ud perfumes in all of the Middle East. From their 22 shops throughout the Arabian Peninsula, they sell ‘ud oils from Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam, and their most extravagant creation is a blend of aged ‘ud oils called Dahnal Oudh al-Moattaq. The price: $850 for a 30-gram (1-oz) bottle. This is out of the reach of all but the most affluent, but nearly everyone can afford to buy modest amounts of ‘ud chips for daily use, rituals and ceremonies—which might include driving, for Dubai automotive shops sell clip-on electric braziers that plug into a car’s cigarette lighter.
Because of the popularity of ‘ud, its high price and the difficulty of collecting it from the wild, several companies in peninsular Malaysia and India have begun to look into the possibility of artificially introducing the ‘ud fungus into Aquilaria trees in hopes of creating commercial ‘ud plantations. Thousands of trees have been inoculated with the fungus and people are waiting to see if the ‘ud will start to grow, and if perhaps they can even harvest it without cutting down the tree.
Nearly a year after my visits to Singapore and Dubai, another trip took me back to Borneo. I ran into a group of Penan friends at the riverside shop of Towkay Yong Khi Liang, a Hakka Chinese trader on the upper Limbang River in Sarawak. The Penan had just traded a kilo of low-quality ‘ud for a few sacks of sago flour, a replacement part for a chainsaw, some cartons of tinned food, some rolling tobacco, several pairs of cheap tennis shoes and soft drinks for everyone present.
As we stood on the dock, the Penan asked me if I had ever found out what the people in the Middle East did with the gaharu. I told them what I had discovered about the history of its trade, and then I explained the long and complicated journey it makes before arriving on the other side of the world. I described the networks of middlemen, the refined grading techniques and the marketing efforts that multiplied the price 25 times or more before it reached the final customer. They listened patiently to these facts, but what they really wanted to find out was what people did with the wood after spending so much money on it.
I suspected that they wouldn’t believe me, but I had to reveal the astonishing truth: I told them people buy ‘ud so that they can take it home and burn it.
Agarwood is the resinous heartwood from Aquilaria trees.. These trees belong to the Aquilaria genus, Thymelaeaceae family. These trees are large evergreens native to South and Southeast Asia. The trees can be easily located from an altitude of few meters above sea level to 1,000 meters above sea level. The beast growth in these trees is seen at average levels of around 400-600 meters. At least fifteen species of Aquilaria trees are known to produce the much sought-after Agarwood. The most common species found in India is Aquilaria achalloga.
Formation of aromatic resin in the tree
The trees occasionally become infected with a parasite/fungus mould and the resin is produced as a natural immune response to a fungal attack. As the fungus grows, the tree produces very rich, dark resin within the infected area. This resinous wood is valued very high and treasured around the world since the odour of this wood (agarwood) is pleasing and unique with no resemblance to other natural floral perfumes.
The resin is commonly called Jinko, Aloeswood, Agarwood or Oud and is valued in any cultures for its distinctive fragrance.
For the people who did not have the chance to experience the fragrance of this unique resinous wood of God we offer our Agarwood products click here.
In Europe it is referred to as Lignum Aquila (eaglewood) or Agarwood.
Another name is Lignum aloes or Aloeswood. This is debatable, since a genus Aloe exists which is not related to this species and generally used for medicinal purposes. However, the Aloes of the Old Testament (Num. 24:6; Ps. 45:8; Pro. 7:17; and Cant. 4:14) and of the Hebrew Bible (ahalim in Hebrew) are believed to be agarwood from Aquilaria malaccensis
Mythological History
Agarwood and its essential oil have long been associated with various religions and cultures. While it finds a mention in ancient scriptures of Japanese and Chinese dynasties it also finds mention in bible where it is referred as Aloe in old testament however this matter is debatable. It is certainly considered an aid for meditation in spiritual circles, thus it is used for incense and perfumes. Deservingly, it is also called wood of God in Asia
Discover the mental, physical, and spiritual benefits for yourself today!
A good oud can be known by its characteristic. Ouds all differ but one thing remains consistent amongst all the different species and that is the deep note.
When trying to understand the deep note of a quality oud you have to place a drop on the back of your hand and leave it for an hour..Then after an hour you should put your nose on the back of your hand and breathe out through your nose, then immediatly breathe in.
The smell should be continuous and take you on a journey that does not stop.
A fantastic oud will give a story of where it has lived and you can truely imagine the enviroment it grew in. Oils normally float on water but oud oil sinks because of its density. If an oud retails less than £100 it is usually not pure, it almost likely has been cut from a pure source. the reason being is that it takes 1kg of oud woodchips to extract 1ml of oud oil, plus delivery, distillery costs etc, so the cost of the process is a good sign to indicate any oud that retails less than £100 is cut.
Properties of Agar-wood
The fragrance of Agarwood can be described as intriguing and pleasant, with few or no similar natural analogues. As a result, Agar-wood and its essential oil gained great cultural and religious significance in ancient civilizations around the world, being mentioned throughout some of the world’s oldest written texts.
It is said the unique ability of the Agarwood is to gently touch your body, invigorate your mind, purify your spirit and calm your soul. Traditional Chinese medicine is known to use powdered Agar-wood as a treatment for cirrhosis of the liver. Agar-wood is aphrodisiac, thus often used as a cleansing agent of the body organs and boost one’s energy. The diaphoretic property of the wood qualifies it as an effective detoxification agent.
Benefitting from Agar-wood
Indisputably pervasive, the aroma of Agarwood can be described as rich and sentimental, sometimes balsamic and at times vanilla-like sweet. As such, they are extensively used as a ‘protective shield’ against negative energies. Where a space is sometimes ‘afflicted’ the use of Agar-wood is often used to maximum impact as a cure. This could be at home or in the office.
The most beneficial use of Agarwood remains its health returns and healing properties. Its holistic approach towards healing, improving mental capacity, calming of minds, meditative assistance and clearing mental blocks have been proven over the centuries. Insomnia, hyper-activity, disturbed sleep and difficulties in winding down could be easily solved with a small chip of Agar-wood no bigger than 2cm in a special burner in your bedroom. Children unable to focus will also benefit.
Plants and trees have been used medicinally pre-dating written history. Early man, as a hunter-gatherer, must have sampled different plants to find out if they were edible and if so, what effects the plants had on the body. He would have learned quickly that some herbs bring on stupor, some enliven, others purge and of course, many nourish the body. A deep understanding and connection would have been formed between man and plant. As anyone who has lived close to the land soon learns, plants have a spirit of their own and can commune their intent if one is open enough to listen to their energetic frequency. In early times, man probably had a much keener awareness of his environment and worked more closely with the rhythms and vibrations of the earth. His sense of smell would be more honed, the odor entering the brain allowing him to intuit the efficacy of the plant by tuning into its vibration and sensing whether it would a healthy fit for his body. Modern man has lost a lot of innate connection to the spirits of the earth.
Still in pre-written history, we have oral accounts, telling of rituals and ceremonies using plants. “Smoking” was a basic form of an energetic cleansing ritual in which herbs were gathered and usually dried, then set afire so that the smoldering smoke would envelop the person or object being cleansed, clearing them of all negative energies. In our modern day we still use sage for ‘smudging’, as in earlier times, to clear unwanted negative energies from a room or person. The ancients might well have seen how burning certain plants would bring on different and desired effects. Some smoke would sedate and lull, some invite visionary experiences, while others would invigorate and energize, even causing anger or aggression. Burning herbs and plants in confined shelters with groups of people would have a community effect where the entire crowd would experience a similar sensation, creating the space for mass consciousness (or mass hysteria). Given the right mixture of herbs, a shaman or warlord could arouse the populous to do his will, for good or even evil purposes. Those in ancient power understood the power of the plants and plant spirits.
Egyptian statues The early Egyptian were well adept in their use of essential oils. Priests were probably the first aromatherapists in that they understood the efficacy of essential oils for medicinal and spiritual purposes. They left papyrus accounts of recipes delineating which essential oils were used in specific rituals. Priests assigned particular fragrances for each god and goddess and would entreat a favor from the god/goddess by anointing their statue with a specific formula of oils. These favors might range from prayers for health and healing, pleadings for favorable love matches, and beseeches in times of war and peace.
In the year 538 c.e. Buddhism was introduced into Japan. Along with it across the ocean came statues of Buddhas, ancient Sutras, as well as incense. From that moment on, incense has been an inseparable part of Japanese history. Its use spread throughout the country, it was accepted for use by the indigenous Shinto faith as well as throughout the field of medicine..
“Wherever Buddhism lives there is incense. In every house containing a Buddhist shrine or Buddhist tablets, incense is burned at certain times; and in even the rudest country solitudes you will find incense smouldering before wayside images, — little stone figures of Fudo, Jizo, or Kwannon. Many experiences of travel, — strange impressions of sound as well as of sight, — remain associated in my own memory with that fragrance: — vast silent shadowed avenues leading to weird old shrines; — mossed flights of worn steps ascending to temples that moulder above the clouds; — joyous tumult of festival nights; — sheeted funeral-trains gliding by in glimmer of lanterns; — murmur of household prayer in fisherman’s huts on far wild coasts; — and visions of desolate little graves marked only by threads of blue smoke ascending, — graves of pet animals or birds remembered by simplehearts in the hour of prayer to Amida, the Lord of Immeasurable Light.” — In Ghostly Japan — Lafcadio Hearn
In this period, King Shomyo of Kudara sent a collection of sutras, incense, an image of Buddha, and one complete set of furniture for a temple. Other Buddhist monks also brought incense to Japan. The main incense they brought was a chipped mixture called Shoko. The mixtures varied according to the practices, as they still do today in some Buddhist traditions. The Buddhist Master Chih-i mentions Sandalwood Only in his work “The Mo-ho Chih-kuan” (Great Stopping & Seeing). Many times a ceremony or meditation will call for single incense as opposed to a complex combination of ingredients. Chih-i was a master interpreter of the Lotus sutra, and founder of the T’ien-t’tai sect of Buddhism, so it is not surprising he only mentions Sandalwood.
There are three incense materials which are associated in early Buddhist texts with three families found in the Garbhakosa mandalas. Aloeswood is in the center and associated with Vairochana. This is called the Buddha Family, and symbolizes the transmutation of the “poison of ignorance.” Sandalwood is associated with the Padma or Lotus Family and symbolizes the transmutation of the “poison of attachment.” Clove is associated with the Vajra or Wisdom Family and symbolizes the transmutation of the “poison of aversion.” These incense may be used individually for a specific practice, or in combination as an “Almighty Incense” Sometimes these three poisons are called “The Three Unwholesome Roots” For those who have studied the Pratitya Samutpada (Twelve-fold link of conditioned arising) you know that both attachment & aversion arise out of ignorance.
Zen master Dogen says it this way:
“In attachment, blossoms fall; in aversion weeds spread”
He leaves out the mention of ignorance, perhaps because Vairochana symbolizes Emptiness.
In the Vajradhatu mandala five families are presented. The two additions are the Karma Family which is associated with jealousy, and the Ratna Family associated with pride. The incense material for the Karma Family is Turmeric, and the incense for Ratna is Borneol Camphor.
Sometimes these particlular incense materials were unavailable, so Buddhist monks made substitutions; including Patchouli, Cassia, Cinnamon, etc. This makes it difficult to discriminate which materials came from Buddhist substitutions, and which came from Chinese medicine which was later introduced into Sakai city, Japan. There is also question how much Chinese medicine may have influenced Buddhist mixtures and substitutions, but we do know the five traditional incense are the ones mentioned above.
The Incense Route was one of the most important highways in the world at a time when faith in the mystic power of incense was at its height. Its traffic — frankincense and myrrh, spices from India — was the lifeblood of the countries through which it passed. That continuous stream saw the rise and fall of many kingdoms along the way. Earliest records mention the Egyptians sending an expedition for incense in 2800 BCE. Each kingdom, growing rich and ambitious, sought control of the forests of incense that lay to the east.
So says Barbara Toy in her extraordinary 1968 trans-Arabian journal, Travelling the Incense Route. For thousands of years, incense has been a currency of inestimable value for its roles in medicine, ceremony and religious and spiritual pursuit. It was favoured by the Egyptians (remains of frankincense have been discovered within pharaohs’ sarcophagi), Babylonians and Romans,, was used in India as far back as 2000 BCE and travelled with Hinduism and Buddhism into the East.
Today, smoky wreaths of incense still fill places of worship throughout Asia, and in Catholic churches everywhere, as they did in ancient times, but incense is also coming under the scrutiny of modern research and data is both confirming the health benefits as well as revealing the darker side of this enlightening product.
Ancient practice
In a time when hygiene was a very different kettle of fish from what it is now, and body odour, food decay and sewage all fed into daily life, it seems a logical conclusion that strong aromas that smelled “good” would have been highly prized for their perceived ability to purify the air. “It all goes back to our primitive origins, with the discovery of fire,” describes Lissa Coffey, who blends the wisdom of aromatherapy and Ayurveda on her site coffeytalk.com.
“We discovered the amazing aromas that came from the wood and the effects these fragrances had on our emotions. Then we started experimenting, burning different materials, leaves, herbs and fruits. As the smoke carries the aroma towards the sky, toward heaven, we can see that as a spiritual experience. Burning fragrances became a part of religious and spiritual rituals, seen as both a gift from the gods and an offering to the gods.”
Incense became deeply entwined with spirituality in a variety of religious practices throughout the world, from East to West. “In both the Buddhist and Hindu traditions, incense is offered as a devotion and used to accompany meditation,” Coffey explains. “Buddhist monks from India brought incense to China and Japan, and the Japanese then introduced incense in the cone form at the Chicago World’s Fair in the late 1800s. Sandalwood is often used in both traditional Chinese medicine and Indian Ayurvedic practices.”
Active ingredients
Incense is essentially any organic substance that emits fragrance when it smoulders (its name comes from the Latin verb incendere, “to burn”). To make incense, pulverised aromatic herbs, wood, roots or resins are mixed with oil or water to make a dough that is then pressed into a stick or cone shape, rolled onto a stick (typically bamboo or pine) to coat it, or simply put in a tray as a powder. When lit, the fragrant, active substance is released into the air. “Our olfactory bulbs lie underneath the brain, just over the nostrils,”
explains Dr Thom E Lobe, a licensed practitioner in both Western and Eastern medicine. “These organs of smell are the closest link the brain has to the outside and are located very close to that part of our brain that regulates emotions and other important bodily functions. When you inhale incense there is a direct effect on the brain that is measurable and nearly immediate.”
According to Lobe, the various effects of incense depend on the aromatic. “It’s a chemical reaction within the brain; each variety of incense — and there are hundreds — has specific effects on the system,” he says. “We can see spiritual elation, enhanced ability to pray and meditate by effecting a calming of the emotions, activation of ion channels in the brain to alleviate anxiety and depression, and facilitation of the movement of energy.”
Incense through the ages
Myriad essential oil, herb, bark, leaf and flower products have been used in incense to spice the air. The following are some of the most commonly found and their benefits.
Frankincense Also called olibanum, frankincense is an aromatic resin obtained from trees of the genus Boswellia, traditionally on the Arabian Peninsula, through tapping the tree and allowing the resin to harden. Judaic, Christian and Islamic faiths have used frankincense mixed with oils to anoint newborn infants and individuals considered to be moving into a new phase in their spiritual lives. Frankincense resin is edible and often used in various traditional medicines in Asia to aid digestion and skin health. In Ayurvedic medicine, Indian frankincense, commonly referred to as dhoop, has been used for hundreds of years for treating arthritis, healing wounds, strengthening the female hormone system and repelling mosquitoes.
Myrrh This is a reddish-brown resinous material, the dried sap of a number of trees, but primarily from Commiphora myrrha, which is native to Yemen, Somalia and Ethiopia. The Ancient Egyptians imported large amounts of myrrh as far back as 3000 BCE, using it to embalm the dead, as an antiseptic and to burn for religious sacrifice. The Greek word for myrrh, μύρον, came to be synonymous with the word for perfume. Myrrh has been used in traditional medicine to prevent putrefaction and infection while promoting cell and tissue regeneration.
Agarwood Also called aloeswood, agarwood is produced inside a tropical rainforest tree called Aquileia and relies on an infectious mould to convert the light heartwood into the dark, resin-embedded heartwood whose ethereal fragrance has been prized in Asia for incense in ceremony, as well as used as a sedative in traditional medicine. Agarwood is said to calm the nervous system, expel negative energies, bring alertness, relieve anxiety, invoke a sense of strength and peace and enhance cerebral functioning. In Tibetan Buddhist traditions it’s said to bring energy to calm the mind and spirit and to provide motivation and the necessary devotion for meditation.
Sandalwood Heavy and yellow in colour, this fine-grained wood retains its fragrance for decades. Traditionally grown in India, sandalwood has been valued and treasured for medical and religious qualities. Used broadly in Ayurveda, the aroma of sandalwood is said to help to ease various ailments of the digestive system by encouraging the production of gastric juices and easing nausea, colic and gastritis. It is also thought to be a natural sedative, subduing aggression and irritability, promoting compassion and openness and enhancing meditation.
Patchouli A bushy herb of the mint family, patchouli is native to tropical regions of Asia and has had a long history of medicinal use in India, China and Japan where it has been used to stimulate the nervous system, lift depressed moods, relieve stress and give a feeling of elation and wellbeing. Patchouli is believed to help balance the endocrine system, which in turn balances the hormones of the body, as well as to stimulate the pituitary gland, which secretes endorphins, so relieving pain and inducing euphoria.
Sage Dried sage leaves, especially white broadleaf sage, were traditionally used by Native Americans as an ingredient of smudge sticks, in which it is bundled up whole and dried. One end of a smudge stick is lit and then blown out so that it smoulders and smokes. The smoke is used in Native American practices for purification and cleansing as well as for meditation and divination. Smudging with sage can also be used to encourage spirituality, clear negative energy, banish spirits, create sacred space, invite positive energy and promote decision-making.
Gaining validation
Historically, incense has been used to enhance prayer and balance the body. Recent scientific studies bear out its effect: frankincense has been found to have anti-depressive qualities, myrrh can reduce cholesterol and agarwood actually causes new neurons and synapses to grow in the brain.
In October last year, scientists from the Department of Plant Sciences at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel reported that, when inhaled, frankincense provides an arsenal of bio-active molecules with considerable therapeutic potential. “These compounds were shown to exert significant anti-inflammatory and pro-apoptotic activity in vitro, in vivo and in clinical trials … Furthermore, it causes behavioural as well as anti-depressive and anxiolytic [anti-anxiety] effects in mice,” they reported.
Other ancient products are also garnering respect from the scientific community. In 1991, the Tropical Metabolism Research Unit at the University of the West Indies, Jamaica, found that myrrh had pharmacological application in the reduction of cholesterol and triglycerides. In Japan, a 2006 study at the University of Toyama’s Institute of Natural Medicine demonstrated that agarwood showed significant induction effect on brain-derived neurotrophic factor expression in rats, helping to support the survival of existing neurons and encourage the growth of new neurons and synapses. And a 1995 study in China found that the antibacterial qualities of Chinese herbal incense made it as effective an air steriliser in hospital wards as methods such as ultraviolet radiation and formaldehyde.
Vietnam Agarwood 