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Welcome to Agarwood (Oud) Centre

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F.A.Q

1) What is agarwood? How do you create it apart from wild-harvesting?

In nature, Agarwood or Oud is rare, found in the resinous heartwood of the Aquilaria or Gyrinops tree from South East Asia.

In an effort of saving these species from overharvesting, agarwood plantations have been being planted for decades ago.

We have a decent agarwood plantation site (circa 400 hectares in Vietnam of our own and 600 hectares in Thailand and Laos of our partners). Besides, for every tree harvested, we will plant two replacement trees for future sustainable consumption. Also, we also have a decent amount of wild Aquilaria tree within our land.

Please watch this 50 seconds video. 

  

2) I can't smell agarwood beads

Please note: DO NOT expect A STRONG FRAGRANCE FROM THE BEADS ALL THE TIME as agarwood only emits a strong scent when being heated but NOT at room temperature. If you want the holy fragrance presented at all time, either purchasing oud oil or woodchip

The smell from agarwood oil (oud oil) is easily noticeable as it takes around 1 ton of agarwood to produce 1 litre (this number varies from distillers, some more or less). Hence, it is a very concentrated form. You would never miss that.

 1 x Agarwood bracelet is around 20g; the resin amount is unknown but relatively small. This item is more about spiritual practice and fashion. The fragrance is there but weak unless being kept in a glass container or zip bag for some time. Genuine one will only have a subtle sweet woodsy scent while oil-submerged one will emit a stronger, more intensive fragrance.

1 x piece of Agarwood chip is around 1g, but the resin content is more than 60%. All the white wood (scentless components) was scrapped. When you heat this wood chip with an electric incense burner or place it on top of the charcoal, the high temperature will release the resin from the wood, creating a sensational fragrance.

1 x bottle of Agarwood oil (1.5 ml), 100% pure oil, apply one drop to be noticeable.

To illustrate, please see below.

The above container is 200 ml of pure agarwood oil. It takes hundreds of kilo of infected wood to distill. The scent is pleasant, enjoyable once the cap open. You could smell it literally from metres away



This above image is 1 kg bag of wood chip. To smell it, you have to stay close (a few centimetres between the bag and your nose). The fragrance is present but not as strong as the oil. However, if one piece of wood chip is heated (1g is enough), the whole room would be filled with agarwood fragrance.

Now, consider beads or a bracelet or a necklace:

 

It is only 15g of wood containing some infected part only, could be seen in its pattern. To detect its smell in room temperature without heating or stored in a closed container, it is a challenging task. So, the next time you buy a genuine agarwood bracelet, choose your trust supplier as agarwood beads are one of the most challenging tasks to verify. Oil-submerged beads are easily detectable, often seen as their solid black or brown colour without and stripes (oil veins). These beads are dyed and injected with agarwood oil or other essential oil to create the scent.

3) Why can't I smell my agarwood bracelet / raw wood chip?

 Please click here for instruction on how to revive the scent

First of all, all our beads are made from genuine agarwood either cultivated or natural (would be stated in the product info), please be confident about that.  

  • The fragrance of our beads are always present but not always noticeable, just like perfume, when you get used to the smell for a couple of days, you may not smell it but it actually is there.
  • If you are not able to scent the fragrance from the beads, you could re-pack it back in a seal plastic bag for a couple of days and open it, the smell would be noticeable again.
  • When the weather is cold and the humidity is low, it is hard to detect the smell. You could place the bracelet on the keyboard for several minutes, the heat from it will “wake the scent up.”
  • Even with the unprocessed raw material, in cold weather and some specific day (low in humid), the fragrance is not detectable at room temperature.
  • The wood logs below clearly are decades old with adequate resin to make beads and chips, at room temperature, unless you pressed your nose against the logs, the scent is hardly delectable although it is there.

  • Everyone has experienced this before: if we smelled the same fragrance frequently, we would get used to this. You tried a new shampoo, in several days; you might feel it was not as strong as the first time applies. When you walk into a spa, a hair salon, a shop with a strong scent, have you noticed how long it takes for you to “forget” about the scent? Try this, walk out of the shop for 10 seconds take a deep breath outside, and walk back in. The smell came back? Yes, as the scent triggers the brain again.

 

4) Why is agarwood expensive

It is a default, just like a diamond, when people heard the name, it is expensive. In nature, wild agarwood is almost extinct and extremely rare to find, hunters risk their lives to get it in the forest. Therefore, for sustainable future exploitation, cultivated agarwood is introduced but please consider:

  • It takes 5-7 years on average to grow Aquilaria trees before being inoculated to produce resin
  • After being inoculated, on average, More 85% trees are survived. In addition, it takes another minimum of 2 years to create resin (agarwood). However, for high-quality wood chips, it is at least 3.5 years to harvest.
  • Once trees are cut down, new Aquilaria trees will be re-planted, the same process required, another 10 years needed before harvesting.
  • Large plantation site is a plus, but it means more cost involved.

If you are buying agarwood incense in a shop, in a sealed package, it is hard to detect any scent from it. In case you do, and the scent is sharp, soap or chemical like the weight is more than 100g with a price less than $100, it is very likely the product is counterfeit. 

More info here

5) Could I wear my agarwood beads when showering, handwashing?

  • Please keep your agarwood beads away from water, some spatter is fine but not for emerging into the water for a long time as fibre from the wood would absorb the water and eventually might damage the beads
  •  Just like a Rolex watch (for those do not know what a Rolex is, it is an expensive watch), although it is water resistant (not the waterproof version), would you bring it into your shower? so please treasure your agarwood beads to maintain them.

6) Is your agarwood tea classified under medicinal category?

  • No, it is not. Our agarwood tea is purely from dried agarwood leaves with no other substances. We claimed it offered sleep aid and constipation relief based on experiences as well as research articles. Just like pawpaw or banana or even prune, if you consume it, you will have an easy bowel movement as a natural laxative effect from those fruits which are NOT medicine.
  • Please see our Lab Test result below contains substances which are beneficial for diabetes, sleeping aid and constipation ease, and lean muscle mass building

7)Why does my agarwood bracelet not smell as good as woodchip? Is it fake? 

 

 
  • Please look at the pictures above comparison between woodchip and beads. Both are circa 0.3 g of wood. However, the infection area of woodchip is more than 80% compared to wood beads of circa 10%. At room temperature, both would emit a light smell (need high concentration to detect). However, if the temperature increased, in this case, under an electric incense burner, woodchip started releasing the strong fragrance from its resin while the wood beads emit a noticeable one. Woodchip comes at any shape as its value lying on the scent. In comparison, wood beads are different, you cannot make one high resin beads and the other beads have none. The resin needs to spread out as even as possible. If you heat the whole 108 beads under the electric burner, the scent will be similar to woodchip. 

 Just like all the necessity which has high volume in stock turn: woodchips and oud oil (agarwood oil), the price of these items are often negotiable as they are consumed in the almost daily basis. With agarwood oil, Islam prays with it, Japanese, Chinese use it for medicinal purposes, Arabian uses it for manufacturing perfume. In contrast, agarwood beads are more in keep-sake, lucky charm or spiritual practice which last really long. Stock turning is slower and hence, high overhead cost occurs. In addition, each bead is made individually with care, high labour cost.

  • We guarantee our agarwood beads are genuine as personally, it is from our plantation site. For wild agarwood beads, with experience, we verified carefully before putting them in the market for sales

8) Is your Oud oil pure? How do I know it?

Simple, we manufacture it and our popular cultivated Evergreen Superior oil has been tested in 2 separate labs (one in Vietnam and in Australia). Consumers are welcome to test in the lab again to see if there is any else in it. With an experienced user, he/she could detect if the oud oil was adulterated with others. If you would like to know more, please email us at info@grandawood.com.au for a full 20-page report.

 

9) Are your bracelet genuine, why is there some white patch in the beads? Are your beads dyed with colour? Do you artificially scent your beads?

Yes, when we mentioned agarwood beads, they are genuine without adding colour or scent. Please see the pictures below

The red circle explained the bi-polar pattern of the beads. When you see these bracelets, 100% it is made from cultivated agarwood. Wild one does not have this consistent pattern. This is very normal and is NOT dyed with colour. The price of these beads is usually less than $100. Again, the scent will only accumulate when stored in a closed container or zip bag as once you wear it, the scent molecules escape in the air, offering very light fragrance, this explained why people could not smell anything after wearing the bracelet. The scent is there, you could revive it by containing your bracelet in a close glass container or simply a zip bag.

10) Is Oud (agarwood) allowed in Australia?

Yes, given the right paperwork, there is no issue. For more info please visit

https://www.environment.gov.au

11) Is Agarwood oil safe to use directly on the skin (near application)?

In general, yes, unlike other essential oils requiring carrier oil to prevent burnt or skin irritation, agarwood (oud) oil could be applied on the human skin directly (near application). However, YOU SHOULD ALWAYS TRY A SMALL DAB (a patch test) TO ENSURE YOUR SKIN  HAS NO ADVERSE REACTION. Below are the extract from page 190 of the Essential Oil Safty -Robert Tisserand, Rodney Young

 11) What is cultivated agarwood beads? Are they genuinely agarwood?

Cultivated beads mean agarwood beads made from farmed agarwood from our plantation, not from the wild. All beads are made by our craft man from genuine agarwood either wild or farm grown(cultivated)
Beads making material are selected from agarwood log (infected Aquilaria tree) and spun individually 

It takes 8 years to grow the Aquilaria trees, and two years of wounding to create agarwood inside them.

12) Can you supply samples to .....?

Yes, we can, please purchase our Agarwood (oud) oil as below, it is NOT free sorry. Please DO NOT ask for a free sample. Drive to McDonald and ask if you could get free ketchup???? Having said that, if you were in the Brisbane area, would be happy to see you in person

 

13) What do you think about synthetic vs natural oil? Are synthetic oil harmful or unsafe to use?

Please read here

14) Your products are good but the prices are unjustified? I saw some oud is $20 for 3ml

You might be right. Some oud is $20 for 3ml, but is it oud oil or oud perfume or something else? By the way, you are welcome to purchase from the other sellers.
If the oil contains 1% or less of genuine oud oil, and for marketing purpose, it can be called oud perfume or even oud oil. Here is an analogy, if you went to a supermarket and picked up an almond milk bottle, would you please check the percentage of the actual almond in the "milk"(around 1% to 5% only). The same principle applied here.
You need to compare an apple to an apple. In other words, you need to compare two oud oils, NOT a pure essential oil AND a blended perfume oil.

 

15) How do you extract your oud oil? and the reasons?

We usually distil our oil by hydro (water) or steam distillation because these methods allow chemical bonds to be broken and reformed. This process makes our oil smell special.

The Term ‘essential oil’ is strictly limited to steam distillates or hydro-distillates (Water distillation). Oils obtained from Super Fluid Extract or Solvent Extract method is not essential oil

 steam distillation

 

Steam Distillation

 

Water Distillation

Source: Tongnuanchan, P. and Benjakul, S. (2014), Essential Oils: Extraction, Bioactivities, and Their Uses for Food Preservation. Journal of Food Science,

 

16) You have your own Grandawood incenses. What are the main features and benefits? I am confused

Please click here

1) What is agarwood? How do you create it apart from wild-harvesting?

In nature, Agarwood or Oud is rare, found in the resinous heartwood of the Aquilaria or Gyrinops tree from South East Asia.

In an effort of saving these species from overharvesting, agarwood plantations have been being planted for decades ago.

We have a decent agarwood plantation site (circa 400 hectares in Vietnam of our own and 600 hectares in Thailand and Laos of our partners). Besides, for every tree harvested, we will plant two replacement trees for future sustainable consumption. Also, we also have a decent amount of wild Aquilaria tree within our land.

Please watch this 50 seconds video. 

  

2) I can't smell agarwood beads

Please note: DO NOT expect A STRONG FRAGRANCE FROM THE BEADS ALL THE TIME as agarwood only emits a strong scent when being heated but NOT at room temperature. If you want the holy fragrance presented at all time, either purchasing oud oil or woodchip

The smell from agarwood oil (oud oil) is easily noticeable as it takes around 1 ton of agarwood to produce 1 litre (this number varies from distillers, some more or less). Hence, it is a very concentrated form. You would never miss that.

 1 x Agarwood bracelet is around 20g; the resin amount is unknown but relatively small. This item is more about spiritual practice and fashion. The fragrance is there but weak unless being kept in a glass container or zip bag for some time. Genuine one will only have a subtle sweet woodsy scent while oil-submerged one will emit a stronger, more intensive fragrance.

1 x piece of Agarwood chip is around 1g, but the resin content is more than 60%. All the white wood (scentless components) was scrapped. When you heat this wood chip with an electric incense burner or place it on top of the charcoal, the high temperature will release the resin from the wood, creating a sensational fragrance.

1 x bottle of Agarwood oil (1.5 ml), 100% pure oil, apply one drop to be noticeable.

To illustrate, please see below.

The above container is 200 ml of pure agarwood oil. It takes hundreds of kilo of infected wood to distill. The scent is pleasant, enjoyable once the cap open. You could smell it literally from metres away



This above image is 1 kg bag of wood chip. To smell it, you have to stay close (a few centimetres between the bag and your nose). The fragrance is present but not as strong as the oil. However, if one piece of wood chip is heated (1g is enough), the whole room would be filled with agarwood fragrance.

Now, consider beads or a bracelet or a necklace:

 

It is only 15g of wood containing some infected part only, could be seen in its pattern. To detect its smell in room temperature without heating or stored in a closed container, it is a challenging task. So, the next time you buy a genuine agarwood bracelet, choose your trust supplier as agarwood beads are one of the most challenging tasks to verify. Oil-submerged beads are easily detectable, often seen as their solid black or brown colour without and stripes (oil veins). These beads are dyed and injected with agarwood oil or other essential oil to create the scent.

3) Why can't I smell my agarwood bracelet / raw wood chip?

 Please click here for instruction on how to revive the scent

First of all, all our beads are made from genuine agarwood either cultivated or natural (would be stated in the product info), please be confident about that.  

  • The fragrance of our beads are always present but not always noticeable, just like perfume, when you get used to the smell for a couple of days, you may not smell it but it actually is there.
  • If you are not able to scent the fragrance from the beads, you could re-pack it back in a seal plastic bag for a couple of days and open it, the smell would be noticeable again.
  • When the weather is cold and the humidity is low, it is hard to detect the smell. You could place the bracelet on the keyboard for several minutes, the heat from it will “wake the scent up.”
  • Even with the unprocessed raw material, in cold weather and some specific day (low in humid), the fragrance is not detectable at room temperature.
  • The wood logs below clearly are decades old with adequate resin to make beads and chips, at room temperature, unless you pressed your nose against the logs, the scent is hardly delectable although it is there.

  • Everyone has experienced this before: if we smelled the same fragrance frequently, we would get used to this. You tried a new shampoo, in several days; you might feel it was not as strong as the first time applies. When you walk into a spa, a hair salon, a shop with a strong scent, have you noticed how long it takes for you to “forget” about the scent? Try this, walk out of the shop for 10 seconds take a deep breath outside, and walk back in. The smell came back? Yes, as the scent triggers the brain again.

 

4) Why is agarwood expensive

It is a default, just like a diamond, when people heard the name, it is expensive. In nature, wild agarwood is almost extinct and extremely rare to find, hunters risk their lives to get it in the forest. Therefore, for sustainable future exploitation, cultivated agarwood is introduced but please consider:

  • It takes 5-7 years on average to grow Aquilaria trees before being inoculated to produce resin
  • After being inoculated, on average, More 85% trees are survived. In addition, it takes another minimum of 2 years to create resin (agarwood). However, for high-quality wood chips, it is at least 3.5 years to harvest.
  • Once trees are cut down, new Aquilaria trees will be re-planted, the same process required, another 10 years needed before harvesting.
  • Large plantation site is a plus, but it means more cost involved.

If you are buying agarwood incense in a shop, in a sealed package, it is hard to detect any scent from it. In case you do, and the scent is sharp, soap or chemical like the weight is more than 100g with a price less than $100, it is very likely the product is counterfeit. 

More info here

5) Could I wear my agarwood beads when showering, handwashing?

  • Please keep your agarwood beads away from water, some spatter is fine but not for emerging into the water for a long time as fibre from the wood would absorb the water and eventually might damage the beads
  •  Just like a Rolex watch (for those do not know what a Rolex is, it is an expensive watch), although it is water resistant (not the waterproof version), would you bring it into your shower? so please treasure your agarwood beads to maintain them.

6) Is your agarwood tea classified under medicinal category?

  • No, it is not. Our agarwood tea is purely from dried agarwood leaves with no other substances. We claimed it offered sleep aid and constipation relief based on experiences as well as research articles. Just like pawpaw or banana or even prune, if you consume it, you will have an easy bowel movement as a natural laxative effect from those fruits which are NOT medicine.
  • Please see our Lab Test result below contains substances which are beneficial for diabetes, sleeping aid and constipation ease, and lean muscle mass building

7)Why does my agarwood bracelet not smell as good as woodchip? Is it fake? 

 

 
  • Please look at the pictures above comparison between woodchip and beads. Both are circa 0.3 g of wood. However, the infection area of woodchip is more than 80% compared to wood beads of circa 10%. At room temperature, both would emit a light smell (need high concentration to detect). However, if the temperature increased, in this case, under an electric incense burner, woodchip started releasing the strong fragrance from its resin while the wood beads emit a noticeable one. Woodchip comes at any shape as its value lying on the scent. In comparison, wood beads are different, you cannot make one high resin beads and the other beads have none. The resin needs to spread out as even as possible. If you heat the whole 108 beads under the electric burner, the scent will be similar to woodchip. 

 Just like all the necessity which has high volume in stock turn: woodchips and oud oil (agarwood oil), the price of these items are often negotiable as they are consumed in the almost daily basis. With agarwood oil, Islam prays with it, Japanese, Chinese use it for medicinal purposes, Arabian uses it for manufacturing perfume. In contrast, agarwood beads are more in keep-sake, lucky charm or spiritual practice which last really long. Stock turning is slower and hence, high overhead cost occurs. In addition, each bead is made individually with care, high labour cost.

  • We guarantee our agarwood beads are genuine as personally, it is from our plantation site. For wild agarwood beads, with experience, we verified carefully before putting them in the market for sales

8) Is your Oud oil pure? How do I know it?

Simple, we manufacture it and our popular cultivated Evergreen Superior oil has been tested in 2 separate labs (one in Vietnam and in Australia). Consumers are welcome to test in the lab again to see if there is any else in it. With an experienced user, he/she could detect if the oud oil was adulterated with others. If you would like to know more, please email us at info@grandawood.com.au for a full 20-page report.

 

9) Are your bracelet genuine, why is there some white patch in the beads? Are your beads dyed with colour? Do you artificially scent your beads?

Yes, when we mentioned agarwood beads, they are genuine without adding colour or scent. Please see the pictures below

The red circle explained the bi-polar pattern of the beads. When you see these bracelets, 100% it is made from cultivated agarwood. Wild one does not have this consistent pattern. This is very normal and is NOT dyed with colour. The price of these beads is usually less than $100. Again, the scent will only accumulate when stored in a closed container or zip bag as once you wear it, the scent molecules escape in the air, offering very light fragrance, this explained why people could not smell anything after wearing the bracelet. The scent is there, you could revive it by containing your bracelet in a close glass container or simply a zip bag.

10) Is Oud (agarwood) allowed in Australia?

Yes, given the right paperwork, there is no issue. For more info please visit

https://www.environment.gov.au

11) Is Agarwood oil safe to use directly on the skin (near application)?

In general, yes, unlike other essential oils requiring carrier oil to prevent burnt or skin irritation, agarwood (oud) oil could be applied on the human skin directly (near application). However, YOU SHOULD ALWAYS TRY A SMALL DAB (a patch test) TO ENSURE YOUR SKIN  HAS NO ADVERSE REACTION. Below are the extract from page 190 of the Essential Oil Safty -Robert Tisserand, Rodney Young

 11) What is cultivated agarwood beads? Are they genuinely agarwood?

Cultivated beads mean agarwood beads made from farmed agarwood from our plantation, not from the wild. All beads are made by our craft man from genuine agarwood either wild or farm grown(cultivated)
Beads making material are selected from agarwood log (infected Aquilaria tree) and spun individually 

It takes 8 years to grow the Aquilaria trees, and two years of wounding to create agarwood inside them.

12) Can you supply samples to .....?

Yes, we can, please purchase our Agarwood (oud) oil as below, it is NOT free sorry. Please DO NOT ask for a free sample. Drive to McDonald and ask if you could get free ketchup???? Having said that, if you were in the Brisbane area, would be happy to see you in person

 

13) What do you think about synthetic vs natural oil? Are synthetic oil harmful or unsafe to use?

Please read here

14) Your products are good but the prices are unjustified? I saw some oud is $20 for 3ml

You might be right. Some oud is $20 for 3ml, but is it oud oil or oud perfume or something else? By the way, you are welcome to purchase from the other sellers.
If the oil contains 1% or less of genuine oud oil, and for marketing purpose, it can be called oud perfume or even oud oil. Here is an analogy, if you went to a supermarket and picked up an almond milk bottle, would you please check the percentage of the actual almond in the "milk"(around 1% to 5% only). The same principle applied here.
You need to compare an apple to an apple. In other words, you need to compare two oud oils, NOT a pure essential oil AND a blended perfume oil.

 

15) How do you extract your oud oil? and the reasons?

We usually distil our oil by hydro (water) or steam distillation because these methods allow chemical bonds to be broken and reformed. This process makes our oil smell special.

The Term ‘essential oil’ is strictly limited to steam distillates or hydro-distillates (Water distillation). Oils obtained from Super Fluid Extract or Solvent Extract method is not essential oil

 steam distillation

 

SSteam Distillation

 

Water Distillation

Source: Tongnuanchan, P. and Benjakul, S. (2014), Essential Oils: Extraction, Bioactivities, and Their Uses for Food Preservation. Journal of Food Science,

 

16) You have your own Grandawood incenses. What are the main features and benefits? I am confused

Please click here

 

17) What's the difference between the 'Alcohol' & 'Alcohol-free batch of glory of pain perfume?

The base is different. One uses alcohol. You get the "hit" in the first spray. Alcohol-free is oil-based. It is less "booming" but it lasts longer. Oil does not vaporise as much as alcohol
Alcohol-free or oil base will be used for International Order.
To ship alcohol-based perfume, we need to use a Courier which can carry Dangerous Good. The cost for this option is very high. Currently we do not offer this option to any order outside of Australia.
Reason: Alcohol is classified as "Dangerous Good: Flammable Liquid"
 

18) What percentage is the perfume concentration? EDP?

 15%.

19) Do you have any perfumes with wild oud oils?

Wild  Oud is a perfume itself. Generally speaking, people who buy wild oud will only want pure wild oud. They do not want anything else in it. Besides, wild oud is not sustainable. It is a one-off batch. 
If you make perfume with it, you can only do it once or twice.
Try one and you will know what I mean. 
What is your recommendation for a really sweet, clean and fruity oud?
=> If you like to enjoy "clean" scent, it would be the "heaven smoke" (super clean, zero decomposed notes), and the "Misty Forest".  For wild oud, try the  Scasa Saat Cambodian Oud
You can see the feedback under each product.

  

 

20) Are you planning on having a "Lay-by" option on your website? Would be awesome to try many premium products for a regular consumer without breaking the bank.

Unfortunately no.  Having this option means we have to increase our price.

Lay-by means paying in instalments.

On average, "Lay-by service providers" charge 30 cents + 6% commission on merchant. In addition, there would be an another charge of 2% + 30 cents by the e-commerce platform.

Some of our products are over $1000, so it is not feasible to do so.
A 1.5ml bottle of Oud could last months and months, for cultivated Oud, on average, it is around $70. Let's say you use a small wooden stick (toothpick for example. You dab in it the vial and dab in your hand. And you do it daily. It will take around 4 months to finish it.
But let's say you get bored and leave it aside. Normal perfume would go off because it passed the expiry date. Wood essential oil does not. It is getting better if you leave it aged. So, a question for you.
"For a 1.5ml bottle that literally has no expiration. Better yet, its aroma improves with age. And you could use it for months. Is that worth $70 AUD to you?"

 

 

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