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?