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History Grading of Agarwood

The accumulated rich experience and wisdom in assessing agarwood have been recorded in books for future reference over the long history of development of incense application in China. Chinese incense classics contains rich and detailed information about the places of origin, appearances and grading of agarwood. Nanfan Xianglu (Records of Nanfan Incense) from the Song Dynasty details various aspects for assessing agarwood ranging from its places of origin, quality, factors for formation, colours and textures to sinking condition. Concerning places of origin and quality, it points out that “Agarwood from Kalimantan (Kalimantan, Indonesia) is the best, Champa (Vietnam) comes second”. As for the factors for agarwood formation, it suggests: “Raw formation is the best, followed by ripe formation”. Its comments on the colours and textures of agarwood are that “The hard and black are the best, followed by the yellowish”.

In addition, “fragrance, quality, shape and colour” also provide the basis for appreciating agarwood. “Fragrance” obviously refers to the aroma, whose quality is of foremost importance given that agarwood is a scented product. A good fragrance is pure yet rich and permeating; it is far-reaching and enduring with delicate changes when burned. Regarding “quality”, it depends on the condition of the aromatic resin stored in a piece of agarwood which gives the wood fragrance; therefore agarwood with rich and quality resin content receives a higher ranking. “Shape” and “colour” are standards for assessment taking into consideration the shape, colouring, grain as well as the distribution of resin in a piece of agarwood. The ancients examined agarwood through debates and competitions, evincing that comparisons based on real objects and accumulation of experience are the only ways of determining its quality.
(Institute of Agarwood)