Agarwood - Pearl of the Forest

1kg agarwood sells for up to $5,000 USD!

According to Steffen Arctander true agarwood has been known for several thousand years and its use is possibly as old as that of sandalwood.  He describes agarwood essential oil as a pale yellow to brownish yellow or dark amber color; a viscous liquid of rich and sweet-woody, almost balsamic odor with a sweetness similar to that of sandalwood oil.

Pearl of the Forest

Agarwood is the most expensive wood in the world, with 1kg fetching up to $5,000 USD! It is also known as Oud (can be spelled Oudh), Aloes wood (more a generic name for fragrant woods in India) and Wood of the Gods. The tree is found growing in India and parts of China, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand. The fragrant wood is formed as a result of the trees' immune response to a fungal infection. As a response the tree produces an oleo resin which stops the growth of the fungus. This resin changes the color of the wood from light to dark brown or even black. The rest of the tree stays light colored. In natural forests only 7% of the trees are affected! The wood from healthy trees has no smell. A method for artificial farming of agarwood is to inject all the trees with the fungus. (A bit like farming pearls, putting sand in the oyster shell!) After proper preparation the wood will produce essential oil when it is distilled.

Agarwood was used by the Egyptians for embalming dead bodies.

It is because of it's rarity, and because it is in high demand, that agarwood fetches such very high prices. People chop down trees in the hope of finding agarwood, and in some regions to protect the tree population the harvesting of the wood has been strictly monitored. There is a difference between the smell of the cultivated agarwood and the "true" or wild agarwood. Here is an odor profile from the free encyclopedia, "A natural perfume oil obtained by CO₂ extraction from agarwood retains the odour of "true" agarwood: a cepes (mushroom) and carrot seed accord, which can be roughly approximated by combining ambergris, jasmine, earth and wood notes. Lightly infected wood, sometimes cultivated, produces an inferior oil with a vetiver/ sandalwood/ patchouli character."

Agarwood is a pearl of the forest. It's smell is complex and varies a lot from region to region. I have five different ouds (also spelled oudhs) for sampling here. The first is from Burma, it is mellow, sweet and musky with resinous woody notes and haunting floral undertones. The second, from Malaysia, has spicy nutmeg-like notes with a green mustiness not present in the first. The third is also from Burma and is a fresher, greener experience, also with sweet exotic undertones. I have two from Cambodia, one is a musky, resinous and sweet and the other is smoky, woody and balsamic. 

Agarwood is a potent aphrodisiac.

Agarwood oil is used in perfumery and incenses. It is a potent aphrodisiac. Calming to the nervous system, it brings alertness and calms anxiety. It also invokes a sense of strength, enlightenment and clarity. For this reason it is burned to aid meditation and study. The Sufi and Japanese shamen also used agarwood in their ceremonies. Today I am burning the sweet Cambodian variety and it is immediately uplifting and purifying to the air, a lovely calm atmosphere has been created in our home as a result. 

Perfume of Nirvana 

Lord Buddha said that the scent of burning agarwood is the perfume of Nirvana. It was agarwood and myrrh that was used at Jesus' burial ceremony. Interestingly, in the Bible it is mentioned in the Garden of Eden as the only tree that Adam and Eve were allowed to take cuttings from.

Samurai Armor

Samurai warriors scented their armor with agarwood smoke and believed it gave them good luck during battle. Ayurvedic, Arabic, Sufi, Unanai, Tibetan and Chinese physicians have all used agarwood in their practices to treat various diseases including mental illness. It was also used to treat epilepsy.