Hellooo Helloo back again with agarwoodindonesia. It’s almost a year that I never writte anything here, don’t think I didn’t wanted to write anything here but I am busy learning my self about distillation, it’s being a bad times for me and Iam learning the hard way. Yet I want to share something with you people.
Do you ever come accross with some dreadfuly rubbery smell? or harsh nauseatic smell from oud?
That my fellow readers called as “still smell”. What cause it anyway? why this monstrous note ever end up on my Oud oil? that would be your next question.
The answer is “still smell” or “pot smell” is caused by water than runs out in the charge ( material) still. So the oud get that burnt smell . This is in the case on water distillation or hydro distillation and water and steam distillation. Still smell also happened in steam distillation this is because the operator may charge the material inside the pot with super heated steam constantly. What is super heated steam? In the world of distiller there are 2 kinds of steam. The first is known as “wet steam” this is the steam that we know everyday from our daily activity such us boiling water in a pot. This type of steam is never beyond 100 C it has low pressure and this kind of steam use in water and steam distillation. The second type of steam is super heated steam also known as “dry steam”, this steam is generated from a boiler oil which boil water above it’s boiling point so it has very strong pressure and heat since usually this type of steam is over 100 Degree Celcius. If this type of steam constantly applied to plants material eventually it will dried up the plant and make it burn if no strict control were apllied. GÜnther in his book Essential oil volume I page 149 mention us about it. On the contray water and steam distillation and water or hydro distillation use wet steam with low pressure yet there is a risk when the water runs out it will eventually burn the plant material inside. So this is why you get that monstrous nauseatic smell.
There is common problem among us distiller quality VS Quantity for those who doesn’t aware of distilling essential oil they must be demanding quality over quantity. Since they pay much. But most distiller see quantity over quality is better because they think this is a rare product no one will ever complain.
I jumped distilling not a long ago, I learned the hard way 6 month of agony and pain also insult. Truly distilling is like cooking at first it was hard and difficult once you know the best recipe and the way to optimize your device and you will win the a good prize.
Back again with agarwoodindonesia. It’s being a while I don’t write again. Well let’s discuss about Indonesian Agarwood Scent.
We start from the most west of Indonesia Which is Sumatra. Why there? since Indonesia is a large archipelago country that each and one of it’s Islands are having special features of micro climate and surely it will effect agarwood produced in several area. As for Sumatra their smell is floral, sweet, sometimes fecal, and in some part had urine smell on the wood. But on Bangka Island the urine stuff disappear only sweet and nice smell you will found there. Next Kalimantan, this island is the one of the largest Island on earth it has several geographical features which is dense rain forest, large rivers also mountains. What make it related to Oudh smell? Well the oud from A. Malaccensis grown in East Kalimantan and South and other parts of Kalimantan are having different smell, Since the east and western are mostly rian forest their oud mostly smell sweet floral with lesser or no spicy note , on the contray the central and the saouth that is predominantly filled with swamps and bogs also mangrove had that spicy note when you burn the wood or distilling the oil. Now jump the Wallacean line we landed in Sulawesi, why Sulawesi is distinctive ? according to Wallace Indonesian Bio Diversity can be divided into 3 regions, The west region that include Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan also Bali. This is important since Sulawesi had in between life form between the Asian and Australian region. Here the agarwood predominantly are malaccensis mix with grynops, which having a mix smell between western and eastern part of Indonesia, Sweet yet with herbal and spice note. Now let’s discuss the Papuan or the eastern part of Indonesia, they have very distinctive scent, which are herbal and spicy sometimes with dirt smell, since on this region the agarwood species that produce agarwood came from A. Fillaria and Grynops. And about the dirt smell this because it is taken from a buried dead tree under the swamp area, so by time it will leave that dirt note on the wood when you burn it.
I think that’s all I can share you for now.
It’s being so long I’ve never write again. Not that I am lazy to update things up lately my hands are full busy thinking about other things. People around the globe are well known that oudh oil or Dehn Al Oudh are expensive. In this article I would like to explain almost about everything that related to dreadful price of oudh.
The first reason why oudh oil are expensive is it’s very hard to find it’s raw material. From all of the oudh trees in the jungles in Indonesia, only 10% of total population are fill with oudh resin. This made things harder since we cannot tell in which of the tree is really fill in with resin. So one thing or another you must cut the tree chop it and make it into pieces.
This make the second reason it need extensive labor, can you imagine cut down then chop down the tree into pieces even dug out it’s roots with only 1 or 2 people? And then you need to track the infection path on the tree chop the tree by follow this path . It’s not an easy job, Then cleaning the resinous part. Done yet ? nope not yet. Since this is hardest and the scariest part. Transporting it out. Many crooks out there that want quick cash want this tree. Especially the filled ones.
The last reason why Oudh oil is expensive is the difficulties in extracting it out. Since scientifically proven that Oudh rendement ( Raw Material VS Yield Comparation) is very low 0.1% (that if you are lucky enough) so to get 100 Grams of Oudh Oil you will need at least 100 Kg of raw material. Distiller use left over from the chopping process since if they use the incense (Upper Medang, Gubal) grade. It would a waste of money if distiller doing so since the wood itself sells. And in Oudh there are 2 substance impregnated inside the wood. These are the oil and the resin, the oil you can smell it when you burn it, the resin is what you see bubbling out from the wood. Both had their distinctive smell. So what happened if I distill high grade wood? Surely a gambling position. There is a big chance I lost the wood completely without gaining oil.
Also the complex part in distilling if you use temperature too high you will gain only water with Oudh odor no oil, even you had doing this distillation for 3 whole days non stop, so you need to check up the fire each and everytime. This is what happened in Indonesia mostly distiller are small scale family distiller not humongous distiller like in Thailand or Vietnam or India. They don’t use state of the art technology or correct distilling technique, they satisfied themselves when they gain oil. Since getting oil itself is an ever joy experience.
In Oud or agarwood world there are so many riddle to the people outside that world. Including the agarwood quality that named as the ” Black Magic Wood.” From the name itself it give me a goosebump. But let’s talk about it seriously. Black Magic Wood is an artificial agarwood. Made from agarwood itself or other kinds of wood like Paraserianthes falcataria wood or it can be made from Jack Fruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus or Artocarpus heterophylla) tree wood and other kinds of wood. The shape that is use for this is Papuan agarwood ( A.Fillaria) since to make A. Malaccensis BMW is quite difficult since the wood is too soft to be make as BMW.
The characteristic between artificial and natural oud or agarwood is quite different, but for the outsiders who is outside Indonesia they are not aware of this. They only judge by the strong smell. Black magic wood can be a lot stronger then common natural oud or agarwood since we can trim the note up beyond natural harvested oud or agarwood.
Also some BMW when we burn it, it will show a characteristic same like real natural harvested oud or agarwood. Such as bubbling, emits oil and emits resin.
The reason of the existance of this BMW is economical reason. Since real genuine agarwood or oud is very high and expensive. Indonesian who produce this kind of wood usually stated that this is BMW or artificial agarwood not real oud. The price from the craftsman for the best BMw is 150US$-200US$. It will look the same, smells the same as real ones. These wood usually made as gift since buying oud for some people it’s not that comfortable. It’s way too expensive.
There is a trick to detect your oud or agarwood chip is BMW or natural oud, by breaking it and see it’s fiber. If the resin mark is too good to be true meaning evenly distributed you should suspect that is BMW. Since natural oud are mostly do not have evenly distributed resin in it. Except for super king grade which is very very expensive and. Can reach minimum 7000 USD/Kg in the Indonesian market alone.
In Arabia this kind of agarwood were called as Black Agarwood since mostly it’s black in it’s color.
So folks don’t worry about this kind a artificial agarwood as long as it’s still using natural resin and natural technique such as high pressure, this kind a wood wouldn’t harm you. But obtaining natural so called real agarwood is a better way. Thanks for reading.
Oud or gaharu in Indonesia had 17 kinds of species. But people especially traders in Indonesia divide these 17 kinds into 2 major class. The Gaharu so called “real ” oud and Gaharu Buaya so called “2nd grade” oud.
What’s the different between these two anyway?
Well First, let me introduce you to Gaharu or so called as “real” oud.
“Real ” oud are mostly come from Aquilaria Family. These includes The most highly priced now Aquilaria Crassna also known as Cambodi Oud. Aquilaria Malacensis, Aquilaria Beccariana, Aquilaria Fillaria (the Papuan Oud) and so on. These Aquilaria families were highly priced because of there high quality. Defining what is high and and not in oud business is difficult. Since many people strictly depend on their noses and experience. And nose those that aren’t trained enough can be easily to be fooled.
The reason aquilaria class is considered high grade is the highly eudesmol content inside the oil. They say the higher the eudesmol the higher the quality of an oud oil. But to me me this is still vague. What is behind the mystery of these Aquilaria are higly priced?
Some said the middle eastern people seek for oil that will dooze them up with full relaxation after they inhale the vapor. Simply they become very sleepy and wake up with a very relaxing state. And this is from Aquilaria Family.
From chemical aspect oud is very unique substance since it consist 17 kinds of compound. That each had different in these compound even in a single species that live in a different area.
Let’s discus about Gaharu Buaya
For you oud lovers outside my country (Indonesia) mostly didn’t have any clue about these type of Oud. The term “buaya” in gaharu meaning “crocodile“.
The naming of Buaya had their own story.
One version said that the naming came from where these so called gaharu buaya lives. Which is in the bogs or the swamp, that is the habitat of crocodile. Since they are gaharu so people called them as gaharu buaya to differ their jungle counter part.
Other version of this naming Buaya is actually a marking for it’s quality. Buaya in Indonesian culture related to a person that is a womanizer and a big liar. So marking it with this buaya name give it a difference with “real” oud. Well some gaharu buaya is quite disgusting resemble to what we called as minyak nyongnyong (very strong oil that super powerful in it’s oudor that make you wanted to vommit). But some where had agreeable odor close to Aquilaria Class. Like the one I had here Aetoxylon Sympetalum.
The Gaharu Buaya had a lot more species then the Gaharu from Aquilaria Family. That’s another difference. In oud perfumery industry, these gaharu buaya are largely use for mixture with Aquilaria Family to meet the demand of growing market. Since Aquilaria class is very expensive that would not be economic to use these Aquilaria in Industry.
Many of these Gaharu Buaya oil goes to India trough Singapore, there they will be mixed with other oud from Aquillaria Family and sell to middle east. And later on to the Europe and USA.
The point is people don’t let your nose and you experience trick you…..
Since my fellow friend sell several hundred dollars worth of oud for several thousand dollars because of the buyers mistake. My friend tried to explain with his best ways. Even show the guy a lab certificate . But the guy don’t get it. He simply give up in explaining it. Then he put several bottles and let him pick. The guy’s pick is on the wrong one…it only worth several hundreds a liter but he paid it for several thousand…. And when my friend warn him that is not a good one, the guy insist. So they had a deal and my friend is both happy and confuse.
Why this guy pick the wrong one? It was only a Gaharu Buaya….
That’s all folks….
Thank you for reading
People are mislead by the word “wood” in agarwood. And thinking that all agarwood
must be wood chip. This is not 100% correct and not
100% wrong. Agarwood is an effect on fungal infection, the agarwood
tree produce resin to repel the boarders. The severe the infection the
more resin produced.
In Indonesia the end product of agarwood were classified into 3 major
class:
1. Gubal
What is gubal?
Gubal is the full resin of agarwood wich contain the whole resin with
few or 0 wood fiber. This is very high in price, a professor that is my
friend told me that his colleague sold it for 150 Million rupiah a
Kilo equal to US$14K++ to a Kuwaiti guy. So if somebody try to
blackmail you with selling wood chips with very few resin( You can see
it people!) and charge you US$3K/kilo just say to him/her: “Forget
it!” or
advertising they made oil out of US$3K wood chip, just leave him/ her.
Gubal shaped in several kinds:
-Stick (this is not real stick people, it’s just long shaped resemble
to stick )
-Fin
-Ball
The oudor is super strong even you imprison this baby in a sealed
carton box with strapped duct tape you can still smell it.
Another thing people this gubal if it’s AAA class if you put it inside a jar that contains water, it will surely sink.
Further more this Gubal will be brown , dark brown or pitch black. It will be in form of crystalized form of resin if it was AAA resin.
Gonystylus Bancanus Gubal
2.Kemedangan
Known to be incese grade agarwood, it’s in form of both wood and resin.
Huh? Wood and resin? How I ever differ the Kemedangan resin and Gubal
resin?
Hold your horses here.
Let’s talk about the wood 1st.
Agarwood wood chip will had brownish or black color from infections
(sometimes white but this is a very rare one)wich indicates it had
resin in it. This ranged from several US$ to several hundred US$/Kilo.
Medang Class Wood Chip
Now gidde up!!
Let’s talk about the medang resin, only to trained eye and nose can
differ gubal and medang. What? that hard?
No not that hard actually , kemedangan especially the AB class is a
little lighter in color and lesser oudor and another sign that a resin
is from kemedangan class that it breaks. Unlike the gubal that is
united into a one clump. Kemedangan tends to break and fragile. This
can be arround several hundred US$-several thousand.
Medang Class Resin AB Quality
3. Abu Gaharu (Agarwood Dust)
When you process the wood by splitting the infected wood and non infected wood you got the agarwood ash or the agarwood dust.These dust usually use as incese people! that sold in Ebay or many other sites. This is the lowest grade. Since this is by product. But don’t get mistaken if the seller process wood
with gubal class in it, you get gubal class dust and when they process medang class from the wood you get medang ash. So the price may vary.
Ok People thanks for your attention.
Indonesia
The land of thousand islands, had one of the most bio diversity on earth. From the tropical rain forest in Kalimantan to Papua into the pastures of Nusa Tenggara. All unite into a unique and rich enviroment.
Known from it’s diversity Indonesia also known as one of the largest source of oudh or agarwood or gaharu. From 17 kinds of tree that can produce agarwood resin, 8 of them are exist in Indonesia.
Oud, agarwood or gaharu is known to mankind since the dawn of history. The term oudh came from Arabic word( العود) wich literally means “wood”, the gaharu came from sanskrit word “aguru” wich mean “the heavy wood” since high quality agarwood is sinking when it puts on water, also known as jinko or kyara also aloeswood, eagleswood in Papua New Guinea.
Oudh or agarwood or gaharu is very rare. Because of excessive hunting for their woods and resin it is now on CITES appendix II, wich means this wood is only allowed to be trade in a very small quota. Indonesia as one of the largest exporter of agarwood restrict it’s exporting quota into 300 Tons/year but only 10-20% are already met.
In the wild agarwood can produce resin after years of process. The resin is actually a defense mechanism, this resin use as means to defend themselves from fungus infection. But now days technology can made agarwood produce agarwood resin just within 1-5 years after it grows in full size.
We offer you high quality agarwood oil from it’s source. Our products are genuine no added material such as coloring agent, alcohol or agarwood oil solvent. Additive is very dangerous when it’s inhaled it may cause harm to your body. Alcohol added agarwood oil can cause cough. Other additives may be carcinogenic or causing other health problems.
So we give you 100% assurance that our oudh are genuine. Please visit our distillery for further understanding about our product and service.
Translator
Chat With Me
