——Is agarwood the incense produced by agarwood trees?
Wrong. Agarwood is not the wood of agarwood trees, and there is actually no such plant as “agarwood tree”. Agarwood is a kind of fragrance produced under specific conditions based on trees including four types of tree species: Cinnamomum, Oleaceae, Euphorbiaceae, and Thymelaeaceae. Although these four tree families are the basis for agarwood production, they do not necessarily produce agarwood. Most of these four tree families have loose wood and lighter color. If the age is more than 30 years, they have richer resin glands. This is only the most basic condition. If there are no specific conditions below, the four trees will not produce “agarwood”.
——Types of Agarwood
According to the different formation conditions, agarwood is divided into six types: Agarwood is due to age and natural factors. This type is the remaining immortal wood after being blown by wind and rain, which is called “mature agarwood” and has a mellow taste; this type is the agarwood that is buried in the soil after falling and decomposed and decayed by microorganisms, and the remaining unrotten part is called “earth agarwood”, which has a thick and mellow taste; the agarwood that is buried in the swamp after falling and is decomposed by organisms and then fished out from the swamp area is called “water agarwood”, which has a warm and mellow taste; the living tree is cut down by humans, placed on the ground and eaten by termites, and the remaining part is called “ant agarwood”, which has a clear smell; the agarwood obtained directly from the cut down of the living tree is called “raw agarwood”, which has a high smell; the tree that is less than ten years old and has a slight fragrance is called “white wood”, which has a fresh smell.
——How to judge the quality of agarwood
The most important thing to judge the quality of agarwood is to see how much agarwood oil is contained in the wood. The finer the wood grain, the thicker the oil and the better. To distinguish true and false agarwood, we must first see whether it sinks in water. Real agarwood has a fresh scent of resin. The dark brown resin-containing part is clearly distinguished from the white wood part. When burning, oil seeps out and has a cool agarwood smell.
——What is “Qinanxiang”
“Qinan” is also written as “Qinan”, “Ganan”, etc. In fact, Qinan is just a high-quality agarwood. The formation mechanism of Qinanxiang is the same as that of agarwood. It is only because of the different tree species, which may be different from the looseness of the wood and the composition of the scent glands. The fragrance formed is more due to the superior external conditions, so its fragrance has a “layered” sense, which is called the difference between the initial fragrance, the body fragrance, and the tail fragrance by some incense players. In fact, agarwood, even sandalwood, agarwood and various incense making have a progressive change due to the excessive burning time of the spices and the degree of carbonization when burning and fumigating, not just Qinanxiang. However, the taste of Qinan is perfect, and it is loved by incense players for its moist, sweet, clear, sweet and slightly milky fragrance.