The word "Shen" in the ancient saying "Shen Musk" refers to agarwood. Aquilaria sinensis is elegant and very rare, and has been listed as the first fragrance since ancient times.
Different from sandalwood, agarwood is not a kind of wood, but a special fragrant tree, which is a solid condensate of oil (resin) and wood components. But the wood of this fragrant tree itself has no special fragrance, and the wood is soft. According to the current research, several trees of Aquilaria of Daphne, such as Aquilaria malayi, Aquilaria Vientiane and Aquilaria India, can form Aquilaria.
Generally speaking, the greater the density of agarwood, the more condensed resin and the better the quality. Therefore, the ancients often divided agarwood into different grades according to whether it can sink into water: those that sink into water are called "submerged" incense; Secondly, those who are semi-floating and semi-sinking are called "stack incense" (stack, woven with bamboo), also known as "note (sound" fried ") incense" and "water incense"; Once again, a little enters the water and floats on the water surface, which is called "yellow ripe fragrance"
Because agarwood is naturally condensed, its size and shape vary greatly, so the ancients took many interesting names for its characteristics, such as: tooth incense (small in size, like a horse's teeth), leaf incense (thin in shape), chicken bone incense (with a gap inside, like a chicken bone), light incense (with a dry rock appearance, mostly used for display), and water pan head (large in size and good in texture).
The water tanks in agarwood are mostly less than ten centimeters in width and dozens of centimeters in length; High quality is generally dense and even as hard as rock; The surface is very uneven; Most of the colors are green, dark green, yellow, brown or black, the oil is dark, and the xylem is light yellow and white, mixed with various textures; Aquilaria sinensis with high oil content is often dark in color, moist in texture, easy to ignite, and even boiling oil can be seen when burning.
There are four reasons why water sinks into incense:
1. "Mature knot": After the tree dies, the roots and trunks fall to the ground or sink into the soil, and after years of wind and rain, they slowly decompose and shrink, leaving the condensate mainly composed of oil. For example, "Compendium of Materia Medica" said: "Old wood, rotten skin for many years, woody branches do not rot. Hard and black is also agarwood. "
Second, "knot": the fragrant knot formed when the tree is alive. Deep wounds are caused by external forces such as knives, axes, snakes and insects. The incense tree will ooze resin to protect itself, thus making incense near the wound.
Third, "falling off", the fragrance produced by rotting branches;
Fourth, "insect leakage" is the fragrance formed by the decay of trees by insects and bacteria.
Due to the shortage of resin glands in short-lived fragrant trees, it is generally only possible for fragrant trees to form agarwood for decades, and it takes many years from fragrance to maturity, so the top-grade natural agarwood is priceless.
As far as most agarwood is concerned, the darker the color, the denser the texture and the better the quality. However, this is only a general standard. Because of the complex causes of agarwood, many factors directly affect the quality of incense, such as the length of incense, the amount of oil, living trees or dead trees, so it is not enough to identify it only by appearance and physical indicators. The best way is to judge by the nose and the experience after smoking.
The output of natural agarwood is limited, and now it is mostly cultivated artificially. Often, some "wounds" are cut or drilled on the trunk of mature fragrant trees, or some fungi are laid. After a year or several years, agarwood will grow near the wound. The longer the year, the better the quality of the incense. But even if it is cultivated artificially, it usually takes more than 10 years to make incense.
At present, the main producing areas of agarwood are Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos and Hainan Island in China. Historically, India, Myanmar and other places have also produced a lot of agarwood, but due to a large number of logging, it is rarely produced now, just the processing center of agarwood.
Most Daphne plants can hardly smell the fragrance under normal conditions, but when smoked and burned, the fragrance is rich, which can cover up other odors and stay for a long time. It is a high-grade perfume for making essential oil and natural perfume. In some Arab countries, agarwood is often directly smoked and burned at important ceremonies and parties.
Aquilaria sinensis is not only elegant in aroma, but also has magical effects such as resuscitation, health care and treatment. It has always been an important medicinal material, and there are many related descriptions in ancient Chinese medicine books. For example, in Materia Medica, it is said that "it can reduce qi and phlegm, and it can also increase hair, and the qi is fragrant into the spleen, so it can regulate qi and adjust the middle, and the color is black. Being a yang, I entered the life gate of my right arm, warming essence to help yang, not harming qi, and warming does not help fire. " "Daming Herbal Medicine" refers to "regulating the internal organs, benefiting essence and strengthening yang, warming the waist and knees, and stopping tendons and vomiting and diarrhea"; Compendium of Materia Medica says that it can "treat upper heat and lower cold, short breath, large intestine meridian deficiency, urinary stranguria and male cold."
Aquilaria sinensis is not only suitable for smoking, but also can be ground into powder for oral administration (external use can also treat trauma and have analgesic effect), or brewed with Aquilaria sinensis tablets and Aquilaria sinensis powder for drinking, all of which are traditional health-preserving recipes.
The agarwood with hard texture and full oil is also an excellent carving material. The carved agarwood is simple and vigorous, deep and moist, and has a unique charm. Thymelaeaceae has high technical requirements for sculptors, the hardness is much higher than that of wood, and the oil and wood materials are condensed, and the texture is uneven, which makes carving difficult, so good agarwood wood carving is extremely precious.
In Buddhism, agarwood also has a high status. Aquilaria sinensis is one of the main spices for bathing Buddha. The rosary and Buddha statues carved by Daphne are precious Buddhist tools. The incense made of agarwood is not only used for worshipping Buddha, but also for meditation.
There is also a special category in agarwood: Qin Nanxiang. Qinan is a word translated from Sanskrit. In the Buddhist scriptures of the Tang Dynasty, it was often called Dogalo, and later it had names such as Galand, Ganan and Qin 'an. )
The origin of Qinnanxiang is basically the same as that of ordinary agarwood, but there are many differences between them, so it is customary to make it into a single category and list it as the top grade of agarwood.
Qi Nan Xiang is not as dense as agarwood, and the first-class agarwood sinks when it enters the water, while many first-class Qi Nan are semi-sinking and semi-floating; Most agarwood is hard in texture, while chess nan is soft and sticky, and the pieces can even form Zhu Xiang; Microscopically, it can be found that the oil glands in Aquilaria sinensis gather together, while the oil glands in Qin 'an are lifelike.
The oil content of Qinnanxiang is generally higher than that of Aquilaria sinensis, and its aroma is sweeter and richer.
Most agarwood has almost no fragrance without getting angry, but Qin' an is different. It can emit a cool and sweet smell without getting angry. When smoked and burned, the aroma of Aquilaria sinensis is very stable, while the head aroma, original aroma and tail aroma of Qin 'an have obvious changes. Moreover, the yield of Qinnanxiang is less than that of Aquilaria sinensis. Due to various reasons, Qinnanxiang is particularly precious. In the Song Dynasty, Qin 'an, which occupied the city (now Vietnam), was already "a piece of gold". Up to now, most of the best Qin 'an are still produced in Vietnam.