Along many agarwood fan's collection journey, you will be amazed by many natural forms and types of agarwood in the market. Since agarwood resin is formed on the entire parts of the agarwood trees(exclude the leaf), you will have many interesting shapes of resin coming out from top to bottom and collection journey will be fun.

Friends who are not in the trade often ask me about the type of resin formation,especially for some interesting shape pcs in my warehouse. I will compile a small list below for the benefits of our readers here.

Type 1 : Agarwood Ears/ Agarwood Shells / Agarwood Hat
These are the type of agarwood which are found in areas such as the surface, broken branch/joints area.

For beginners, you will most likely figure out that, certain agarwood shells are easier to sink then other types of agarwood and certain shapes are too beautiful and too cute to put on burners :) I am a fan for Agarwood shells, certain old trader will know the XXL size sinking shell in the forest, normal agarwood shells are thin and mostly shallow. To better understand the hardship of craving out an agarwood shell, you can try cleaning one, the cultivated and low grade shells are harder to crave compare to the resin rich grade.
 





Type 2: Agarwood Heartwood

The heartwood should be the type with the highest resin content inside the agarwood trees. Most of them are triggered by unknown infections, take it along with the passage of time, you will find the beautiful and cooling scent of the agarwood heartwood. Many high grades heartwood has that waxy and sticky soft texture, but eventually, it will be "hardened" like normal super wood.  Heartwood which is found in the centre area should be the oldest among all resination, you can easily find agarwood ears in the surface but for agarwood heartwood, you need to harvest the tree to see what is hidden inside.

Sinking grade heartwood are good for collection, especially those with thickness.




Type 2: Agarwood Biscuit or the Crosss section of Agarwood

These are the cross section of the agarwood trees, fallen by humans or naturally. If you have some new hainanese/china agarwood, chances are you will find some in this form.

For cultivated trees, when you harvest the top portion of the tree, leaving the roots and base behind, Agarwood Biscuit may start it's formation, some trees are able to survive, some are not. Agarwood Biscuit are not meant for serious agarwood collection, unless you can find those vintage fossil type or super grades. Most are lower in resin but many are decorative enough to be added to casual collection.




Type 3: Agarwood Ant/Worm holes



Ant/Worm holes agarwood are formed when the insects try to make a nest or bore through the trees for food. It's quite common to find "Agarwood borers" in cultivated agarwood tree farms and in the wild. They will create tunnels and CTE within the trees and certain parts of it form agarwood resin.

Like i mentioned in my other agarwood articles, most of the ant/worm hole decoration pieces are super glued, so you have to understand that it is not easy to crarve out the whole piece without breaking it. High grade ant holes agarwood are very sweet and good for burning/distillation. We did a separate ant hole distillation before, resulting oil was amazing, most went into private collection :)

Ok, i have completed the 4 types of agarwood formation for you guys, hope you guys enjoy this agarwood information sharing portal :)

Have a great day ahead!