Hello!
Today we will introduce you to a very expensive and unusual tree - the agar tree.
It is valued for the fragrant resin that it secretes.
For thousands of years, the agar tree has been known as the "Tree of the Gods".
Top-notch agarwood can cost up to $100,000 per kilogram, making it one of the most expensive
raw materials in the world.
But in order for this tree to acquire such great value, the agar tree must first be infected
with mold.
In our video, we'll show you how the infection process works, as well as what the agar tree
is used for and what makes it so valuable?
Aquilaria malaccensis is a tree native to the tropical forests of Southeast Asia.
Before infection, the healthy heartwood inside Aquilaria trees is pale, odorless, and of
no value.
However, in the wild, damage to a tree by outside forces, such as grazing animals, in
isolated cases leads to the growth of a certain type of fungal infection inside the tree,
called Phialophora parasitica.
The defense of the Aquilaria tree against this attack lies in the production of a protective
dark and moist aromatic resin called aloe, caused by stress.
For this reason, the second name of the plant is Aloe tree.
Over the course of several years, the aloe slowly penetrates into the heartwood, giving
value to the agar tree.
An experienced lumberjack can look at an Aquilaria tree and immediately tell if it has agar wood
or not.
One of those who infect the tree are ants.
They bite into the tree trunk, inflicting a wound and introducing microorganisms, bacteria
and fungal spores into the tree trunk.
The ant also secretes a liquid that damages the tree, and then the tree uses its own sap
to cover the wounds, which over time will turn into a valuable agar tree.
Once the agar wood has been harvested, its infected part is separated from the healthy
aquilaria wood.
In painstaking work that often takes several hours, the resin-impregnated wood chips, also
known as oud, are hand-carved from the wood.
Oud slivers are commonly used as incense, especially in the Middle East, where they
are burned as a sign of hospitality, and are also sprinkled with resin on clothes and other
wardrobe items as perfume.
When burning, smoke is first observed, and then the aroma begins to emanate.
In the Middle East, it is believed that there is no other flavor equal to the aroma of agarwood.
The aroma gradually acquires a sweet smell.
In a closed room, its action can last from three to five hours.
Oud is also distilled into essential oil.
At the same time, in its pure form, the cost of aged oud oil can cost up to $ 80,000 per
liter, not without reason, for this, merchants called it “liquid gold”.
As its popularity continues to grow in the West, oud has become a familiar ingredient
in several expensive fragrances, adding a warm, musky scent to them.
The process of making agarwood essential oil begins with its transportation to the production
site.
Then, with the help of a saw, the agar tree is cut into logs.
The logs are cut into separate pieces with a circular saw.
The workers then use a grinding machine to grind the pieces of agar wood into a fine
powder.
Agarwood powder is collected in containers before being sent for distillation.
The powder is poured into the boiler and filled with water for soaking.
Soaking lasts for several hours.
After that, the boiler is closed and the quality of sealing is checked for safety purposes.
When everything is ready, the power turns on.
If we talk about the cooling system, then you can see a pipe inside which water moves
to the condenser to turn the vapor into a liquid.
The waste water leaves through this pipe, and after six hours, the essential oil of
the agar tree begins to stand out.
After 9 hours, distilled water begins to flow.
As you can see, to obtain the essential oil of the agar tree, a lot of procedures are
required, and the output of the oil itself is very small.
So it's very hard to get it.
Indiscriminate cutting of the agar tree in natural habitats has seriously hampered the
natural regeneration of Aquilaria trees, thereby threatening the survival of this species in
the wild.
Due to unsustainable production and poaching, all varieties of Aquilaria trees are now classified
as endangered, and experts estimate that its global population has declined by 80% over
the past 150 years.
Even in surviving aquilaria trees, the incidence of natural fungal infection is extremely low.
By some estimates, only 2% of wild Aquilaria trees are infested enough to produce agarwood
naturally, meaning that natural agarwood is extremely difficult to harvest.
Usually a group of five to ten people go to the forest for 15-20 days to find an agar
tree.
But often they come back empty-handed because they can't find anything.
In addition, the search is associated with dangers.
These are showers causing mudflows in the mountains, wild animals and dangerous insects.
There are cases of people dying in the forest.
In many countries, there is no more agar tree left in the forest.
People just destroyed it.
Forests that still contain wild agar trees continue to be cut down by illegal agar tree
hunters.
They sell the stolen wood on the insatiable black market.
This is understandable because the sale of agarwood is the most profitable business.
There is an underground market and secret trade for which there is no reliable data.
In the Philippines, for example, arrests of agarwood poachers occur periodically, but
this does not solve the problem.
It is believed that illegal loggers are just the front line of the criminal syndicates
that supply the active black market for agarwood.
Illegal deals have long outnumbered open sales.
And this is not surprising, given that a kilogram of agarwood can cost about $13,000, while
premium wood sells for more than $120,000 per kilogram.
The sculptures and bracelets, made from high quality wood, known as "sinking quality" because
it is too dense to float, are valued at around $1 million.
Most of the agar wood chips end up in the Gulf countries, especially Saudi Arabia and
the United Arab Emirates.
Here the agar tree is sold for a fabulous price.
For example, this Yemenite seller of natural agarwood can buy a luxurious house in a month
of trading.
The aroma of wood creates a feeling of comfort and happiness for customers, and encourages
them to make a purchase.
That is why in Arab countries agar is widely burned in stores selling various things and
products.
According to salespeople, burning the agar tree can prevent the black magic that was
sent to bring down the business.
To meet the high market demand, while still protecting the species from extinction, mass
plantations of Aquilaria trees have been established in Asian countries.
This allows for the sustainable production of agarwood.
Since the formation of agar wood in the natural environment is a very long process that can
take from 10 years or more, special attention is paid to the development of an effective
induction technology.
It is extremely important because it ensures the stability of the harvest of agarwood from
domesticated Aquilaria trees.
Under natural conditions, the formation of an agar tree is often associated with physical
damage to Aquilaria trees caused by lightning strikes, grazing, pests and diseases.
And many traditional methods of induction, such as nailing, hole punching, burning, trunk
breaking, and bark removal, use the concept of physically injuring trees.
But these induction methods usually result in poor quality and indeterminate yield of
agarwood.
Many pure cultures of fungal strains isolated from natural agarwood have been found to be
effective biological agents in inducing agarwood formation in healthy Aquilaria trees.
Today, induction methods have gradually moved from simple mechanical wounding to deliberate
wounding in combination with the use of biological inoculum.
Therefore, for example, in many forestries in Vietnam, trees are artificially inoculated
with a microbial compound to obtain the most valuable resin.
The fungal inoculation method is a new and improved damage method that allows you to
organize the production of natural agarwood with the least amount of time.
Experienced, trained technicians select specific locations for damage to the trunk to provide
space for air to circulate.
From 50 to 100 holes with a depth of no more than 10 centimeters are drilled in the trunk
of an agar tree at a distance of 5-7 cm from each other.
Special containers contain liquid strains of mushrooms, which are developed and implemented
by experts in the agar tree.
The liquid is filled into drainage bags, which are then hung from agar trees for injection
into the trunk.
The number of drainage bags depends on the height and diameter of the tree.
Mushrooms are introduced into the drilled holes to stimulate the natural production
of valuable resin.
The best result is achieved when using mushrooms
collected from other agar trees.
The production of agar tree resin takes 24 to 36 months after the injection of mushrooms.
Such a tree continues to be alive.
Infected Aquilaria trees grow much more slowly than healthy, unaffected trees.
Over time, as the resin penetrates into the heartwood of the wood, it will change color
from pale to dark brown or black, and its fragrance will intensify.
Effective infection of the tree can be observed after 5 years.
It looks like this.
And eight years later, the tree looks like this.
After 11 years, the amount of resin increases even more.
Despite the fact that natural agar is rare, most people prefer to use it.
But the truth is that the quality of an artificial agar tree does not have to be inferior to
a natural one.
And yet the price of natural agarwood is very high.
It can be 100 times higher than that of an artificial agar tree.
This is because the shortage of natural agar wood allows merchants to set any price for
it.
Of course, artificial agar is a product created by human hands, so its prices are much lower.
The agarwood tree has been described as a fragrant product of wealth and luxury in one
of the world's oldest written texts, the Sanskrit Vedas dating back to 1400 BC.
The aroma produced by the agar tree has been highly valued in many cultures and religions
throughout history.
Aloe is referred to in the Nirvana Sutra as the "tree of paradise" used in the cremation
of the Buddha.
In the New Testament, the body of Jesus was anointed with a mixture of myrrh and aloes
after he was crucified.
And in the hadith "Sahih al-Bukhari", the description of Paradise by the Messenger of
Allah includes the burning of an
agarwood tree
as incense.
The global market for agarwood is valued at a staggering $32 billion.
But where oud was once so common, high demand has not only driven up the price, it has increased
the speed of harvest and artificial production.
The market is expected to double
to $64 billion by the end of 2029.
That's all.
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