What 'Agarwood' on a Scented Pendant Actually Means in Composition

Someone at the counter held up a carved pendant and asked me: does the label say agarwood, or agarwood wood?

I said: it's agarwood.

He said: it's agarwood.

In the industry, these two statements point to completely different things, and within the pendant category, two sources exist side by side. Discussing them together makes it impossible to be clear.

1. Two lines within the pendant category

The first line is carved from raw material. A whole piece of agarwood material is shaped, polished, and drilled to make a plaque. The cross-section shows wood grain and layers of resin at different depths.

The second line is pressed from blended incense. Agarwood powder mixed with a binder is poured into a mold, pressed into shape, dried, and demolded. The cross-section is compacted powder, with uniform particles and uniform color.

Within the same category, products from both lines sit on the same shelf, yet the tag may bear the same one or two words.

2. Where the standard's boundary lies

The current industry standard LY/T 3223—2020 "Quality Grading of Agarwood" addresses this issue clearly. Its scope of application is stated explicitly:

"This standard applies to the quality grade classification of raw agarwood and agarwood products in their original form."

Products in their original form still refer to the form of agarwood itself. Plaques, pendants, and similar items pressed from agarwood powder with added materials are not within this scope.

This can also be seen at the terminology level. The standard provides two terms:

• Low-secretion agarwood wood: ethanol extract content ≥ 4.0% and < 10.0%
• White wood: ethanol extract content < 4.0%

These two are classification terms, not evaluative language. Low extract content does not equal adulteration; it only indicates which range this piece of material falls into.

But note the scope of application: these two terms are used to grade "agarwood products in their original form." Blended incense products are not covered by the grading scope. Using the grading table to grade a pressed incense plaque is itself using the wrong tool.

3. Why plaque products fall outside the grading table

Because the grading table deals with "what this piece of material is," while a blended incense plaque must answer "how much agarwood is in this piece, and what else is mixed in."

These are two different questions. The standard can clarify the former; the latter is not addressed by the standard.

Therefore, in the plaque product segment, there is no mandatory labeling requirement in the industry: how much agarwood the plaque contains, how much binder, how much fragrance material—these three items may not be on the label.

This is the real difficulty of this category. It is not whether "agarwood" is labeled, but where those ratio figures come from.

4. Three questions you can ask

First question: is this raw material or blended incense?

Raw material is carved from a whole piece; blended incense is pressed from powder. Look at the cross-section and you will know: a raw material cross-section shows wood grain and resin layers; a blended incense cross-section is compacted powder, with uniform particles and uniform color.

Second question: how many grams are marked on the plaque?

How much a plaque weighs and what proportion of it is agarwood are two different numbers. The second number may not be written, but you can ask.

Third question: can you provide an ingredient list?

If they can provide an ingredient list and weight, follow up by asking how much agarwood it contains; if they cannot, at least you know the agarwood in this plaque is sporadic.

5. Two things you can do today

Before buying, weigh it in your hand.

For the same size, if the density feels off, keep that in mind.

Then turn it over and look at the cross-section.

Layered or pressed powder—two looks are enough to tell.

Aroma evaporates and is affected by storage conditions; the cross-section structure does not lie.

And precisely because of this, when discussing pendants in the industry, we should say everything: agarwood wood is agarwood wood, blended incense is blended incense, and the 4.0% and 10.0% extract lines are classification lines, not insults. When manufacturers say everything, consumers have something to compare.

Report one sentence about the cross-section of the plaque in your hand—is it layered, or uniform?

Report it on zgcx.net.cn, and I will make a comparison table on how to choose and how to store them respectively, based on the two types: layered and pressed powder.

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