Quality & Authenticity
Fake and adulterated oud is widespread, and almost every serious buyer eventually asks the same question: how do I know this is real, and how do I know what I'm actually paying for. This hub covers grading systems, resin testing, and the practical checks that separate genuine agarwood from synthetic or misrepresented material.
How to Test Agarwood Authenticity at Home
Practical checks you can run on a piece of agarwood or oud oil before you commit to a purchase, what each test actually tells you, and where home testing reaches its limits.
Read the Full Guide →Fake Oud: What to Look For
The most common ways agarwood and oud oil are misrepresented in the market, from synthetic blends sold as pure oud to wood that has been artificially weighted or dyed.
Read the Full Guide →Grading Systems
How agarwood is actually classified, both as a general overview and within the two dominant regional systems traders use.
How Agarwood Is Graded: A Complete Guide
The factors that determine grade across the industry, and how to make sense of grading terms before comparing specific systems.
Resin Content: What It Means and How to Measure It
The sinking test, resin percentage, and why resin content sits at the center of almost every grading conversation.
The Vietnamese Agarwood Grading System
A through D grades, and where kỳ nam sits above the standard scale entirely.
Middle Eastern Oud Grading Standards
How Gulf traders classify oud, from Double Super through Grade 3.
Synthetic Oud Oil vs Natural Oud Oil
How the two are actually different, and why the distinction matters more for oil than for raw wood.
Distillation & Pricing
What happens before oud oil reaches a bottle, and why price varies so widely between two bottles that look identical.
Understanding Oud Oil Distillation Methods
How agarwood is actually turned into oil, and how different distillation methods affect what ends up in the bottle.
Why Oud Oil Prices Vary So Much
Distillation method, wood quality, yield, and ageing, and how each one shows up in the final price.
Know what to look for. Now learn how to use it well.
Once you can evaluate quality with confidence, move on to burning, wearing, and storing agarwood properly, or go straight to the buying guide.