Batch Sampling and Batch Reservation — Evaluate the Actual Lot

Nobody should commit to a wholesale quantity of agarwood without evaluating the specific batch. This is not a general principle about caution — it is a consequence of the material. Plantation stock is reproducible within a tolerance, but a tolerance is not an identity: resin fraction moves between induction cycles and no two distillation runs are identical. The batch you smell is the thing you are buying.

Our samples are paid rather than free, deliberately. Free samples in this category are either not representative of production or are priced into everyone else's unit cost. A paid sample of the actual batch is cheaper for a serious buyer and filters out enquiries that were never going to become orders.

Minimums are set by price band: 5 g on oils, 25 g on koh-grade powder, 100 g on standard powders, single boxes on sticks. Sample cost is credited against your first wholesale order on that product.

The part that matters most: once you approve a batch, we hold the balance of that specific batch under your name for 30 days at no charge while you arrange the main order. Without that mechanism, approving a sample is close to meaningless. You would be ordering against a batch that may already be gone.

Why samples are paid rather than free, since this is the question we get most. Free samples select for people who collect samples. Paid samples select for buyers with a live programme. The fee is small relative to the material and it is credited against the first order, so for anyone actually intending to buy, it is not a cost at all.

What you are buying is not really the material. It is the batch identity. You get a sample drawn from a specific numbered lot. That same lot is then reserved under your name for thirty days while you evaluate. Without that reservation, approving one batch and receiving another is not misconduct, it is just what happens, because no two distillation runs are identical.

How to evaluate what arrives, and how not to. Burn or apply it in the environment where it will actually be used, not on a desk with three other samples. Give an oil its full drydown; synthetics most often reveal themselves hours in. And compare against your incumbent product rather than against a description, because scent vocabulary does not survive translation and neither does the word premium.

If the answer is no, say so and tell us why. A rejection with a reason attached is the most useful message we get. It tells us which axis you are actually judging on, and the second attempt is usually much closer. A rejection with no reason means the next sample is another guess.

One practical note on quantity. Ask for the amount you will actually work with rather than the largest sample you can get. Fifty grams of powder is enough to test a press. Two grams of oil is enough for a full evaluation and leaves a retention portion. A larger sample sitting unused tells you nothing more and delays the decision.

A closing note on what happens after approval. The reserved lot is held under your name for thirty days from your written approval. If you need longer, ask before the window closes rather than after; extending a live reservation is straightforward, and reconstructing an expired one usually is not, because the lot has moved.

A note on what we send with a sample that is easy to overlook. The batch number, the certificate for that batch, and the date the retention portion was sealed. Those three turn a sample from an impression into a reference point you can come back to. Keep them together; a sample without its batch number is a memory rather than a record.

Incense sticks. One retail box per SKU. Enough to burn several in the environment where the product will be used, and to keep one unburned as a reference.

Powder. Fifty grams. Enough to test a press or a burner properly. A larger jar tells you nothing more and delays the decision.

Oil. Two grams. Enough for a full evaluation including drydown, with a retention portion left over.

Hardware. One piece. Ask for the packed unit rather than the loose item if transit damage is a concern in your market, because the packing is half of what you are assessing.