Immerse Yourself in Whale Vomit

Some of the most addictive and sensuous perfume notes come from the least likely and unpleasant places.  Labeled animalic, these ingredients smell pungent and fecal but give intense radiance and warmth when mixed with floral and other perfume accords.  They come from the secretions of the peri- anal glands of the exotic Civet, the territory marking secretions from a pouch located next to a Musk deer’s penis or the fatty oil castoreum secreted by a beaver.  Not to worry, due to ethical and financial reasons, the musk today is synthetic and no longer gathered from exotic animal glands.

That brings us to Ambergris. Just as Oud is affectionately called ‘black gold’, Ambergris has been nicknamed the ‘floating gold’ of the sea or more passionately ‘whale poop’.  Where it comes from remained a mystery for years, during which several theories were proposed, including that it was hardened sea foam or the droppings of large birds.  It wasn’t until large scale whaling began in the 1800’s that it was discovered ambergris was uniquely the product of Sperm whales.  These whales eat large quantities of squid and cuttlefish, vomiting out the indigestible beaks.

But in rare circumstances these parts move into the whale's intestines and bind together. They eventually form a solid mass of Ambergris, growing inside the whale over many years. It is thought that Ambergris protects the whale's internal organs from the sharp squid beaks. There are conflicting opinions as to how it eventually emerges from the whale. Some believe that the whale regurgitates the mass, hence the name 'whale vomit'. But today scientists favor the theory that it forms in the intestines and passes along with fecal matter.

When a whale initially expels Ambergris, it is soft and has a terrible smell. Some marine biologists compare it to dried cow dung. But after floating on the salty ocean for about a decade, the substance hardens and becomes smooth, waxy and usually rounded. The dung smell is gone, replaced by a scent that is smooth, musky, earthy, sweet or simply indescribable.  The longer it floats, the better the scent.

In the United States, endangered-species legislation makes it illegal to buy or sell the stuff.