WHAT IS AMBERGRIS?
In the short version, ambergris (AUM-BAH-GREE) or “Grey Amber” as it’s name in French is derived, is a substance that is produced in the bowels of the Sperm whale (Physeter Macrocephalus) and which is occasionally expelled from the whale through it’s rear end (as opposed to its common nick name of “whale vomit”) and is then washed about the worlds oceans before being cast upon a shoreline, where it is then found and sold for exuberant sums of money as it is a highly prized and ancient perfume ingredient…
But the reality is that ambergris is so much more than this, ambergris is a romance of mystery and infatuation that has gripped the senses of persons lucky enough to come in contact with it for thousands of years past.
It is a fascinating and seductive material that has the most peculiar beginnings and life’s journey, and then ends in some of the most exquisite works of mankind. It is a truly mysterious, unique and wondrous gift from the sea!
Biologically, ambergris begins its story in the belly of a whale. One of the main food sources of the mighty Sperm whale are squid. Squid are invertebrates and have no solid bones but they do posses a hard and sharp, parrot shaped beak for their mouth. Over time, as the whale consumes and digests a multitude of squid, these indigestible sharp “plastic like” beaks begin to build up in compartments in the stomach and intestines of the whale. As a protective mechanism from those irritants, it is believed that secretions are produced in the digestive tract to bind and coat these squid beaks to encase them, in-order to remove them from the body safety.
As a part of this process, bacteria colonize this mass as it travels though the intestines and they begin to chemically alter it through their metabolites. They may actually be the ones responsible for the creation of chemical compounds that will later be the sought-after magic of ambergris in the perfume world.
Eventually one of two outcomes will occur, either the mass will pass out of the rectum safely and leave the animal unscathed or, the mass will become lodged in the bowels and continually grow in size, as layer upon layer of new secretions are deposited over it, until it becomes a large blockage that results in the animal’s death. Either way, ambergris will enter the next phase of its journey after being expelled from the Sperm whale in which it was formed.
Little is known about this initial biological forming process, what we do know comes from the very few historical instances where ambergris was recorded to have been recovered from the lower bowels of dead Sperm whales. And more recently, form both modern necropsies of Sperm whales that had beached themselves and died, together with new emerging science which has looked more closely at the chemical makeup of ambergris and DNA contained within it, which has given us a better understanding of how, why and where ambergris can occur. It’s difficult to know if this excretion potential is something shared across the entire species or if only select individuals are producers of ambergris. Due to its extreme rarity it is safe to say that not all sperm whales are passing ambergris on every daily trip to the loo.
On the contrary, some scientists claim to have been studying the fecal matter of Sperm whales for decades and have never encountered anything that looks like a piece of ambergris. Scientists have speculated that as few as 10,000 individuals or about 1% of the global population actually produce ambergris in their lifetimes. Needless to say, with average annual global ambergris finds of less than a half a ton in total weight, even from the whale’s perspective, it’s a very rare event and could possibly even be likened to the rarity of the natural forming of a pearl in an oyster.
After being expelled from the whale, ambergris begins its second and normally its longest journey. As a fatty, waxy mass, ambergris has a density in water likened to that of water-logged driftwood and so it floats and bobs about just under the surface of the waves. Depending on where in the worlds oceans it was expelled, a piece of ambergris can find itself caught in oceanic gyre currents that see it travel thousands upon thousands of miles and in some cases spend decades and possibly even more than a century circulating about in the world’s oceans. Occasionally washing onto a distant shoreline with one tide and then being swept back off and carried back out to sea with the next.
It is during this time that, similar to wine and whisky aged in a cellar, ambergris is chemically changed by the sun and saltwater as it slowly ages, cures and refines. Through the processes of photo-chemical degradation and oxidization, It changes in both its appearance, from darker black to lighter shades of gold, silver, and white, and it’s olfactory presentation from musky and pungent to sweet and floral. Eventually it will meet the right coastline and it will be cast upon the shore, high up enough to remain in view and there it will sit and wait for either an unsuspecting person to stumble across it or for one of the small handful of dedicated ambergris hunters to discover it. Or further yet, the sea may once again reclaim its gift with the next passing storm and continue it on towards the next shoreline and lucky passerby.
Ambergris can be found all over the globe but is most commonly found in areas affected by large circular oceanic currents. Most notably these regions include the Bahamas Islands, The leeward Caribbean islands, The British Isles, the French and Portuguese Atlantic coasts, the east African Coast, Madagascar, the Arabian peninsular, the Indo-Pacific islands, New Zealand and the Eastern Australian Coast.
In the Bahamas, ambergris is typically found on the Atlantic Ocean facing beaches of the islands, in coves and catchments, amongst all of the other items of flotsam. Pieces of ambergris have been found in sizes from as small as a pea to as large as a garbage drum, from 1 gram to over 500 pounds in weight.
History of Ambergris Use
Ambergris has been used and admired by mankind for at least the last three thousand years, from the ancient Egyptians and Arabs to the ancient Chinese and Japanese. There is no one story of that first person who picked up this seductive odorous rock from the shoreline and described its wonders and attributes or dared to suggest where it came from, but we do know that folklore and legend had it described many times throughout history with various different theories as to its origin. It was first given the name Anbar by ancient Arabian merchants and before that, Lóng xián xiang by the ancient Chinese, who presumed it to be the dried drool of dragons as they slept on the cliffs over the sea.
From its first discovery, ambergris has been a rare, treasured and extremely costly commodity. Muslim merchants who traded it in Spain as an incense and perfume ingredient described its value in near about the year 900 A.D. as being as valuable if not more so than gold. From the Far East to the Arabian peninsula and into the Mediterranean, ambergris was traded as a perfume oil, an incense, an aphrodisiac, a spice for gourmet food, and as various forms of medicine. It was noted as one of the most precious items in early writings and in many accounts it’s rarity meant it was both highly sought after and very difficult to come by.
In the Middle Ages it was common to find it traded to wealthy citizens in small vials called pomanders which were hung about the neck in the belief that it would ward off the plague which was at that time thought to be spread by a foul smell in the air.
In Islamic religious traditions ambergris was a common commodity taken as offering on pilgrimage to Mecca and in Christianity ambergris is one of the ingredients used in the creation of the sacred holy chrism oil which is even used in the anointing of the crowned monarchs of Europe.
Western Europeans dominated the trade in ambergris in the great age of discovery from the 1300s to 1700s. The Portuguese and Dutch were common merchants of ambergris out of east Africa, India, and the far East Indies and the Spanish and English commonly supplied it from their conquests in the Caribbean and Americas. In fact, the claiming and settling of the island of Bermuda was in large part due to the reported proliferation of ambergris found upon its shores and likewise, the first settlers of the islands of the Bahamas, the Eleutheran Adventurers, who were a band of Bermudian puritans who first settled the Bahamas in the 1650s, set about recovering large volumes of ambergris from the island of Eleuthera upon which they had landed.
There are many notable instances of the use of ambergris in the pages of history: King Charles II of England enjoyed eggs with ambergris for breakfast, King Louis XIV of France consumed ambergris in his medicinal tonics, and Marie-Antoinette not only utilized a variety of lavish perfumes filled with ambergris but also drank hot chocolate with ambergris regularly. Many of the kings and queens of Europe have commissioned the top perfume houses of France to produce signature fragrances for their royal families, all of which almost certainly contained copious amounts of ambergris.
In the pop culture of recent history, ambergris is still an ever-present luxury. Ambergris was a common additive to cigarettes throughout the 20th century and many a movie star, leaders of nations and fashion icons have worn hand crafted fragrances which centered around the mysterious and secretive commodity that is ambergris; the Iconic “Chanel No 5.” By Coco Chanel, known to have a hearty dose of ambergris in its composition.
Composition and Usage of Ambergris
Ambergris is a unique material in far more ways than one. Many of its properties and attributes are hard to compare as there is seldom any other material in the natural world with which to liken it to. Ambergris can be as hard as a stone and very similar in appearance, but is lighter in weight, sticky and waxy to the touch.
It has a sort of woody grain look to its interior but can also be chalk like, mottled with orbs, or black, fudgy and malleable. It is commonly found in tubular or boulder shapes with layers forming its mass and routinely you will see the protruding shapes of black squid beaks dotted across its surface. It readily melts with heat and can melt into a dark black or golden brown thick and extremely sticky liquid. The fragrance has a far-reaching spectrum and can present from a pungent, manure-like stench, to an earthy, grassy musk, a sweet and robust tobacco, a spicy and zingy vanilla, or sweet and caramel like floral notes that are so seductive that you have a hard time telling yourself not to bite into it. It can be found in physical states that are either taffy-like and fudgy or rock hard, crisp and brittle.
In fragrance and perfumery, ambergris is used both as a base note, being in the section of animalics and musk, and as a fixative, where it magnifies lesser potent delicate notes and holds the entire accord onto the skin for an extended duration. Western European fragrance arts have almost entirely utilized ambergris in combination with alcohol to create Perfumes, whereas the middle and far eastern fragrance arts combine ambergris almost entirely with oils like sandalwood and agar-wood ouds in what are known as Attars.
Medicinally , both Aruvedic and Chinese traditional medicine’s prescribe ambergris for various ailments, from problems of the heart and respiratory system to brain and nervous system disorders, dysfunctions of the joints, and as an increase for vitality, for sexual enhancement and a treatment for depression. Though no formal investigative studies have been undertaken on ambergris in western medicine as yet, a study on rats did show an enhancement effect on sexual performance and drive. What is known is that ambergris contains a large number of steroids in its makeup, many of which are likely to include unknown anti-inflammatory and rejuvenating properties.
Although not as common currently, it wasn’t uncommon in the not so recent past to find ambergris in certain alcoholic beverages, in ice cream, in cigarettes and in some daring culinary works.
Chemically, ambergris is made up of many individual components. The main two of which are the triterpenoid compounds Ambreine and Ambroxide. These two key components form the base olfactory note and the fixative functions most sought after in perfumery. Beyond these two components there is a myriad of steroids that are combined with sterols, cholesterols and waxy esters to form the physical matrix body of ambergris.
Today there are several synthetic industrial re-creations of those main components such as Ambroxan, Ambrofix and Ambrox, and much of the commercial perfumery space now utilizes these cheaper synthetic alternatives. But the finest traditional niche perfumers’ will attest that nothing can ever match the versatility and depth of real ambergris and there are still several fine fragrance house that will not use anything but real premium ambergris.
Legal Status
As an excrement by-product, ambergris finds itself in a unique position as one of the few “Animalics” in the fragrance world that is entirely animal safe. As part of the CITES (Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species) international treaties, ambergris is seen as a waste excretion and not a direct animal product and thus is not prohibited for trade, use and sale. Although there has been an ever increasing move away from “animal products” in western perfumery over the last three decades from both an environmentalist and humane vantage point, with valid reason. Ambergris however, is one of those cases of throwing the baby out with the bath water. In all fairness one can easily argue that the use of ambergris in commercial products today is promoting a healthy and flourishing sperm whale population. By using ambergris in this 21st century we not only keep the wonder and fascination of this ancient and beautiful material alive, but we can actually promote a healthy planet and natural bio diversity. In order for there to be ambergris found there needs to be a large and healthy global Sperm whale population, and in order to maintain that population we need clean oceans, we need diverse healthy Eco-systems, we need pollution control and we need to take care of our planet as a whole. This becomes a major incentive for industry and cultures to support and utilize this animal waste product that is a historical wonder of the world, in order to secure the safety and healthy future of the mighty and magnificent creatures that produce that fascinating waste product.
Sadly, this is not yet the everyday norm, several nations still look to dissuade the use and trade of ambergris and ban its commercial use and sale in ignorance.
In the USA, the Endangered Species Act of 1973, rightly so defines the sperm whale as an endangered species. However, it also includes ambergris in the list of banned animal products derived from the Sperm whale. Thus, although not routinely enforced by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in their portfolio of responsibility for marine mammals, it remains a law on the books and ambergris as a prohibited item for both possession and open trade and sale within the USA.
Other nations that have also taken stances against the use and sale of ambergris are Australia, where it is commercially banned as a whale product under the Environmental Protection Act 1999, and India where it is a highly regulated material and maintained as the property of the State.
In Europe and the United Kingdom, ambergris is defined by the definition of a waste excrement as seen by CITES and thus, perfectly legal to utilize and commercially trade in.
Similarly, in The Bahamas, ambergris is completely legal to possess and sell, with the Bahamas being one of the first countries in the world to accept and regulate the legal and open trade of ambergris through the issuance of export licensing legislation, of which Ambergris Bahamas is the premier licensed exporter and supplier of ambergris from The Bahamas.
Please Note! It is illegal for any ambergris to be removed from the Bahamas except under a valid export license with the applicable taxes being paid. Ambergris finders in The Bahamas must sell their finds in a legal manner to a licensed exporter such as Ambergris Bahamas.
A person found selling and removing ambergris from The Bahamas without such license, is subject to a criminal charge, fines and/or imprisonment, along with the confiscation of the associated ambergris.
Denominations
French: Ambre gris
English: Ambergris
German: Grauer Amber
Italian: Ambra Grigia
Spanish: Ambàr gray
Portuguese: Âmbar cinza
Dutch: Ambergrijs
Arabic: Anbar عنبر
Chinese: 龙 涎 香 Lóng xián xiang
Indonesian: Muntahan ikan paus
Hindi: एम्बरग्रीस
Japanese: ア ン バ ー グ リ ス
Russian: амбра