Source: Smithsonian Magazine
Written by: Mark Wilding
Illustration: Mark Wilding
Translation: Yunlin
Inside a simple office building near Dubai's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, Farouq Qasim opened his desk drawer, pulled out a small plastic bag, and took out what was inside, a piece of what looked like a thumb-sized stone, white with brown and gray spots. The light colors represent the high quality of the "stone". The scent released by the small plastic bag is delicate and subtle: musk with a faint hint of tobacco and marine.
This is ambergris, one of the most incredible commodities in the world. Of the approximately 100 sperm whales, only one sperm whale has a waxy substance formed in its intestines, which is said to be sperm whale vomit, but it is almost certain that this vomit is discharged from the other end of the sperm whale, the anus. Fresh ambergris has a strong smell of feces and is much less valuable than aged ambergris. Despite its strange origins, ambergris, with its unique scent, fixation and well-known ability to elevate other notes, has been favored by the perfume industry for hundreds of years. Ambergris is also often eaten as a delicacy and as a medicine. Sometimes, ambergris can even cost more than twice as much as gold. To this day, ambergris still changes hands at a price of up to $25 per gram, which is close to the price of platinum and several times the price of silver.
In the mid-twentieth century, scientists developed a synthetic ambergris. Today, most perfumers use lab-made alternatives. So why is ambergris still the treasure that many people flock to and are willing to risk?
In the perfume world, advocates of ambergris argue that the olfactory quality of synthetic ambergris will never match the quality of natural ambergris. However, ambergris has infinite charm, and there is another factor - mystery. No matter what the product is, as long as there is a mystery, misinformation, doubts and secrets surrounding the product will follow.
The origins are debated endlessly
Although ambergris has been traded since at least the Middle Ages, our knowledge of the substance is still limited. Even the fact that it originated from sperm whales is a relatively new discovery. For hundreds of years, even though beach scavengers discovered ambergris washed ashore and sailors removed ambergris from sperm whale carcasses, naturalists and doctors thought the theory that ambergris came from whales was absurd. Muslim travel writers of the ninth century suggested that whales might have eaten the substance produced elsewhere and then regurgitated and digested it, a view that has been circulating for nearly centuries.
The 1491 herbal encyclopedia The Garden of Health cites various theories that ambergris is a sap, a type of sea bubble, or some kind of fungus. In the twelfth century, literature from China also mentioned ambergris as the saliva of the dragon. Ambergris has been repeatedly proposed as a fruit, cod liver or a gemstone. A 2015 paper in the journal Marine Biology in The United Kingdom reads: "By 1667, there were eighteen different theories about the subject, and many animals– including seals, crocodiles and even birds – were considered producers of the substance. ”
No doubt part of the confusion stems from the fact that ambergris, when it appears on land, looks very similar to other substances. Fresh ambergris is black and sticky, but over time, in the sea, ambergris will harden and take on a light brown, gray or white hue. The recorded ambergris varies in size, from the smallest to a few grams and pebbles, and the largest to the size of an adult. Hopeful collectors are often disappointed to find that they get just a stone, rubber, sponge, wax or fat block, or, if they are unlucky, they run into.
Even the word ambergris is a misunderstanding. Ambergris, whose English is "ambergris", derives from the old French word "ambre gris", meaning gray amber, to distinguish this substance from amber resin (i.e. resin fossils, also used in perfumes and can be found on the beach). Other than that, there is no connection between the two substances. But this misnomer also corrects an older mistake: the word amber resin may have originated from the Arabic word "ambergris."
Arab societies may have been medicinal in ambergris in the ninth century, then used as a perfume ingredient, and then introduced to the West; ambergris was very popular in the Arab and European worlds throughout the Middle Ages. During the Black Death (the plague that swept through Europe in the mid-fourteenth century), wealthy people would wear a ball container on their chest or waist called an incense box filled with ambergris and other fragrance substances, because at the time people mistakenly believed that the plague was caused by a bad smell. Three hundred years later, it is said that King Charles II of Great Britain was particularly fond of ambergris with eggs. In addition, ambergris is also one of the earliest known ice cream recipes in the world, and ambergris is also included in the seventeenth-century punch recipe. Even today, in the cocktail bar hidden behind a bookcase, visitors occasionally have the opportunity to taste expensive ambergris cocktails.
For centuries, mystery and uncertainty have fueled the demand for ambergris. Ambergris is a very exotic substance. People don't know where ambergris comes from, and there are many rumors surrounding the origin of ambergris, which add to its value.
The veil of mystery surrounding this whale vomit has even shaped an empire. For example, exaggerated reports of ambergris are often cited as a reason why the British Empire decided to colonize Bermuda.
Mystery and uncertainty
Ambergris also appears in famous works such as "Moby Dick". Herman Melville devotes an entire chapter to the ambergris. He wrote: "Who would have thought that such a noble gentleman and lady would be complacent enough to use the fragrance taken from the disgusting intestines of a sick whale on herself!" ”
The idea that ambergris is a substance produced by whales getting sick or injured still exists today, but is far from being proven. In 2006, Robert Clarke, a British marine biologist who had studied ambergris for more than 50 years, published a detailed theory of ambergris formation. In The Origin of Ambergris, Clark argues that when a squid's beak gets stuck in the whale's intestines, feces accumulate around the blockage until "the rectum expands and eventually ruptures, causing the whale to die and the ambergris to flow into the sea." Clark died in 2011. But his theory remains one of the most widely accepted, and the presence of a squid beak is considered a reliable indicator of true ambergris.
Although clark and a few other lone ambergris researchers have done a lot of work, our scientific understanding of ambergris is still lacking. In addition, the scientific community is not very interested in studying this phenomenon. Whale biologists find this a strange phenomenon, and it's okay to explore it from time to time, but it's not worth much in-depth research. Some sperm whale researchers even say they know very little about ambergris. One of them said: "I've been collecting sperm whale droppings for over a decade, but I've never encountered ambergris. Another said: "I don't know any scholars who are actively studying ambergris. If you've read a book or paper about ambergris, you probably know more than I do. ”
Compared with biologists, chemists have achieved more in the study of ambergris. In 1820, French researchers discovered an active compound and named it ambergris alcohol, thus laying the foundation for the development of synthetic ambergris about 130 years later.
In 2017, Professor Steven Rowland of the University of Plymouth in the United Kingdom proposed a method to verify ambergris with chemical analysis. About two years later, Roland analyzed 43 ambergris samples from around the world and found that some of them were thousands of years old. In a paper publishing his findings, Roland spent that ambergris "used to be a global economic commodity," but the advent of synthetic alternatives meant that "ambergris is now largely just a rare biological and chemical treasure." ”
For Qasim, ambergris remains a very attractive business opportunity. He tells a different story. Qasim said: "It's hard to buy, it's easy to sell. "There may be very few opportunities, but the rewards are also huge." It's not like the ordinary buying and selling of small profits and high sales. ”
The businessman, from Sri Lanka, has lived in the UAE for almost 45 years. Usually, he mainly buys and sells gold and silver. Ambergris is only a side hustle for him, but it is lucrative. Over the years, he traveled to hundreds of countries in search of ambergris. Sometimes, during his travels, he would advertise in the local newspaper and look for suppliers. He said self-deprecatingly, "I'm not so lucky. Occasionally, he would hear the news that someone had discovered large chunks of ambergris. Then, he would immediately board the plane and try to make a sale and purchase deal.
Most of this news comes from places close to the coastline. Unlike other valuable commodities, ambergris cannot be grown or mined. Instead, ambergris is only washed away on beaches where sperm whales are infested, and sperm whales always roam the ocean in droves.
Qasim has a semi-formal network of suppliers in Sri Lanka, where ambergris is often found by fishermen. But he also heard about the discovery of ambergris in Mozambique, South Africa, Somalia, Yemen (more recently, a group of fishermen in Yemen found nearly $1.5 million worth of ambergris from whale carcasses), the Bahamas and New Zealand. Qasim's buyer is based in France. In France, some well-known perfumers still value ambergris; in the Middle East, ambergris is believed to have an aphrodisiac effect; in the Indian subcontinent, ambergris is a medicine in Ayurvedic medicine.
British perfumer Loga Dover said: "Because ambergris is a material that can only be found by luck, it means that its market price will fluctuate accordingly. "The scarcity of ambergris adds to its charm. If you want to use this material in your own work, you will have to pay for this honor.
Even so, many people are still willing to buy ambergris at a high price. This greatly mobilizes the enthusiasm of business and professional ambergris hunters. Some of them would train dogs to help them find ambergris, just as middle Eastern camel herders in the tenth century trained camels to sniff ambergris and lie on the ground when they found ambergris. Hopeful beach scavengers also create special groups, post photos of their prey and ask for prices. However, these enthusiastic ambergris hunters have made a mistake without exception.
In 2013, Ken Wellman was walking his dog on Mokham Beach in England when he spotted a strange rock. Experts say the stone could be worth $140,000. Wellman began dreaming of a vacation trip to Disney and Machu Picchu, and dreamed of buying a Harley motorcycle. Then he took the stones he found and tested them. The test results showed that the stones were just solidified palm oil. Ships at sea discard the solidified palm oil and the waves wash them ashore. As a result, people who happen to meet often mistake palm oil blocks for ambergris. Wellman's dream fell through. There is another tragedy that awaits him: his dog, March, fell ill and had to be euthanized. Marge may have died of palm oil poisoning, which is highly toxic to dogs.
Sometimes, the risks of finding ambergris are even more extreme. In December 2020, a British woman, Judy Cruise, posted online a set of photos of mysterious objects she had found on the beach. An enthusiastic netizen suggested that Cruise poke it with a hot needle to see if it smoked, a common ambergris test (but not necessarily reliable). Cruise complied, only to have the mysterious item suddenly explode into a ball of fire, igniting her kitchen. "It suddenly turned into a ball of fire," she said. Later, firefighters told her that the mysterious item was a World War II grenade.
At the other end of the spectrum, Qasim said, the challenges involved in sourcing and qualifying ambergris meant that the market was dominated by a handful of senior traders. Inexperienced buyers with large sums of money may end up with only a pile of worthless beach garbage. Qasim reminds: "You are easily deceived. Novices buy and sell ambergris, most likely to be self-inflicted. "But it's always been that way. Sixteenth-century records show that ambergris imported from Asia to Europe was often a fake made from beeswax, resin or aloe vera shavings.
Secret ambergris hunters
While Qasim was more than happy to discuss his business, many successful ambergris hunters and traders went to great lengths to keep their activities secret. Biologist and science author Christop Kemp spent years studying and searching for ambergris in order to write a history of ambergris, "Floating Gold" (Floating Gold). On New Zealand's Stewart Island, sperm whales are often found in the deep offshore waters. Kemp recalled his experience on Stewart Island, saying that some of the island's 400 residents were some of the more successful ambergris hunters. He laughed and said, "Whenever I try to discuss ambergris with them, it feels like I've let go of a fart, and the atmosphere suddenly changes." ”
In 2012, Camp's Ambergris History Book was published. At that time, he actually received some hate mail, and the sender warned him not to come to the island in the future. "Obviously, I'm talking publicly about ambergris, demystifying it, discussing the value of ambergris and where people can find it, which makes some people unhappy," Kemp said. Because in places like Stewart Island, ambergris does represent an important source of income for people. Therefore, they do not want outsiders to go hunting. ”
Camp also found a number of cases of fierce competition over the ambergris trade. In August 2004, ambergris hunter Adriana Biyus told local media that she was threatened by certain gatherers who wanted to monopolize the beach. A few days later, the same media reported on a court case in which one of the men claimed that he had been deliberately bullied by his former partner in his ambergris collection work.
For some ambergris merchants, secrecy is not only to protect their commercial interests, but also because their transactions are illegal. In the United States, the sperm is listed as an endangered species. Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act, the trade in ambergris is expressly prohibited. Australia also banned the commercial trade in ambergris. In India, ambergris is considered central government property and unauthorized sale is illegal.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, which guides the global market for flora and fauna products, determines that ambergris, which is "naturally excreted", is no longer under the Convention's control. As a result, ambergris can be bought and sold in Canada and the UK, as well as throughout the European Union.
However, even in the United States, where the ambergris trade is classified as illegal, laws are rarely enforced. The Fisheries Division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it had received nine reports or complaints related to ambergris in the past decade, but none of them had initiated a lawsuit. On e-commerce platforms, there are still a few U.S. sellers selling ambergris and ambergris products (or at least claiming to be ambergris products).
A Florida businessman regularly posts in a group that arranges ambergris deals. In a telephone interview, he asked rhetorically: "Do you know that someone wants to sell ambergris?" "In the beginning, he was very happy to communicate. He said his father and grandfather were ambergris merchants based in Yemen, and they also supplied musk for the perfume trade, a glandular secretion from musk cats. But when asked about ambergris laws in the United States, he was silent. He said suddenly, "I'm sorry, I had a call coming in. Then he hung up the phone.
After talking business for a friend in the Bahamas, Tony Wells started the ambergris business in England himself. He found it challenging to figure out who potential buyers of ambergris who could be trusted by advertising online. He said, "It's really hard! Wells saw an opportunity to fill the gap in the market: scientifically identify ambergris, arrange transactions on behalf of sellers and create traceable supply chains to increase confidence among buyers. In 2016, he founded Ambergris Connect, a company registered with the UK's International Spice Association, and forged a partnership with a university to gain a reliable reputation for identifying ambergris. Wells said: "We want more transparency. ”
Although the pandemic has disrupted wells' progress, he had previously sent his most potentially valuable samples to Rowland at the University of Plymouth. Roland used a technique known as capillary meteorological chromatography-mass spectrometry to identify ambergris, and Ambergris Connect then issued a genuine report to the buyer. In exchange, Ambergris Connect would provide Roland with sample materials he needed for his research.
Wells hopes his identification process, which includes establishing personal contact with suppliers and keeping written records to allow buyers to trace the origin of their purchases, could help build supply chain confidence, which previously had a scent of secrecy. At present, this is a hidden market, it feels like an underground transaction, in fact, it is not necessary, but although he hopes to reduce some of the risks and opacity in the ambergris business, from a business point of view, uncertainty and mysterious factors are very important to ambergris. Ambergris has always been shrouded in mystery. The mystery should remain.
But how long can the mystery of a legendary substance last under the scrutiny of modern science? Just last year, the University of Copenhagen in Denmark used DNA analysis, and it was scientifically proven that ambergris is produced by sperm whales. The researchers hope to continue studying ambergris to further unlock more secrets about marine ecosystems, using ambergris as a DNA archive that may shed light on whale ecology, population structure, and evolutionary history.
As historians say, the current challenge for ambergris researchers is the difficulty of obtaining samples and data points. Clarke, the biologist who proposed the theory of ambergris formation, conducted much of the research in the last decades of the whaling industry, looking at samples taken from whale carcasses. Modern researchers rely on only a small sample taken from a whale. So, chances are, many of Clarke's theories will never improve, and we may never have the opportunity to do such research again.
Legends that are difficult to replicate in the lab
While scientists have long since cracked the chemical secrets of ambergris, the interest and rare properties surrounding ambergris are difficult to replicate in the lab. However, as the industry as a whole began to consciously steer clear of animal products and the demand for predictable supply increased, most perfumers began to choose to use ambergris ether, ambergris furans, or other synthetic products with similar olfactory characteristics to eliminate the reputational risks associated with the use of animal products for commercial purposes.
Perfumers believe that synthetic ambergris is difficult to be a satisfactory substitute. Because this raw material is really amazing. It's hard to really compare them. Ambergris is like a diamond, not turquoise or coral. The aroma of ambergris can affect everything else, which is why people have been searching for ambergris for hundreds of years. Like magic, the charm of ambergris lies in unexplained mysteries.