Whale vomit, whale poop, gross. This is what many people think of Ambergris, putting it in the same category as civet paste, castoreum, or deer musk. For this reason, many people think that Ambergris should be avoided in order to prevent animal cruelty.

Ambergris is not whale poop or vomit … exactly.

Ambergris is the aged coprolith found in about 1 in 100 sperm and pygmy and dwarf sperm whales. Coprolith is a hard mass of fecal matter in the intestine.

Ambergris samples taken from whales directly contains ambrein, the key aromatic compound, but also variable levels of faecal steroids. In contrast, jetsam ambergris (those collected on the beach) is almost entirely composed of ambrein. The idea is that the aging process that occurs as the coprolith floats in the salt water and is exposed to sunlight decomposes the other compounds. The assumption is that this takes a number of years or decades.

In a fascinating study published in 2018, Rowland and colleagues analyzed 40 jetsam ambergris samples from around the world. They conducted gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and radiocarbon dating. A number of the samples were over 1000 years old, with others 100-500 years old.

Ambergris was known as an aromatic substance at least as far back as the ninth century and was traded as a commodity by the 13th century. Ambergris has been used to anoint every English monarch since Charles I in 1626 through Elizabeth II in 1953. Natural ambergris was used primarily for its fixative properties. Arctander notes that the odor of ambergris is, “… rather subtle, reminiscent of seaweed, wood, moss, with a particular sweet, yet very dry undertone of unequalled tenacity. There is rarely any animal note at all in a good grade of ambergris.”

Ambergris notes are still widely used, think Creed, but naturally-occurring Ambergris is rarely used due to the inability to ensure a consistent supply of the same quality and characteristic.

Ambroxan is the most commonly used synthetic material to achieve similar fixative effects and the dry, sweet profile of natural ambergris.