Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - Ambergris: The World's Most Valuable Smelly Substance

Episode Date: October 28, 2021

One of the rarest and most expensive substances in the world is actually pretty disgusting. The way it is created is pretty gross, it looks pretty gross, and smells even worse. Despite how disgusting it is, there are people who will pay as much for it on a per gram basis as gold, yet when you get right down to it, no one really needs it. Learn more about ambergris, the treasure of the sea, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of the rarest and most expensive substances in the world is actually pretty disgusting. The way it's created is pretty gross, it looks pretty gross, and smells even worse. Despite how disgusting it is, there are people who will pay as much for it on a per gram basis as gold. And yet when you get right down to it, no one really needs it. Learn more about Ambergris, the Treasure of the Sea, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Do you ever climb into bed ready to sleep only to have your mind start racing the moment your head hits the pillow? thoughts bouncing around, replaying the day or jumping ahead to tomorrow? That is exactly why Catherine Nikolai created Nothing Much Happens.

Each episode is a gentle, cozy bedtime story where, well, nothing much happens. No drama, no tension, nothing you need to follow closely. Just soft narration, calming repetition, and soothing sensory details designed to help your mind slow down and your body relax. It's not about entertainment, it's about rest. And millions of listeners around the world use it every night to quiet their thoughts and finally fall asleep. If you've ever struggled to shut your brain off at night, this might be exactly what you've been missing.

You can listen to Nothing Much Happens wherever you get your podcasts. Episodes are every Monday and Thursday. If you're ever walking on the beach somewhere and you come across something that looks like a brownish, waxy rock, take a second to pick it up, put it to your nose and smell it. If it smells bad like a cross between feces and rubbing alcohol, you might have found a sample of ambergris. And if you did, you just might have a few.

hit the jackpot. Ambergris is a very rare substance. It is only found in or along the shore of the ocean. Despite its unremarkable look and its less than remarkable smell, we know that humans have been using ambergris for thousands of years. In ancient Egypt, ambergris was burned as a form of incense. In ancient China, the substance was well known and was called the Dragon Spittle Fragrance. During the Black Plague, people thought that carrying around ambergis would protect you from contracting the disease. Many cultures have considered. considered ambergris to be an aphrodisiac. The Turks have used it to flavor their coffee, and it was used in the 18th century in Europe to flavor hot chocolate. In the 19th century,

a cocktail called a shrub was a mixture of rum and ambergris. The first known recipe for ice cream from the 17th century had ambergris as an ingredient. King Charles II claimed that his favorite dish was eggs and ambergris. Ancient Arabs called the substance Anbar, and it's the origin of the word amber. One of the reasons given by the brewers, British for colonizing Bermuda was the presence of ambergris. Finally, and most importantly, ambergris is used by the perfume industry, and more on that in a bit. You might have noticed that I have not yet told you what ambergris actually is yet. Ambergris comes from sperm whales. Sperm whales eat cephalophods. Animals like squid, cuttlefish, and octopus are the primary diet of

sperm whales. They will dive down to exceptionally deep levels and gorge on squid and cuttlefish. Unfortunately, the beaks of cephalopods can't be digested by sperm whales. They are hard and just sit in the stomach. Sperm whales secrete a substance from their bile duck, which covers these beaks. The mass of the substance will then be expelled from the whale. As Herman Melville noted in the book Moby Dick, quote, Who would think then that such fine ladies and gentlemen should regale themselves with an essence

found in the inglorious bowels of a sick whale? End quote. For centuries, no one knew exactly where Ambergris came from. There were many theories that floated around. Some people thought that it came from tree sap, and some thought that it might be a form of seafoam. There were theories that it was a form of fruit, a precious stone, or fish liver. There were also theories that it came from other animals, including seals, birds, and crocodiles. It wasn't until the 19th century when the whaling industry was in full swing that people eventually figured out that they came from sperm whales.

The thing is, every sperm whale doesn't produce ambergris. It seems that only males produce and during the days of whaling in the 19th century, only 1% of sperm whales had ambergris inside of them. There's still a lot we don't know about ambergris. For starters, we don't know how it is expelled from the whale. Known as ever witness, ambergris being expelled from a sperm whale. Ambris is often referred to as whale vomit, but in reality, it just might be whale poop. Given the smell of fresh ambergris, this is considered the more likely path of exit. Once the ambergris is outside the whale, its journey is just starting.

Ambergris will float and bob on the waves of the ocean for years, and potentially many, many years. Exposure to oxygen, salt water, light, and waves, slowly transform what was expelled from the whale. A 2017 study conducted by Professor Stephen Rowland of the University of Plymouth in England tested 43 samples of ambergris. The oldest samples were a thousand years old. 1,000 years of aimless bobbing in the ocean. Over time, the ambergris solidifies becomes harder, changes color, and develops a more moderate scent. The longer a piece of ambergris is floating on the ocean, the better it becomes. Eventually, maybe it will find its way to a shore somewhere where some lucky person might find it.

Ambergris has literally been found almost everywhere on Earth that's on the ocean. There have been more found in the Atlantic Ocean than anywhere else, and more in the Southern Hemisphere. but it literally can't appear anywhere. So why do people care about this substance today? The primary consumer of the product is the perfume industry. Ambergris does provide an element of scent whatever it's used for, but that isn't the primary reason why perfumes used ambergris. The primary reason why ambergris is so sought after is its property as a fixative.

A fixative is a substance that allows the scent of perfume to linger longer. Ambergris molecules are what is known as lipophilic, which means fat-loving. Perfume scent molecules are also lipophilic, which means that they will attach themselves to the ambergris. Some of the chemicals in ambergris have been created synthetically, but not all of them. That means that ambergris still has a great deal of value, and it's used in high-end perfumes for both male and female scents. One of the better-known brands that has used ambergrist in the past was Chanel No. 5. However, the cost and rarity of ambergris, and its completely unpredictable availability, makes it difficult for most perfume manufacturers to use on a regular basis.

However, there are still some boutique perfume makers which still do use natural ambergris. One of them is Roja perfumes in the UK, which sells perfumes as high as 500 pounds a bottle. Even though ambergris is a natural product from a whale, and it's collected without any harm to a whale, it's still regulated in some countries. In particular, it is illegal to possess or sell ambergriss in the United States as per the 1973 Endangered Species Act, and in Australia it is illegal to export or import. However, the Convention on International Trade and Endangered Species considers Ambergriss a waste product from Wales and doesn't control it, so it is legal to possess and sell in most countries.

If you do happen to come across some ambergis and you live in a country where you can sell it, you potentially could bring in a massive windfall. In June of 2021, some fishermen off the coast of Yemen found the body of a dead sperm whale. Inside the whale, they found a 280-pound piece of ambergris, which had a value of $1.5 million. In 2020, a fisherman in Thailand found a piece of floating ambergris that had an estimated value of $1 million. And in 2016, three fishermen in Oman found a sample worth almost $3 million. These are some of the largest finds, but there are many smaller samples that people have found, might vary in size from a pebble to a small rock, and they can be worth anywhere from

hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars. Its price is currently on a par per gram with gold. Because of its rarity and unpredictability, ambergris will probably remain one of the most valuable substances on Earth. So if you're out walking on the beach and you see something that looks like a waxy turd, check it out, because it just might be as good as a winning lottery ticket. The associate producers of Everything Everywhere Daily are Peter Bennett and Thor Thompson. If you'd like to support the show, please join the list of patrons over at patreon.com. And also remember, if you leave a review or send me a question, you two can have it read on the show.