i have a murky memory of a discussion about whale vomit being used in perfumes and an odd chunk of jelly on the beach could be worth thousands.
has any one heard of this?
has any one heard of this?
Ambergris is very expensive and most fragrances, even Creed's, use imitation ambergris.
Both Azzaro Pour Homme and Live Jazz contain ambergris scents.
What you're talking about is Ambergris.
I have 2 boys, ages 8 & 13. Both of them are used to me making them smell different things. The younger one's into it, but the older guy couldn't be less interested.
Yesterday, I received 10ml of 3% tincture of ambergris. I let my older guy smell it and asked him what he thought.
He said, "This is interesting. It's actually the first thing I've smelled that I kinda like." Then I said, would you like to know what it's made from?
Needless to say, he didn't seem quite as interested in it after my explanation. But the younger guy thought it was hilarious & ran around yelling, "Whale puke! Whale puke!"
Good times.
Indeed, there are numerous mentions throughout the book. There is even a whole chapter devoted to, and named after, Ambergris.It's my understanding that ambergris comes from somewhere in the whale's head. There's a part in the book, Moby Dick where a sailor cuts his way into the (dead) whale's head & eventually emerges, to the delight of the crew, with the precious ambergris.
I thought that it was produced in the whale's digestive tract somewhere. There seems to be some thought that it protects the lining of the intestines from squid beaks and other hard objects that the whale swallows.
I have 2 boys, ages 8 & 13. Both of them are used to me making them smell different things. The younger one's into it, but the older guy couldn't be less interested.
Yesterday, I received 10ml of 3% tincture of ambergris. I let my older guy smell it and asked him what he thought.
He said, "This is interesting. It's actually the first thing I've smelled that I kinda like." Then I said, would you like to know what it's made from?
Needless to say, he didn't seem quite as interested in it after my explanation. But the younger guy thought it was hilarious & ran around yelling, "Whale puke! Whale puke!"
Good times.
It's my understanding that ambergris comes from somewhere in the whale's head. There's a part in the book, Moby Dick where a sailor cuts his way into the (dead) whale's head & eventually emerges, to the delight of the crew, with the precious ambergris.
I remember reading somewhere that ambergris can be eaten--often with eggs. Here's what Google came up with:
http://www.gourmet.com/food/2008/01/ambergris
It is not vomit in the usual sense. I think the author of Moby Dick tool some creative license. More like a cat's furball from their intestines as Nid Hog said. It also has to float around in the ocean for a long time aging to have any value. It is not obtainable from a freshly killed whale. Nor are live whales given ipecac or some such to induce production of this stuff.
As recently discussed in Basenotes, it is unlikely many frags contain true ambergris anymore since a good synthetic was developed (at a tiny fraction of the cost of real ambergris no doubt).
I seriously doubt Original Vetiver contains real ambergris. It's one the newer Creeds. I tend to think some of the older Creeds probably used the real deal and thus jacked up their price point years ago. Notice too that the older Creeds are disappering (Tabarome, Vetiver, Ambre Canelle). But when synthetics came along, they didn't reduce prices. Go figure.