The role of this substance is twofold: to improve and complement the scent of the perfume and to "strengthen" the scent of the perfume on human skin, so that it will last longer. The smell varies, but is mostly sweet, musky or earthy.

"It has a powerful, amazing scent that makes women shake their knees," said actress Drew Barrymore when she first smelled ambergris or amber, a waxy aromatic substance that forms in the digestive tract of a physeter catodon. .

The Hollywood actress once admitted to the journalists of the magazine People that the scent of that matter had completely conquered her with its musky, sweet notes, and that it smelled divine.

 

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She had the opportunity to smell gray amber while making her perfumes, while discovering various scents and their combinations. Otherwise, this substance can still be found in some of the most expensive perfumes, but it is less and less used due to the protection of this type of whales that are endangered. Perfume experts have made a molecular replica of ambergris that has become an integral part of many fragrances.

"I thank God for that," Barrymore commented, adding that while she loved the smell of her gray amber, she was much happier about leaving the whales to live in peace.
Although it is illegal in some countries, many perfume manufacturers still use gray amber, such as Chanel and Lanvin. National Geographic. Its role is twofold - to improve and complement the scent of the perfume and to "strengthen" the scent of the perfume on human skin, so that it will last longer.

Its scent varies, but is mostly sweet, musky or earthy.

Where exactly it comes from the whale - it is not clear

Some scientists consider it to come out of the mouth like a float. When this type of whale has an irritated stomach or throat, they cover it with fatty matter and throw it out. Others are convinced that this ingredient comes out of the back of the whale along with the feces - a theory to which they are more inclined.

- Whether it comes out one way or another, a large heap of this substance ends up in the ocean and then floats for decades or who knows how long. During this time, the adhesive turns into a hard, gray piece. This is what perfume manufacturers want - explained the scientist Dr. Spec. Christopher Kemp, and transmits Insider.

First, this substance contains a unique chemical called ambrein. It fixes, which means that other fragrances in the perfume last longer. But gray amber is also valued for something else, and that is the smell. It is a bouquet of 20 to 30 chemical compounds, each with its own odor profile. One will smell like a mushroom, the other a little bit of tobacco, one of the feces, the other of grass and the like - he added.

Gray amber is also called "sea treasure"

People have known about it for more than 1.000 years, although at first they had no idea where it came from. It is usually found on the coast as a hard substance and is considered rare.

The media reported a few years ago about a boy who, while walking along the coast of Dorset in Great Britain, found a "strange substance" weighing just under half a kilogram.

At first, his parents did not know what it was about, but when they searched the Internet, they realized that they had a small fortune in their hands. The piece that their son found was worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. It is not known what they did to him.

Scientists do not know exactly why, but only about one percent of this whale produces gray amber. Many researchers who have studied this type of whale for years have never been able to see how the whale throws this slimy substance into the ocean. They agree that it is good that the use of gray amber is banned in some countries, such as the United States.

- It is never a good idea to buy or sell endangered animal products. "Before whaling began, there were more than a million whales, and now we are closer to one-fifth that number," said Dr. Shane Gero, a scientist who has been studying the whale for years.