Ambergris essential oil is mostly valued for making perfumes. Ambergris is obtained from the seas or beaches from the whale’s sperm. As we know that whale is a vulnerable species that’s why ambergris oil is very expensive. Ambergris is a substance that is hard and grey/ blackish. This rare substance takes years to form which is the only reason it is extinct.
Ambergrease, or grey amber, is a solid, waxy, flammable substance of a dull grey or blackish colour produced in the digestive system of sperm whales. It acquires a sweet, earthy scent as it ages, commonly likened to the fragrance of rubbing alcohol without the vaporous chemical astringency. Freshly produced ambergris has a marine, fecal odor. Ambergris has been highly valued by perfumers as a fixative that allows the scent to endure much longer, although it has been mostly replaced by synthetic ambroxide.
Uses :
Early days, ambergris was a good material in the East as a perfume. It was utilized and suggested by medieval apothecaries for its healing powers and the perfumers for its scent. White law Ainslie (1826), has mentioned in “In Hindoostan” Ambergris is primarily utilized as a scent; a drop or two of the spirit mixed with a huge quantity of lavender water, accounting much to its fragrance”. The Indian Materia medicalisted this wonderful substance as a stimulant and antispasmodic; This is used in the West as a stable for rare perfumes as it has the effect of making other fragrances last much longest than they would otherwise. it is used in treating general weakness, typhoid, fever, hysteria and other nervous disorders or afflictions, by the practitioners of the Ayurveda and Unani systems of medicine, in combination with other edicinal herbs to treat the above-saidailments. Thus, it finds usage in several aroma and cosmetics products. It is also used as an aphrodisiac and as a spice for food and wine.
- Botanical Name: Physeter macrocephalus L