Johnnyboy

Oud Beginner
So to preface this story, I will tell you that I have been an on and off "vanlifer" for the past few years. Two years ago, I was parking every night on the beach in a coastal town in California while I was working at a major city nearby to save money to travel. I made several friends here who also live in their vans and are essentialy permanent fixtures at this beach. One night, I remember one of them telling me that the local resident crackhead/tweaker had found a 80lb chunk of ambergris on the beach and had given it to one of their friends to try to sell for them (who has since disappeared.....lol). At the time, I knew nothing of perfumery and didn't think much of it. It was just a bit of a peculiarity to me but nothing more. About 6 months ago, I really started getting interested in perfumery and have done a lot of research about ingredients and ambergris always piqued my interest. Fast forwarding to now, I went back to the beach yesterday to say hi to these other van dwellers who live on the beach.

The topic of the alleged ambergris find from years ago comes up and I inquire a little more about it:

"I have a little piece of it if you wanna check it out." my friend says. Obviously of course I do, so he brings over a little 7-8 gram piece and I examine it.

Appearance: Matches exactly what photos of ambergris i have seen look like. Check.

Hot needle test: Melts like wax when poked. Check.

Smell: Slightly fecal/animalic with a bit of a tobacco smell. More like an old used tobacco pipe. Slightly salty/sweet as well. Check.

Fairly convinced what I am holding is ambergris, we start talking a little bit more about it.

"Yeah he (the local tweaker guy) still has a few big chunks of it that he kept before he gave it to his friend to sell. Hes got a little camp up in the bluffs a little ways down the beach. You could go find him there. Maybe he'll sell you some." He says.

The next morning, first thing I do is head over to his camp to look for him. The place looks like an absolute junkyard full of random trash, various structures for living some very obviously stolen items. I check everywhere but I dont see him anywhere. I start cruising around town knowing I probably find him somewhere. Lo and behold, he is in the parking lot of the local supermarket biking around and drinking a 4loko (mind you its 9 in the morning lol).

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Now despite this guy being and obvious meth head and an overall dubious character, he is actually highly intelligent and is really interesting to have a conversation with. I've hung out with him several times in the past and he has a really wide breadth of knowledge.

I pull up next to him.

"I heard you got some ambergris."

"Why yes, I do."

We start chatting for a while and he actually knows his shit. He knew quite a lot about ambergris and was telling me that he only had a few chunks left but the original piece was giant and an amazing find. He said there were squid beaks in it (another confirmation).

"I have cash for you right now if you are ready to sell it."

We head back to his camp. He wades through the trash and goes over to a bush and pulls out two 1-2lb chunks.

"Name your price." I said.

"Hmmmm I dunno maybbeeeee $100???"

I hand him a $100 dollar bill.

And here is what I have.....

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I am fairly convinced this is ambergris. All the indicators seem to check out. Some pieces smell slightly different than one another, but not dissimilar. All just very ratios of sweet, salty, marine, animalic, tobacco. Would anyone like to chime in if they think it is actually ambergris? Any advice on how to go about testing it and selling it? Anyone maybe interested in buying some? Let me know what you guys think!
 

Johnnyboy

Oud Beginner
I haven’t tried young ambergris, so unfortunately I wouldn’t know where to direct you. There are other members in Cali, care to chime in?

In particular, it’s the sponge-like texture which is atypical, I haven’t seen that texture in any of the pieces I had, nor in any pictures of ambergris on the web.
Yea that texture is one of the more atypical features of it. I wonder if it could be related to pollution in the ocean somehow. The smell of it is the main thing that if convincing me though.
 

DubOudh

Aster Oudh
Any ambergris I have has a form of strata or layering running through it. As I look at these photos close up it is almost like cell structure or compartmentalized individual segments....ambergris is produced by the Sperm Whale as a form of antigen to infection in its digestive tract......similar to what some Agarwood species produce when they get infected....
These pieces look cellular......
 

Johnnyboy

Oud Beginner
Does it feel heavy or lite?
Relative to a rock/stone, very light. Waxy on the outside when handling it. I put some in a spoon with a candle under it and it started to melt too.

Check out this photo of confirmed ambergris (from ambergris.eu)

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It has a vaguely similar structure.

"Small white nodules, sometimes circled in black, consisting of crystallized amberine, are observed on the outside of the piece as well as inside when it has been broken."
 

Leander

True Ouddict
I haven’t tried young ambergris, so unfortunately I wouldn’t know where to direct you. There are other members in Cali, care to chime in?

In particular, it’s the sponge-like texture which is atypical, I haven’t seen that texture in any of the pieces I had, nor in any pictures of ambergris on the web.
I was concerned about the spong-like texture also. But I have no experience. Just seen a huge amount of pics.
 

Johnnyboy

Oud Beginner
Pull out a squid beak and you’ll know! If it’s actually ambergris you’ll have some kind of squid beaks in a piece that large.
Honestly it looks like it has too much structure to be whale poop.
The guy who found it said he had seen squid beaks in the larger piece he had found before he cut it. He told me that before I said I was interested in buying it so I don't think he was using it as a selling point.

After looking through quite a lot of photos of ambergris online, I agree that it looks pretty atypical in many regards. I'm just so baffled what it could be otherwise though. The density/waxiness/smell all seem to line up. I know ambergris can often be seen having things like plastic bags in it due to ocean pollution. I wonder if something like that is the case here. So far all of the false ambergris "look alikes" I've seen online look further away from this than this does from ambergris. I guess the only way to know is to get it tested!
 

Habz786

Resident Artisan & Ouddict Co-Founder
The guy who found it said he had seen squid beaks in the larger piece he had found before he cut it. He told me that before I said I was interested in buying it so I don't think he was using it as a selling point.

After looking through quite a lot of photos of ambergris online, I agree that it looks pretty atypical in many regards. I'm just so baffled what it could be otherwise though. The density/waxiness/smell all seem to line up. I know ambergris can often be seen having things like plastic bags in it due to ocean pollution. I wonder if something like that is the case here. So far all of the false ambergris "look alikes" I've seen online look further away from this than this does from ambergris. I guess the only way to know is to get it tested!

Send it to a few guys here experienced with ambergris and theres your testing sorted
 
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