Encens Gris

You’ve heard about ambergris many times. You may have read up on it, and own perfumes that contain it. But many people haven’t actually smelled ambergris…

While it’s not the raw rock straight from the sea, Encens Gris lets you enjoy the oceanic, stoney-salty fragrance of the famed “floating gold”.

Each stick burns at a steady pace as it fills your room with the musky (yes, ambergris shares an olfactory kinship with musk!) aroma with a seabreeze tone underpinned with a soothing earthiness I find wonderfully calming.

As you can imagine, the history of ambergris is unclear – we can’t pinpoint the place or person who first decided to burn or chew a rock they found on the shore to discover that it was no ordinary rock.

In turn, it took us until the 1800s to discover that ambergris is excreted from the sperm whale……… for millenia, all people knew was that once in a blue moon a magic rock washed up from the deep. 

There are records dating back to as early as 1000BC where it was used in ancient Egypt as incense – I’m guessing likely as part of a concoction, since they treasured several spices and aromatics, especially blue lotus (both it and ambergris were used as aphrodisiacs), which they used together. Likewise, it dates back ages to Arab and Chinese cultures where, like oud, it was also used as incense and medicine.

It used to be called ‘ambar’ in Arab tradition (still is), until it eventually made its way to Europe, and that’s likely where we get its current name from: amber gris, from the French ‘gray amber’, to distinguish it from yellow amber (fossilized tree resin).

I prefer the way ancient Chinese referred to it as Dragon’s Saliva Perfume – many actually believed it came from dragons, while others speculated that it could be hardened seafoam or petrified seaweed.

It was prized wherever it was found, because there was never a grey tide of ambergris that washed up ashore. 

Not much has changed since the day it was first discovered. We can’t synthesize ambergris, nor can we farm it. Like our early ancestors, the only way we can find any is to wait till some stranger looks at a rock on the beach and thinks it looks…… different.

(If you were concerned about environmental or animal rights, there’s a lot of confusion since people who only hear that it comes from a whale think the whale must be killed in order to acquire ambergris. The opposite is true – the whale needs to be alive and well fed! Not to mention that scientists estimate that only 1% of sperm whales produce ambergris – if you thought acid reflux is always a bad thing, think again!)

Along with our ambergris-centered perfumes like, Black Gris, Ottoman Ambergris, and Jamaican Ambergris, Encens Gris lets you continue your olfactory exploration by showcasing a different side of ambergris.

I find the scent relaxing, while at the same time it makes you wonder how magical the world around you is. What it took for this scent to reach your home. The dragons, the ages, the Egyptians, the Chinese, and how it is to a great extent responsible for the renown French perfumery has enjoyed.

You’ll also notice a touch of EO DNA teasing you as you listen closely to the gris vibes.

~10 gr (about 27 x 8.8cm sticks).