Page "Ambergris" Paragraph 6

Ambergris is found in lumps of various shapes and sizes, weighing from 15 g (~ ½ oz ) to 50 kg ( 110 pounds ) or more.

When initially expelled by or removed from the whale, the fatty precursor of ambergris is pale white in color ( sometimes streaked with black ), soft, with a strong fecal smell.

Following months to years of photo-degradation and oxidation in the ocean, this precursor gradually hardens, developing a dark gray or black color, a crusty and waxy texture, and a peculiar odor that is at once sweet, earthy, marine, and animalic.

Its smell has been generally described as a vastly richer and smoother version of isopropanol without its stinging harshness.