Musk: The perfume that’s worth three times its weight in gold

It’s been a busy couple of weeks for our favorite [tunnel-digging]( [moat-dissing]( [Grimes-romancing]( billionaire. He’s been in the news so much, we thought maybe it was time for a breather in the form of a deep dive into a real musk rabbit hole. Yep, we’re talking about the smelly stuff. Musk is the base scent for nearly every perfume in the world. The scent’s universality, however, belies its humble origins—the preputial gland of the musk deer, a tiny tusked mammal that lives in the mountainous regions of southern Asia. To make a true musk perfume, hunters must kill a male musk deer, remove the golf-ball-like gland near the animal’s crotch, crush the contents of the gland, and then steep the sac in alcohol (sometimes vodka) for months. OK! So now that that’s out of the way: The result is a smell that some describe as “balsamic” and “chocolatey,” but others call “earthy” and “sweaty.” In any case, musk has been a supremely valued scent for centuries, long used in traditional Chinese, Hindu, and Muslim medicines for its stimulating and sedative properties. Humanity’s unquenchable desire to smell good has led to overhunting of the musk deer, which has set the perfume industry on a century-long search for a synthetic that rivals the real thing. Shall we sniff around? 🐦 [Tweet this]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( [Quartz Obsession] Musk May 14, 2018 Musk read --------------------------------------------------------------- It’s been a busy couple of weeks for our favorite [tunnel-digging]( [moat-dissing]( [Grimes-romancing]( billionaire. He’s been in the news so much, we thought maybe it was time for a breather in the form of a deep dive into a real musk rabbit hole. Yep, we’re talking about the smelly stuff. Musk is the base scent for nearly every perfume in the world. The scent’s universality, however, belies its humble origins—the preputial gland of the musk deer, a tiny tusked mammal that lives in the mountainous regions of southern Asia. To make a true musk perfume, hunters must kill a male musk deer, remove the golf-ball-like gland near the animal’s crotch, crush the contents of the gland, and then steep the sac in alcohol (sometimes vodka) for months. OK! So now that that’s out of the way: The result is a smell that some describe as “balsamic” and “chocolatey,” but others call “earthy” and “sweaty.” In any case, musk has been a supremely valued scent for centuries, long used in traditional Chinese, Hindu, and Muslim medicines for its stimulating and sedative properties. Humanity’s unquenchable desire to smell good has led to overhunting of the musk deer, which has set the perfume industry on a century-long search for a synthetic that rivals the real thing. Shall we sniff around? 🐦 [Tweet this]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( Department of jargon What's in a name? --------------------------------------------------------------- (Wikimedia Commons / Brendan McDermid/Reuters) Brief history [3,500 BC:]( Musk is first harvested in China and India. [700 AD:]( Musk is traded by Arabs along the spice and silk route, where it acquires a reputation as an aphrodisiac. [1888:]( German chemist Albert Baur accidentally creates a synthetic musk. [1950s:]( China begins a program aiming to extract musk without killing the deer. However, overhunting continues. [1970s:]( Japan becomes the largest importer of musk, accounting for 85% of the international trade; Musk reportedly sells on the international market for [$45,000 a kilogram.]( [1973:]( Musk deer are added to the CITES Endangered Species List. [1990:]( In the Russian Altai region, approximately 10,000 to 20,000 musk deer are killed to make just 50 kilograms of musk. Reuters/David Moir Because science! Eau de faux musk --------------------------------------------------------------- The musk deer owes its distinctive smell to a unique compound called muscone. It owes its life, however, to a scientific discovery that was made entirely by accident: [In 1888,]( German chemist Albert Baur was attempting to make an explosive more powerful than TNT. Instead, when he mistakenly synthesized a musky compound called nitrated 3-tert butyltoluene, he smelled a new opportunity. Baur dedicated his time to marketing his synthetic musk—what’s called a nitromusk—to perfumeries around the world. Soon, nitromusk became the standard musk scent, and it remained atop the perfume world’s pedestal for more than a century: It was cheaper, it saved the lives of tens of thousands of deer, and it helped form the base of famous perfumes such as Chanel No. 5. In the mid-20th century, researchers discovered that nitromusks weren’t very good for the environment or, for that matter, the people using them. Researchers endeavored to find a replacement. A second generation of musks—many of which were concocted from the compound [galaxolide]( to dominate the market in the 1970s. Then, alas, they too were found to harm the environment. Scientists [still]( haven’t been able to successfully synthesize pure muscone: Instead, most safe “musks” today are made of [macrocyclic]( (that is, large) synthetic compounds. (There’s just one small problem with these new formulas: Half of the general population [reportedly]( can’t smell them.) Brief guide Meet the musks --------------------------------------------------------------- The scent emitted by the musk deer’s unadulterated preputial gland is said to be pungent, resembling “sharp ammonia.” Here’s how experts have described the smells of some other musky animals. [Musk turtle:]( “The odor from scent glands gives the musk turtles their common names of ‘stinking-Jims’ or ‘stinkpots.’” [Musk beetle:]( “A scent so sweet and so pleasant… His scent is so enduring that if the insect be held with a gloved hand, or wrapped in a handkerchief, it will impart its odor to the kid or the cambric, and they will retain it for a long time.” [Musk duck:]( “Very powerful.” [Musk ox:]( “Light, sweetish, ethereal… rank.” [Muskrats:]( Let’s just say that 17th-century doctor Johannes Hornung said that he preferred the “the excrement of muskrat” over the scent of human urine. So… pretty good? just the facts Better know a musk deer --------------------------------------------------------------- The musk deer is remarkably elusive. Living in sporadic pockets from the Arctic Circle to the Himalayas in Afghanistan, the animal is so poorly understood that scientists aren’t even certain how many species exist. (There are at least four.) Here are the basics: - 2 feet tall and 35 pounds! - No antlers! - [Vampire-like tusks!]( - A single pair of teats! (Most deer have at least two.) - Shy, solitary, and crepuscular! - Has a gallbladder! (All other deer lack them.) - Musk sac (in males)! Giphy Pop Quiz In the 1950s, the Kiehl company discovered a vat of 30-year-old old musk labeled what? Emotion PotionDank FunkDusky EssencesLove Oil Correct. Incorrect. If your inbox doesn’t support this quiz, find the solution at bottom of email. take me down this 🐰 hole! A musky side hustle --------------------------------------------------------------- In 2005, South Korean scientist Hwang Woo-suk became the first scientist to successfully clone a dog. Nowadays, Hwang operates a private cloning laboratory called Sooam Biotech that clones pet dogs at $100,000 a pop (per pup). But when he’s not cloning canines, Hwang is busy cloning other animals, such as pigs and cows. In fact, his lab produces a whopping 500 cloned embryos every day! But his ultimate goal is stepping outside of the pet-breeding business and cloning endangered species—including the Siberian musk deer. Read more about Hwang’s venture in [Mark Zastrow’s story for New Scientist](. elonsmusk.co Musk buy Elon’s musk --------------------------------------------------------------- Public service announcement: You can [buy musk-scented Elon Musk air fresheners](. Watch this! Relive the NSFW scene in Anchorman where a musk incident gone awry is dubbed “worse than the time the raccoon got in the copier.” Reuters/Joe Skipper Poll What do you think of musk now? [Click here to vote]( Please stick to the Elon updates.If an animal has has vampire fangs, we probably shouldn’t mess with it.BRB ordering these air fresheners. The fine print In last week’s poll about [price tags]( we asked what seemed like the fairest pricing structure. In a close split, 47% of you said demand-based pricing (sometimes) makes sense, while 44% said everybody should pay the same price. Today’s email was written by [Lucas Reilly]( edited by [Jessanne Collins]( and produced by [Luiz Romero](. sound off ✏️ [What did you think of today’s email?](mailto:obsession%2Bfeedback@qz.com?cc=&subject=Thoughts%20about%20musk.%20&body=) 💡 [What should we obsess over next?](mailto:obsession%2Bideas@qz.com?cc=&subject=Obsess%20over%20this%20next.&body=) 🤔 [What have you been obsessed with this week?](mailto:obsession%2Bprompt@qz.com?cc=&subject=%0ATake%20us%20down%20a%20rabbit%20hole.%20&body=) 📬 [Forward this email to a friend](mailto:replace_with_friends_email@qz.com?cc=obsession%2Bforward@qz.com&subject=Musk%3A%20The%20perfume%20that%E2%80%99s%20worth%20three%20times%20its%20weight%20in%20gold&body=Thought%20you%27d%20enjoy.%20%0A%0ARead%20it%20here%20http%3A%2F%2Fqz.com%2Femail%2Fquartz-obsession%2F1276989%2F%0ASign%20up%20for%20the%20newsletter%20at%20http%3A%2F%2Fqz.com%2Fquartz-obsession) The correct answer to the quiz is Love Oil. Enjoying the Quartz Obsession? 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