And you can actually get to them using Devel::Pointer.

use Devel::Pointer;

$a = 'Hello World';
$scalar_ref = \$a;
print "Scalar Ref is $scalar_ref\n";
$what = unsmash_sv(0+$scalar_ref);
print "$scalar_ref is actually >$what<\n";

__DATA__
Scalar Ref is SCALAR(0x1ab2734)
SCALAR(0x1ab2734) is actually >Hello World<
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