Plume on older cigars
On many websites and in cigar forums I read about "PLUME" or "BLOOM" in cigars. This is a white powder looking substance caused by the oils in a cigar when it ages. I never really see any pictures that show this effect clearly, so I thought that I would supply one here so that it can be seen properly. Some may confuse this with mold, but mold may be green-ish or blue-ish. Plume does not have a smell and can be easily wiped off of the cigar without leaving a stain, like mold would do.
Here is an image from a couple of my San Cristobal Cubans from May of 2001 to show what real plume looks like:
I'm sure some of you will tell me that it really is mold and that I should send these sticks to you for "testing", so a "thanks but no" in advance may be in order, lol
Here is an image from a couple of my San Cristobal Cubans from May of 2001 to show what real plume looks like:
I'm sure some of you will tell me that it really is mold and that I should send these sticks to you for "testing", so a "thanks but no" in advance may be in order, lol
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Comments
I've always been curious about the reason it forms. That's the best picture I've seen of it on a cigar.
To anyone doing a google image search for 'cigar bloom' beware. The 7th result is a picture of a box of Padrons that was massacred by beetles. I still feel queasy.
For anyone who doesn't know - Plume is 2D and dusty; Mold is 3D and fluffy
you have a PM.
I have forwarded this image to a well respected supplier asking for their opinion and will post their reply here when I get it.
Thanks to all of you for your comments and concerns!
The sticks wiped clean in a couple of seconds and there is no trace of anything left on them. I can't tell the ones in that picture from the rest of the box.
The one that I smoked last night was perfect and a great cigar with a complexity of spice that changed as often as our Northern Canadian weather.
I spoke to my main supplier of ISOM cigars in the south. He tells me that the white powdery stuff you see in the cigar image I posted is indeed plume, and that they are safe to smoke. He says if I don't like the look of the sticks to simply wipe it off (already done). He named a few cigars they have in their humidor with the same spotty sorta looking stuff on them and claims that certain customers will only purchase those sticks, so I hope he was being truthfull.
This does contradict information found on ccom in their blogs that states this is mold and needs to be taken care of. My humidors are never at 80% humidity, under any condition. It rarely gets humid this far north, and certainly not enough to have an overhumidified humidor.
I can't recall, but this may have been the location where these cigars actually came from. Like I mentioned before, none of my other cigars (that are younger than 6 years) have anything like this hapening to them at all, but I'm still keeping a good eye on the humidors.
Happy smoking!
It's also 2d and wipes right off. In candles, it's the best way to tell if you have a natural-wax stick; petroleum based waxes don't form bloom.
I've walked into too many cigar shops and pointed out moldy cigars, only to have the owner/worker scowl at me and say "NO, that's plume!" I just don't bother anymore. Either way, I've smoked cigars that were lightly dusted with mold and just wiped them down first and they were fine.
The ccom video from August talks about plume and mold. On another site, I saw a video that showed a cigar that looked exactly like what ccom said was mold, but that 'other video' was happy because they had "plume" on their stick and couldn't wait to smoke it!
I've had 2 B&M owners view either the cigars in the picture and/or just the picture and BOTH say it is plume. I've had respected BOTL on this forum give different opinions from the pic I posted. In the end, I have no idea what the heck is on those sticks, but DAMN, THEY TASTE GREAT!!!
The good news is, whatever it was is not in any hurry to come back. The sticks are back in my humi and doing just great.
Thanks again for all the input everyone.
Mold is almost like cigar cancer and stains the leaf for it tries to destroy/take over the leaf...
If it wipes off and there's no dis-colorization then plume
I'd say thumbs up!
then again, ive never had mold issues so i dont know first hand.
Still nothing growing back on those sticks, and they are back into the same humidor, so all is good either way