Mold or Plume?

TRayB

What say you? This is on a cigar a recently acquired from a pass. In cellophane, with a cedar sleeve (?), no idea of the age. Some of the spots have definite thickness. I don't see anything on the foot. First time I've encountered anything resembling mold, so...wipe clean and smoke? or toss? I'm putting it away until I hear from some of you guys.

CalvinAndHobo

Wipe it and smoke it. It looks like mold, (it's almost always mold whenever you're wondering), but smoke it anyway. It's not going to affect the taste unless the mold has gotten inside the cigar.

silvermouse

Cedar wraps are notorious for contributing favorable mold growth conditions. Mold is everywhere. Most tobacco leaf is sprayed while it is curing to inhibit it's growth.

Edit: not approved in the USA, but I have read it is used elsewhere where hot moist conditions prevail.

Bob_Luken

@silvermouse said:
Cedar wraps are notorious for contributing favorable mold growth conditions. Mold is everywhere. Most tobacco leaf is sprayed while it is curing to inhibit it's growth.

Edit: not approved in the USA, but I have read it is used elsewhere where hot moist conditions prevail.

What is in the mold inhibiting spray used elsewhere but not approved in the USA?
Roundup? I bet it’s Roundup. I do not want to be smoking that. Everyone gets cancer from that stuff. This sucks.

silvermouse

Roundup is an herbicide, not likely to work as a fungicide. I tried to find the article about what practices were used in the curing barn but had no luck. It was a post on the web page of an island tobacco grower. However, it is hard to avoid Roundup

Yakster

Vinegar is used in some pipe tobacco blendas a mold inhibitor and gives it a tangy flavor, but there's also another chemical that's used that when dry can look a little like mold if it's over-applied. Not sure what's used on cigars.

Bob_Luken

Roundup kills everything. I bet it’s Roundup.

Amos_Umwhat

I doubt roundup. And if it is, well, OP is safe, because that's mold. Wipe it off and smoke it.

Amos_Umwhat

My Dad died of Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, he loved Roundup and used it all the time.

When Roundup decomposes, its final breakdown change when exposed to sunlight is water. No problem. If it gets on you, or in you before it's completely broken down, that's when the trouble happens. Also, whatever gets into the soil while still wet. At least, that's what they taught us in both chemistry and biology at the University.

Dad would get that stuff all over him, and then not clean up or change clothes until he was done working on whatever. I had a hard time trying to convince him that it was only safe if properly used, not safe to get all over you.

I miss Dad. 63 when he died. Never thought that I'd live longer than he did.

Stubble

@Bob_Luken said:
Roundup kills everything. I bet it’s Roundup.

Bob_Luken

@Stubble said:

@Bob_Luken said:
Roundup kills everything. I bet it’s Roundup.

So you think it’s Roundup too?

TRayB

Disregarding the roundup posts, thanks all. I wiped it and smoked it.
Regarding the roundup posts, now I hope I don't get cancer and die.

ShawnOL

You're going to die of something, why spend time worrying about what that thing is.

CharlieHeis

It's always mold. Plume is a term made up by cigar shop owners trying to sell moldy cigars.

Vision

It's a "ZJ"

TRayB

@Vision said:
It's a "ZJ"

???
What's ZJ mean?

Vision

@TRayB said:

@Vision said:
It's a "ZJ"

???
What's ZJ mean?

If you have to ask..... you can't afford it.....

I'm just hoping people get the reference

Rdp77

Plume is a real thing…but that ain’t it. The big mystical misconception about plume is that it’s a good thing. It’s not. If a cigar is kept at the correct conditions long enough to achieve plume it’s all been a waste of time. Plume is the crystallized oils that have left the tobacco. Once this happens the cigar has sat so long that it has gone way past it’s prime and is no longer worth smoking.

OutdoorsSmoke_21191

@ShawnOL said:
You're going to die of something, why spend time worrying about what that thing is.

MEMENTO MORI….MEMENTO VIVERE

Patrickbrick

@Vision said:

@TRayB said:

@Vision said:
It's a "ZJ"

???
What's ZJ mean?

If you have to ask..... you can't afford it.....

I'm just hoping people get the reference

“I’m better when in drunk!”

CAcigarguy007

@Rdp77 said:
Plume is a real thing…but that ain’t it. The big mystical misconception about plume is that it’s a good thing. It’s not. If a cigar is kept at the correct conditions long enough to achieve plume it’s all been a waste of time. Plume is the crystallized oils that have left the tobacco. Once this happens the cigar has sat so long that it has gone way past it’s prime and is no longer worth smoking.

I’ve had exactly one cigar with legit plume crystals and it was a great cigar. YMMV but I do agree with the consensus, it’s usually mold 99.99% of the time.

Rdp77

@CAcigarguy007 said:

@Rdp77 said:
Plume is a real thing…but that ain’t it. The big mystical misconception about plume is that it’s a good thing. It’s not. If a cigar is kept at the correct conditions long enough to achieve plume it’s all been a waste of time. Plume is the crystallized oils that have left the tobacco. Once this happens the cigar has sat so long that it has gone way past it’s prime and is no longer worth smoking.

I’ve had exactly one cigar with legit plume crystals and it was a great cigar. YMMV but I do agree with the consensus, it’s usually mold 99.99% of the time.

YMMV?

silvermouse

EPA MPG disclaimer

Rdp77

@silvermouse said:
EPA MPG disclaimer

Yeah I finally looked it up, still don’t grasp where it fits in the context though lol.

peter4jc

I use YMMV as a way of saying you can have a different experience from mine, but you're still wrong.

Yakster

YMMVbysw

Vision

We just need a thread that says "ITS NOT PLUME, ITS MOLD"

CharlieHeis

Reddit has a bot that says that anytime someone asks