Ever Wondered Plume Or Mold

[T.G]

Originally Posted by kickerb

My local B&M swears up and down that this is plume. Thoughts?

Thoughts?
Your B&M operators are full of crap or complete morons. That's mold.

[pnoon]

Originally Posted by kickerb

My local B&M swears up and down that this is plume. Thoughts?

Thoughts?
Your local B&M is either clueless or blowing smoke up your a$$.

[pnoon]

Originally Posted by T.G

Thoughts?
Your B&M operators are full of crap or complete morons. That's mold.

Originally Posted by pnoon

Thoughts?
Your local B&M is either clueless or blowing smoke up your a$$.

[T.G]

Originally Posted by pnoon

No, he is dead serious. To the point he called his local LFD rep, who then also confirmed it was plume.

I just thought it was a very good example of mold and thought I would share it with the forum.

[pnoon]

Originally Posted by kickerb

No, he is dead stupid. To the point he called his local LFD rep, who then also confirmed it was plume.

Fixed.
And so is the LFD rep.

[T.G]

Originally Posted by kickerb

No, he is dead serious. To the point he called his local LFD rep, who then also confirmed it was plume.

Mistaking mold for plume is, unfortunately, a somewhat common occurrence, and while this sort of mistake is unfortunate for the average J. Doe that goes into a cigar store to buy their 2 cigars a month, for the proprietor of a B&M, or worse, a cigar rep, to adamantly believe that mold is plume, the ignorance is inexcusable.

[Zane]

Originally Posted by T.G

Mistaking mold for plume is, unfortunately, a somewhat common occurrence, and while this sort of mistake is unfortunate for the average J. Doe that goes into a cigar store to buy their 2 cigars a month, for the proprietor of a B&M, or worse, a cigar rep, to adamantly believe that mold is plume, the ignorance is inexcusable.

I can't imagine anyone no matter how new you are to cigars could confuse that with plume... I mean if I found a loaf of bread with those same exact spots I wouldn't try and pretend it wasn't mold.

[T.G]

Originally Posted by ZaneG

I can't imagine anyone no matter how new you are to cigars could confuse that with plume... I mean if I found a loaf of bread with those same exact spots I wouldn't try and pretend it wasn't mold.

You might, but there are a lot of people who don't make the connection.

Most people associate mold with a darker colored growth. Green, blueish, black, somewhere in that spectrum. A lot of people forget, or never know, that mold comes in white (slice a tomato and leave it out) and many other colors too.

Then they hear legends and stories of this elusive, almost mythical whitish thing called "plume" that supposedly does magical things to cigars, so they search for it. Sometimes the descriptions they are given are incorrect, sometimes they are vague, so when they finally run across a cigar with some kind of **** stuck on it, they fly right past the "hey wait a second, this looks kind of odd..." and go into rejoice mode, and so the legend propagates.


...or they are just f-ing retarded.

[Zane]

Originally Posted by T.G

You might, but there are a lot of people who don't make the connection.

Most people associate mold with a darker colored growth. Green, blueish, black, somewhere in that spectrum. A lot of people forget, or never know, that mold comes in white (slice a tomato and leave it out) and many other colors too.

Then they hear legends and stories of this elusive, almost mythical whitish thing called "plume" that supposedly does magical things to cigars, so they search for it. Sometimes the descriptions they are given are incorrect, sometimes they are vague, so when they finally run across a cigar with some kind of **** stuck on it, they fly right past the "hey wait a second, this looks kind of odd..." and go into rejoice mode, and so the legend propagates.


...or they are just f-ing retarded.

Agreed. Boggles the mind.

[icehog3]

Originally Posted by T.G

Mistaking mold for plume is, unfortunately, a somewhat common occurrence, and while this sort of mistake is unfortunate for the average J. Doe that goes into a cigar store to buy their 2 cigars a month, for the proprietor of a B&M, or worse, a cigar rep, to adamantly believe that mold is plume, the ignorance is inexcusable.

Or the lying, either way.

[T.G]

Originally Posted by icehog3

Or the lying, either way.

Agreed.

I will say though, that I have actually met B&M owners/operators who honestly didn't know the difference between mold and plume.

One of them even thought that "maduro" was a type/strain of tobacco.

[icehog3]

Remind me to fire the LFD rep in the morning.

[gbum]

some guy show this in fb cigar group...


im pretty sure its mold by looking at the furry part... but the rest said the other way...

well i just walk away from that discussion...

[PearlS4]

Looks like mold to me.

I have never encountered plume but from what I have been told its like a powdered sugar distributed ALL over a cigar...

When sticks have perfectly rounded growths (colonies I believe is the term) it should be pretty easy to identify it as mold...

If my B & M operator tried to sell me sticks like those from above I would kindly leave... and never return...

[dubleuhb]

Not sure I would purchase from him. That is ugly.

[omowasu]

I agree that if you have to ask, its mold. Mold, mold, mold... A local B&M near me runs a humidifier in their humidor constantly, and all of the cigars in its vicinity are moldy. Some of the guys say it is plume. It is definitely not.

Whether to smoke a moldy stick is a personal decision - if it were me anything more than a small spot is too much...

[Brandon]

If it is raised, it is mold.

If it is very splotchy, it is mold.

Plume is distributed evenly, and sparkles under a light.

There are well known vendors that don't even know the difference.

Here is a video showing plume (on a 1970's cigar).

[cmitch]

I would suspect the reason most don't see plume is because the lighting conditions aren't bright enough to reveal it. Plume sparkles in the light, appears evenly distributed and is usually very fine particles, though I did see some that looked like they had small salt crystals on them. Nearly every cigar I have found in a B&M where the owner claimed plume, it was mold. I was actually chewed out by an employee of the B&M I used to frequent for saying there was mold on his cigars which is one of the many reasons I don't go there anymore. I think that most B&M's see that box of destruction and can't even consider the loss so they pawn them off to uneducated 'victims' as mold. I've only had 1 brand of cigar that's had plume and it was some Vega Fina Jose Sejas L.E.'s. They sparkled in the sun but was virtually undetectable in roomlight.
The pic by the OP is hair mold. Hair mold has no toxins so it's safe to smoke. Just wipe it off. However, all those other examples are toast.