Plume or mold?

[pbear1973]

Hi all,

I just got hold of 10 Cohiba Corona Especiales from my favorite online retailer, and when I took them out they were covered with white specks like this:



And:



I can scrape it off easily with my fingers and doesn't appear to stain the wrapper, so I'm inclined to think that it is plume, but at the same time I read that plume should be even and not splotchy like this.. so I'm thinking it might also be mold.

How do I tell the difference? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Unfortunately I don't have a box code as I had gotten these from 5-packs.

Right now I've wiped down all the splotches and am leaving the cigars are room RH (~50%) and see if they reappear. If they don't I will keep them in a separate humidor just in case.

 

[Herfin' Harg]

that's mold, my friend...

as long as it's not on the foot or all over the cap, just wipe it off and burn em.

 

[tubaman]

Yep, that's mold. Follow harg's advice and you are good.

 

[pbear1973]

Alrighty, thanks folks. Yeah none on the foot or cap fortunately. I wiped them down and will leave them outside the humidor for a few days.. will not store them with the rest of my precious smokes after that but in a dedicated humidor

 

[javajunkie]

third vote for fungus.

wouldn't sit on it for too long, but as harg said, if it ain't growing out of the foot, it should still be safe to consume. that will wipe off gently with a dry tissue, FWIW. until you do burn it, i would bag it to keep it segregated, and not allow spores to get into your stash.

actually, going back and rereading, you picked up a ten stack. set up a tupperdor with a boveda for isolation purposes. unless you want to flame all ten consecutively, which is a great way to spend a week, but still...

 

[smelvis]

Mold for sure, sorry just wipe it off and check the foot.

 

[pbear1973]

Thanks folks for your replies and advice.. I've had this spare 20-cigar humidor that I've never had much use for.. I've got use for it now. I've written to the vendor to see if I can exchange the cigars.

 

[Nacho Daddy]

Send your retailer a pic of this,you may get a replacement.I cannot believe a retailer would let those ship.

 

[Cigary43]

Any retailer that wouldn't take those back is a retailer I wouldn't do business with....that's just a moldy cigar.

 

[DStan]

I had some RyJs arrive to my door looking like that before, except one was the bluish-green mold and into the foot I emailed the vendor and had new ones at the door 3 days later! Like ^^^^^said if a retailer won't replace those I would find another place to shop!

 

[cigardan]

I've never seen a Plume-or-Mold thread that was not mold.

 

[Hoshneer]

I've never seen a Plume-or-Mold thread that was not mold.

Good point..

 

[SurpriseMVP]

Send your retailer a pic of this,you may get a replacement.I cannot believe a retailer would let those ship.

Think most of us know already the vendor you used and they will not refund or replace for you. My advise is wipe them down and no longer use that vendor.

 

[Craig Mac]

Think most of us know already the vendor you used and they will not refund or replace for you. My advise is wipe them down and no longer use that vendor.

I had the same issues with the same cigar about a year ago and the vendor issued a refund.... after claiming it was plum first of course. I emailed a photo and then was told to send em back. Never did biz with again after that.

 

[Jfire]

This vendor will return once after months of telling you its Plume. After arguing with said vendor you will be then told to send them back and wait for a refund. You will also be told you can not order anything else while said box is in return transit or while the replacement box is back in the air to you. You will more then likely be told after that replacement box gets to you to find another vendor for questioning their practices. Great vendor heh.

 

[pbear1973]

Thanks all.. I've emailed pics to the vendor (it wasn't the vendor whose name starts with "P"), and still awaiting his reply. Hopefully I hear from him soon. So far I've had only great experiences with his service so I'm hoping this one will be the same.

 

[pbear1973]

Just a follow up:

The bad news is that the vendor still hasn't gotten back to me yet. Will send them a chaser.

The good news is that 3 days later there's still no sign of the spots re-appearing. The wrapper has a sweet honey-like smell and doesn't seem rancid, so I guess the cigars are good to go. :0

 

[Speedbump]

Just a follow up:

The bad news is that the vendor still hasn't gotten back to me yet. Will send them a chaser.

The good news is that 3 days later there's still no sign of the spots re-appearing. The wrapper has a sweet honey-like smell and doesn't seem rancid, so I guess the cigars are good to go. :0

If the vendor does not want to respond you may want to stop doing business with them as others have done

 

[njstone]

On a happier note, I found a cigar tonight with plume on it! It's a Taboo Special Forces (or Boot Camp, can't remember). Plan to smoke it tomorrow

 

[pbear1973]

Just a follow up:

The bad news is that the vendor still hasn't gotten back to me yet. Will send them a chaser.

The good news is that 3 days later there's still no sign of the spots re-appearing. The wrapper has a sweet honey-like smell and doesn't seem rancid, so I guess the cigars are good to go. :0

Yeah. It's kind of sad because they've given me excellent service so far. The status on my order list still shows "Shipped" rather than "Delivered", so maybe they're a little busy with something. I'll give them a bit more time.

Just a follow up:

The bad news is that the vendor still hasn't gotten back to me yet. Will send them a chaser.

The good news is that 3 days later there's still no sign of the spots re-appearing. The wrapper has a sweet honey-like smell and doesn't seem rancid, so I guess the cigars are good to go. :0

If the vendor does not want to respond you may want to stop doing business with them as others have done

Congratulations! Please do post a review when you are done. I'd really love to hear what a nicely aged cigar can do.