Mold in them thar Headleys!

[Senor Perfecto]

Went to another local B&M last week and decided to smoke a Headley Grange (new for me and very delicious!). They'd just gotten in several boxes from Crowned Heads and made room for them in the walk-in.

I started to pick through a box of HG, looking for the right stick, and noticed several of the ones on the left side of the box had white spots on them around the cap. The shop guy was in the humi with me, and I said, "Umm... looks like you may have a mold issue with this box of new sticks. This other box looks fine, but these..."

I was quickly corrected that the spots were "bloom" and not mold. Well well.

I may be relatively new to cigars (couple years) but I know this much: plume/bloom does not appear in spots. And these were *spots*.

I politely reiterated that this was mold, not plume. And was told again, this was plume. And to illustrate, he pulled another cigar from a different line -- from the same area of the humidor (which I had never known to have an issue before or since) and showed it to me. "See this nice plume?" It was more mold, even hairier than the HGs. Yuck.

We good naturedly went back & forth and I bought a HG from the non-mold box and smoked it happily.

This past weekend, I went back and the shop owner was there. With 15 years of experience, even he had some serious misconceptions about what is mold and what is plume! Things like "mold can't be white" and "mold doesn't rub off without leaving a spot on the wrapper." Not true, not true.

I had fortunately brought my iPhone with me, and my little Olioclip macro lens for it, and snapped a couple of photos (at his urging) to show what these spots were really all about.





That, my friend, is a patch of fibers. Not hardened oil crystals.

Thar's mold in them thar Headleys!

In the end, we agreed it was "probably" mold, but not so bad the sticks needed to be tossed -- just cleaned and monitored. And I have a feeling his distributor is getting a call today.

 

[RamzaFreak20]

One of the shops that I frequent is like that. The middle right side of the walk in is covered with that. I don't think theirs is mold, but particles/gunk from the humidifiers. Most shops don't ever clean them out, which is disgusting to me .

 

[YodisMatt]

How new was the box? You said he picked up a completely different stick from a different company that also presented mold... So why call is distributor? To me that sounds like it might be their storage causing it.

 

[Smoqman]

^ agreed.

I mean no disrespect whatsoever, but I foresee the implications of a post like this. People may get a bad taste in their mouth about HG which may not be warranted, and I'm not sure how one can benefit from reading something like this.

To me, (and this is just MY view)… this is a private conversation to have with the store owner and maybe the people at crowned heads. It isn't something to post on a forum… where Google is indexing every word, and where it might become "searchable".

Again this is just my view… I mean no disrespect to you.

 

[Senor Perfecto]

^ agreed.

I mean no disrespect whatsoever, but I foresee the implications of a post like this. People may get a bad taste in their mouth about HG which may not be warranted, and I'm not sure how one can benefit from reading something like this.

To me, (and this is just MY view)… this is a private conversation to have with the store owner and maybe the people at crowned heads. It isn't something to post on a forum… where Google is indexing every word, and where it might become "searchable".

Again this is just my view… I mean no disrespect to you.

There's likely going to be a distributor between HG and the B&M. Most likely that's where the mold grew. I know this B&M well enough to believe (believe) that this is an issue outside their humi. Time will tell, of course -- but this box had JUST arrived maybe a day before, so it could not have grown there. In no way do I believe Crowned Heads would knowingly distribute moldy cigars.

The proposed benefit, from me, is to add some true information to the mold vs plume debate, since SO MUCH of what is out there online and in stores is just plain wrong.

 

[Speedbump]

^ agreed.

I mean no disrespect whatsoever, but I foresee the implications of a post like this. People may get a bad taste in their mouth about HG which may not be warranted, and I'm not sure how one can benefit from reading something like this.

To me, (and this is just MY view)… this is a private conversation to have with the store owner and maybe the people at crowned heads. It isn't something to post on a forum… where Google is indexing every word, and where it might become "searchable".

Again this is just my view… I mean no disrespect to you.

There's likely going to be a distributor between HG and the B&M. Most likely that's where the mold grew. I know this B&M well enough to believe (believe) that this is an issue outside their humi. Time will tell, of course -- but this box had JUST arrived maybe a day before, so it could not have grown there. In no way do I believe Crowned Heads would knowingly distribute moldy cigars.

The proposed benefit, from me, is to add some true information to the mold vs plume debate, since SO MUCH of what is out there online and in stores is just plain wrong.

When you say distributer, can you explain that a little more, as these are rolled at EP Carrillo, and shipped to Nashville, maybe with a stop in Miami. Then directly to the stores.

 

[Speedbump]

This is an example notice the fed ex labels

http://instagram.com/p/oMdqPiwyo4/

These were rolled by at my father, then shipped to Nashville

 

[smokinghole]

I have never had plume on any of my smokes. I had some I didn't touch for 5 years at 65% closed up in their own 100ct box in my coolidor. Nothing but normal looking wrapper. I have got crystals in a couple pipe tobacco tins though.....

I think plume is much less common than most think.

 

[Senor Perfecto]

When you say distributer, can you explain that a little more, as these are rolled at EP Carrillo, and shipped to Nashville, maybe with a stop in Miami. Then directly to the stores.

Just assuming that there's at least one middleman between rolling factory and B&M where mold could begin.

No absolute guarantees that it's NOT the factory or the B&M, but those seem less suspect to me, for the reasons I outlined above. Not trying to ruffle any feathers here.

 

[Speedbump]

When you say distributer, can you explain that a little more, as these are rolled at EP Carrillo, and shipped to Nashville, maybe with a stop in Miami. Then directly to the stores.

Just assuming that there's at least one middleman between rolling factory and B&M where mold could begin.

No absolute guarantees that it's NOT the factory or the B&M, but those seem less suspect to me, for the reasons I outlined above.

There is no middle man on cigars like this, if were were discussing a non boutique cigar it would be a different discussion

 

[Xavier Dredo]

I have never had plume on any of my smokes. I had some I didn't touch for 5 years at 65% closed up in their own 100ct box in my coolidor. Nothing but normal looking wrapper. I have got crystals in a couple pipe tobacco tins though.....

I think plume is much less common than most think.

Plume is like a Unicorn. We all want to believe it exists but no one's REALLY seen it. At least not while sober...

 

[Senor Perfecto]

When you say distributer, can you explain that a little more, as these are rolled at EP Carrillo, and shipped to Nashville, maybe with a stop in Miami. Then directly to the stores.

Just assuming that there's at least one middleman between rolling factory and B&M where mold could begin.

No absolute guarantees that it's NOT the factory or the B&M, but those seem less suspect to me, for the reasons I outlined above.

There is no middle man on cigars like this, if were were discussing a non boutique cigar it would be a different discussion

Are they not humidified at all in between? In the potential Nashville and Miami stops?

 

[Speedbump]

Humidity is ambient, and three or four days in the road will not make much difference, heat will cause more dryness and have an affect. Some companies, Fuente is an example, use boveda is the boxes but this particular box is not humidified from Miami to Nashville, then to it's end point, if you see the boxes in the picture above, they may be stored for a few weeks and then shipped, I do not know how Four Kicks ships. I would also not consider Four Kicks to be a "distributer or middle man" in this process. I am not claiming to be any type of expert in this process, I do work in the industry, and have worked at a shop so I am aware of how things are shipped. There are many manufactures on this site and one of them many chime in.

 

[Craig Mac]

Your opinion is sufficient enough Derek. You're a rep for EPC and have retail experience. Your explanation that they are rolled in the DR, shipped to Miami (port city) then shipped to Nashville (Crowned Heads) then to retailers is as cut and dry as it gets. There are no stops along the way to humidify these cigars. Cigars sealed in a box have survived this trip for decades through all types of weather without any additional humidity needed. In fact often times the retailer turns around the cigars to the consumer which means that there can be several weeks at a time with no humidification.

 

[YodisMatt]

^ Several great points above.

I guess my confusion comes in with him showing you a whole different companies cigar that is also moldy. Did that not concern him as well? Don't get me wrong, not saying there is no possibility of these being totally unrelated. I was thinking by mentioning this you were leaning towards the humidor being the cause.

 

[thejavaman]

I have never had plume on any of my smokes. I had some I didn't touch for 5 years at 65% closed up in their own 100ct box in my coolidor. Nothing but normal looking wrapper. I have got crystals in a couple pipe tobacco tins though.....

I think plume is much less common than most think.

Plume is like a Unicorn. We all want to believe it exists but no one's REALLY seen it. At least not while sober...

Lol. I've seen plume exactly one time. On a box aged CC from 1996 that was opened in 2013. I laugh every time I see a "is this plume or mold" thread (not that this is one of those...just saying).

 

[Sirspanksalot]

I had plume on a Ron Mexico. Best smoke I've ever had ;D



Who am I kidding, I don't plume could even form on a stick that bad

 

[JD_Howard]

I have seen first hand the time and consideration that Jon puts into his sticks. He is constantly spot checking boxes and such at CH in Nashville to ensure constant quality. I would be willing to rule out that if this mold situation happen at a location other than the B&M, that it was at CH. Just my $.02 there,

 

[CalixtoLopez]

One thing I've noticed in my shop is that the sticks that are the most succeptible to this are ones without cello or in glass or aluminum tubos.

The biggest offenders were Tempus and VSG until both started coming in cello and it instantly stopped.

Perhaps the cello acts as a natural barrier to keep the humidity level from rising high enough to support this type of growth?