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

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phobicsquirrel

this is plume

this is mold:

Dark Roast

Picture worth a thousand words. Settles it for me.

Hawk55

Cammie, how long did it take for these to "plume"? Were they left totally undisturbed during their aging time? What other type cigars have you aged to this stage? What was your typucal or avg temp/RH?

Hawk55

Squirrel how long did it take to get these to plume?

Vision

bump also.

camgfs

I forgot about this thread, lol. The cigars in that pic were purchased with a few years on them, then sat in my humi for another few years. I have about 6 or 7 of them left. Whatever was on them has never come back. I have some ISOM Cohibas from 2001 that have had very similar white on them....whiped them off and no stain of discoloration whatsoever.
Every year I open a different box, from some year in the past. Last year was a Cohiba Esplendido from 2008, this year was H. Upman Sir Winston from 2010. In general, I find that plume will not set in for close to 10 years (6 or more at least), but that might just be the brands I smoke, or the fact that I leave them in the box for so long....I don't really know.

To this day, I still have mixed feelings about plume or mold, but I have never regretted smoking any of those sticks or others like them.

At 11 years old, those are the oldest sticks in my humidor.

camgfs

Hawk55:
Cammie, how long did it take for these to "plume"? Were they left totally undisturbed during their aging time? What other type cigars have you aged to this stage? What was your typucal or avg temp/RH?

It took 9 years ? about that for those sticks to look like that. Yes, undisturbed (I leave them in the box as long as I can)...other types of cigars include Cohiba Reserva from 2002, Hoyo de Monterey Limitada from 2007, Cohiba Sublimes from 2004 (only year they were made). I haven't kept any non-Cuban cigars for that long. Why? Because very few Cuban cigars are made with aged tobacco, so I let them sit for a few years before smoking them.

Average temp/RH, about 65 to 70F and 60 to 65 RH, sometimes as high as 70RH, but seasonal. My collection of humis do very well.

lcpleel

shows what plume kind of looks like 3 with 1 without.

jliu

whoaaa. cool. it's like powdered sugar yummy.

kaspera79

Hey I. How long did it take to age those Opus. And how much longer to you intend to just look at them.

robertgreen30

lcpleel:

shows what plume kind of looks like 3 with 1 without.

Smoke those babies up!

lcpleel

kaspera79:
Hey I. How long did it take to age those Opus. And how much longer to you intend to just look at them.

I smoke atleast 3 a week and I have passed some around to people on the forum. So I dont just look at them. The robusto is from the original release so Ill stare at that one for a little longer.