Vitamin B?

[chinamike233]

went to Cigar Emporium in Hong Kong's Elements shopping mall over the weekend...

was in the humidor talking to the lady in charge (who was quite nice and helpful in fact) and getting recommendations in choosing cigars...

i want to preface this story by adding that i am not trying to discredit the lady...

but we were looking at some Bolivar Royal Coronas and my wife noticed that there were white spots on the cigar (not plume, but actually in the wrapper itself)... the lady said: 'they say that the white spots are spots of vitamin B and provide the sweeter taste'

just curious to know if anyone has heard this because i found it interesting that a vitamin would effect

the taste of a cigar...

in case anyone wants to know what i bought:

dip no. 4 x 2

RyJ cazadores x1

BRC x 1

[Leopolis Semper Fidelis]

I've never heard of that one before - sounds pretty unlikely. Aren't white spots on a wrapper caused by tiny drops of moisture?

[sloth]

Only one way to know for sure... After you smoke the cigar is your urine neon yellow?

[Colt45]

Yes, the general consensus is that the tan / whitish spots are caused by water droplets which have an effect on the curing process.

[eman67]

I like the "smokeable vitamin" theory better but alas just plain old water spots...

[CanuckSARTech]

went to Cigar Emporium in Hong Kong's Elements shopping mall over the weekend...

was in the humidor talking to the lady in charge (who was quite nice and helpful in fact) and getting recommendations in choosing cigars...

i want to preface this story by adding that i am not trying to discredit the lady...

but we were looking at some Bolivar Royal Coronas and my wife noticed that there were white spots on the cigar (not plume, but actually in the wrapper itself)... the lady said: 'they say that the white spots are spots of vitamin B and provide the sweeter taste'

just curious to know if anyone has heard this because i found it interesting that a vitamin would effect

the taste of a cigar...

in case anyone wants to know what i bought:

dip no. 4 x 2

RyJ cazadores x1

BRC x 1

Sorry, but I must agree with the others, and with a *hint* of sarcasm....

What in the deuce was that lady talking about?!!

I've never heard this, ever, in all of my 12 years + of enjoying Cuban cigars.

Generally, the light spots on a tobacco leaf (usually always the wrapper, being that's what's being seen/quoted for cosmetic issues), are basically "sun spots". This is from droplets of water, usually after a big rain, collecting in a certain area on a tobacco leaf. There's always some form of environmental pollution - dust, dirt, etc. - which causes the water droplet to hold firm on a particular position on the leaf, same as with dryed/drying water spots on your vehicle.

Well, this water droplet causes a magnifying glass effect, and amplifies the sun's rays, and causes a little burnt/sun-bleached/sun-damaged spot on the leaf - the white (and/or light tan) spot that you talk of. These don't affect the wrapper's flavour, burn, smoke, etc. The factories try to vet out any wrappers that have these sun spots, but Quality Control / Quality Assurance can't catch all of them, and some just end up making their way through the process. Especially, considering that most wrappers have only one or two on them, and they are able to trim these off depending on their position on the wrapper leaf.

Hope this helps.

[SethLG]

I will tell you what, if she is right about the whole Vitamin B thing, props to her for knowing that.

[Leopolis Semper Fidelis]

Generally, the light spots on a tobacco leaf (usually always the wrapper, being that's what's being seen/quoted for cosmetic issues), are basically "sun spots". This is from droplets of water, usually after a big rain, collecting in a certain area on a tobacco leaf. There's always some form of environmental pollution - dust, dirt, etc. - which causes the water droplet to hold firm on a particular position on the leaf, same as with dryed/drying water spots on your vehicle.

Well, this water droplet causes a magnifying glass effect, and amplifies the sun's rays, and causes a little burnt/sun-bleached/sun-damaged spot on the leaf - the white (and/or light tan) spot that you talk of. These don't affect the wrapper's flavour, burn, smoke, etc. The factories try to vet out any wrappers that have these sun spots, but Quality Control / Quality Assurance can't catch all of them, and some just end up making their way through the process. Especially, considering that most wrappers have only one or two on them, and they are able to trim these off depending on their position on the wrapper leaf.

Many thanks for amplifying what was said earlier. That is exactly right!

[CanuckSARTech]

I will tell you what, if she is right about the whole Vitamin B thing, props to her for knowing that.

I've never even, ever, heard of something like that at all. It's sun spots (for lack of a better term on my tongue right now), plain and simple. And, I've never heard of sun bleaching to anything causing a vitamin B increase. If so, we'd all be eating sun bleached lettuce, veggies, fruit, etc., due to it's higher vitamin B.

To me, it just sounds like someone who was woefully uneducated in the art of the stick, and was just spouting off whatever verbal vomit came to mind. (And no, surprisingly, I don't mean this in a mean or insulting way - I have no idea who this woman was/is, and she could otherwise be a rock star in Habanos). But, unfortunately, in every business and specialty, there are clerks out there who say anything to try and ramp up a sale.

And even if the vitamin B thing were MILDLY true (man, who would even bother to scientifically test for such a ludicrous thing?!) - why would it matter? Hell, you're inhaling/tasting smoke! It's not like it's the most healthy thing in the world. If someone had a vitamin B deficiency, do you really think anyone would seriously recommend smoking some cigars regularly to help with that?!!!

Cigars are great, yes they are. But vitamin-delivery-devices they are not.

Many thanks for amplifying what was said earlier. That is exactly right!

Hope that worked as an in-depth explanation (maybe overly so, I contend, and I also didn't mean to try to trump anything others said too). I've seen it in play in different fields of tobacco in Cuba, Dominican Republic, and even here in Canada with normal cigarette tobacco.