Moldy Monte

[CigKopf]

Hey everyone. I'm fairly new to FOH, so I'm not sure if the picture will post properly. I just got a box of 10 Montecristo 2 in the mail today, and noticed that one stick has mold on the cap area. I have two questions, looking at the mold on this particular stick, is it fine to smoke? My other question is, since only one stick had mold on it, is it fine to place the other 9 sticks in my humidor? Or, should I place the other 9 sticks in a separate tuperdore or something, because they were next to a moldy cigar? Thanks for the advice in advance.

[Ophidion]

Brush it off and smoke it. No big deal if its white fluffy unless its in the foot

[jayceskinner]

I have seen this quite often with the Montecristos but I think it is plume. Yes it is alright to smoke just make sure you wipe of all the plume first. In regards to your second question all my sticks are in individual boxes of ten. I wipe the plume off one or two cigars and it doesn't seem to spread to the other sticks but if your putting them into a larger batch of cigars it is probably safer to quarantine them for a little while.

[CigKopf]

Awesome! Thanks for the info Prominentes. Is it fine to store the other 9 sticks in my humidor? Or, should I keep those in a separate container as they were next to mold?

[CigKopf]

Thanks Marevas. Sorry for asking again, your post came up right after I hit the "post" button haha. Thanks for the help. It is appreciated.

[Reevzy]

That's not mould, they're love bubbles

[SCgarman]

Looks like mold to me . Plume is a very fine white dust and even my oldest cigars do not have it on them. How old are the Montes

[Upmann2009]

Def mold, grow on the glue at the cap. Plume should be very fine and usually evenly spread on the cigars. Brush it off and no problems. Cheers

[Trevor2118]

I think it is plume.

It's mould (UK) / mold (US).

And as per others.....just brush it off.

[Ophidion]

If you have to ask, it's mold. Plume looks like lightly sprinkled, fine crystalline sugar. I've only seen it on one of my boxes: EMA AGO 08 SCDLH Oficios.

[Hafner32]

As the others have said, brush it off, clip it, and fire it up!

[El Presidente]

if it is green I would get a little worried. A touch of white mold on a cigar is nada. bush it off and proceed to enjoy.

[Patric M]

I had a box of Romeo by Romeo y Julieta, They were in the bottom shelf on my humi right above the humidifier. I noticed that the ones directly over the humi had the exact same mold on them. I wiped them off and moved the tray a big higher and moved the humidifier so it was away from the cigars. A month later there was no signs of the mild and the sticks looked fine.

[CigKopf]

Wow, thanks for all the help and answering my questions.

This box is fairly young; the date is Jun, 2012. Also, the box arrived sealed, so its impossible for stuff like this to be avoided. Today is my Friday, and with these arriving today, my weekend has started off right! Cheers everyone!

[Smallclub]

I have seen this quite often with the Montecristos but I think it is plume.

It's definitely NOT plume. Plume doesn't occur on young cigars, and it's very rare anyway…

[Hollywood414]

Generally if it's spotty like that you can rule out plume.

[CaptainQuintero]

Try to think of plume as rare and it looks magical like a sprinkling of sparkling fairy dust, as opposed to like someone used your cigar to clean between their toes a week ago!

[ramon_cojones]

don't think i've ever experienced plume on a cc, though used to see it on ncs at the cigar shop occasionally due to higher humidity levels in there

[Ophidion]

Fluffy/patchy = mold

[ramon_cojones]

Nope, probably not plume. What you saw was most likely mould as well.

i've seen mold and i've seen plume, this was plume on the cigars dawg

[Smallclub]

though used to see it on ncs at the cigar shop occasionally due to higher humidity levels in there

Plume is not caused by higher humidity level. Actually it never occurs on wet cigars. Every time I have seen plume it was on cigars stocked at a VERY low HR.

[CanuckSARTech]

"What has happened before, will happen again...." LOL.

[Wicky]

I've had plume on exactly ONE cabinet of cigars. A very delicate dusting.

I've had white mold on plenty. In either case the answer is the same.... smoke 'em!

[ramon_cojones]

Plume is not caused by higher humidity level. Actually it never occurs on wet cigars. Every time I have seen plume it was on cigars stocked at a VERY low HR.

High humidity was my approximation as I've never seen it on cigars stored at low rh's as you state.

[CigKopf]

No plume on younger cigars? Along with my box of Monte 2s, I also received a box of R&J Short Churchills (date on the box is JUL12). I could be very wrong, I'm fairly new to smoking cigars, but as soon as I opened the box I noticed what looks like the very beginning of plume. This pic doesn't do this box justice as the flash washed out the colors (these sticks are more brownish red than they appear). Also, when I compressed the photo, so it could be uploaded, it kinda took away some of the dusty look. However, when I zoom in very close to the original shot, I can see tiny little specks all over the place. Could be wrong, but I think these things are starting to get nice and dusty.