My new friend Mold

[Islandboy]

I was going to post this in Daily Smoke, but I’m a bit blown away by how damn good this was, and the probable cause, so I thought I’d share the experience here.

For anyone who may not recognize it, this is a lowly Room 101 Namakubi, in the Tiburon vitola I believe. Roughly the same size as a Coloniales. Reviews on it are mixed, and it’s never scored very high. But it was one of the early NC cigars I tried a few singles of a few years back, and it seemed pleasant enough to me at the time. Months later I bought a fiver, and again good, but nothing special. 

A few months ago word spread that Room 101 was ceasing cigar operations. Shortly afterwords I happened upon a clearance sale at one of the large online retailers. The price was right and I figured this might be a dwindling opportunity, so I ordered a box of 20 at roughly $3.50 a stick. Upon opening the package, I immediately noticed that the box seals were broken - something I’d never seen with NC’s before. I opened the box and gasped. White mold! Definitely more than just plume, but I thought well, at least it’s white. It was only on the wrappers, not the feet, but it was still a first for me. I could also see evidence on the box liner of dried up moisture, so they had somehow gotten wet somewhere along the way. Perhaps the box was even returned, which would explain the broken seals.

I easily brushed the offending powder off each stick with my fingers, and the cigars looked none the worse, so I stuck it in my humidor and thanked my lucky stars that I hadn’t paid full price. That was several months ago.

I’ve now smoked 3 sticks in the last couple of weeks, all of which have been consistently A-freakin-mazing! Very Cohiba-like flavors, if you can believe that. Wonderful barnyard nuttiness, with a delicious toasted marshmallow finish - complete with a subtle citrus zing. I’m in disbelief. And the only thing I can think of is that the mold played a major role in taking the taste to a whole new level. I’m doing cartwheels right now knowing I have a whole box to plow through, not to mention the price I paid.

Could the mold have done such a wonderful thing?

[SteveH]

I have no first hand experience - but hypothetically I would imagine the mold could chemically alter the wrapper. 

[Smallclub]

5 hours ago, Islandboy said:

 I opened the box and gasped. White mold! Definitely more than just plume,

 

Plume is not a level of mold, it's something completely different.

[1LegLance]

Ok so I am going to play the science guessing game here....

NO the mold didn't do anything for your  cigars......

However the conditions that created the mold might have...in other words there is a CHANCE, the high moisture time and maybe some warmth allowed another fermentation to occur. That and some of the aging that happened between rolling and finally getting to you as a clearance items also helped.

Personally I have not had something like this happen in my almost 30yrs of cigar smoking but that doesn't mean it isn't possible, just not something I would try to replicate.

[archosaur]

I think the most likely scenario is that it was just a good box of cigars, from the beginning.  Considering that you had only smoked a handful of this cigar prior to this moldy box, did you really have a thorough understanding of how good they can be?  Despite NC being generally more consistent than CC, they are still a totally handmade product made up of individual leaves of tobacco, and variation is inherent.  Perhaps this box is from a totally different crop/source of tobacco than the previous examples?  Does this mfr. have any date coding system?  Maybe this box has extra age on it?  Perhaps seeing a bit of mold, and a discounted price paid...lowered your expectations enough that a decent cigar seems even better?  Just some things to consider.

Of course, you may be completely right, and your post will usher in a new era of intentional mold cultivation in cigars!  And certain retailers will rejoice

In any case, I'm glad this worked out for you...enjoy your cigars!  I'm still going to keep mine mold free...for now.

[Islandboy]

You guys are probably right, this box probably just has a good amount of age on it, and the earlier ones I smoked (7 in total I think) were likely young. So much for my Magic Mold theory 

And I fully realize any attempts to replicate the conditions would be foolish, so definitely not advocating that.

But at the very least this seems to show that mold (of the white variety, anyway) doesn’t always have a diminishing effect on cigar quality/taste.

Thanks for entertaining my fungal fantasy. I’ll take a looksee tonight for a date on the box. 

[CaptainQuintero]

Yeah remember that cigar could always have been a good one. If you had smoked it first then you might be saying that the box started off brilliant but then went downhill 

[Stick burner]

I certainly hope the rest of you bargain box is as good as this stick.

[Islandboy]

17 minutes ago, Stick burner said:

I certainly hope the rest of you bargain box is as good as this stick.

Exactly why I waited until I’d had 3 out of the box before I said anything....all 3 have been equally brilliant.