Misunderstanding or intentional misrepresentation?

[El Presidente]

 

 

 

[Li Bai]

@El Presidente, as you say we all belong to a big church and there's room for everyone (I fully agree with that) but like in many fields, those who should keep quiet seem to be unable to stop talking about things they don't know and when they have an audience like M.Ahmed has, well, this happens...

Thank God there still are places like FOH 👍

[MrFolgers]

3 hours ago, Li Bai said:

@El Presidente, as you say we all belong to a big church and there's room for everyone (I fully agree with that) but like in many fields, those who should keep quiet seem to be unable to stop talking about things they don't know and when they have an audience like M.Ahmed has, well, this happens...

Thank God there still are places like FOH 👍

Spot on. It's also a caveat emptor to those visiting his shop.

[Chibearsv]

I'm going to take the advice of someone that is smoking the cigar band?  Aficionado indeed.  As my daughters would shout: "Poser!, Poser!, Poser!..."  

[Ford2112]

What a dilettante.

[Habanoschris]

God I hate to make this about me and my small-fry YouTube channel but the timing of this is a bit of an odd synchronicity. I had decided for 2025 to add some more comprehensive videos about cigar culture in addition to my cigar reviews.

Just today I used my voice notes & wrote a rough "script" for top 5 influential cigar world folks as a guide to a video I'll work on soon, I won't get into all that but...

i wrote a whole blurb on Foh which mostly focuses on the mold plume myth 

they've really done an incredible job when it comes to cigar and cigar culture they compile studies and share information on a level that is unprecedented they even had finally Taken on the age old debate about mold and plume by literally sending in cigars with mold or "" plume on them for analysis to labs and they got a final determination putting to rest the age old debate about mold and plume.

 

* I also mention the incredible factory code pdf etc. and the video also features 4 or 5 of my favorite salt of the earth cigar world contributors - I'll share it one day when completed.

 

Anyway enough about me 🤣

[99call]

1 hour ago, Ford2112 said:

What a dilettante.

[garbandz]

Hand me my bell end, please.............

[westg]

2 hours ago, Habanoschris said:

God I hate to make this about me and my small-fry YouTube channel but the timing of this is a bit of an odd synchronicity. I had decided for 2025 to add some more comprehensive videos about cigar culture in addition to my cigar reviews.

Just today I used my voice notes & wrote a rough "script" for top 5 influential cigar world folks as a guide to a video I'll work on soon, I won't get into all that but...

i wrote a whole blurb on Foh which mostly focuses on the mold plume myth 

they've really done an incredible job when it comes to cigar and cigar culture they compile studies and share information on a level that is unprecedented they even had finally Taken on the age old debate about mold and plume by literally sending in cigars with mold or "" plume on them for analysis to labs and they got a final determination putting to rest the age old debate about mold and plume.

 

* I also mention the incredible factory code pdf etc. and the video also features 4 or 5 of my favorite salt of the earth cigar world contributors - I'll share it one day when completed.

 

Anyway enough about me 🤣

Just subscribed 👊

[westg]

HA...Shame on you Rob. Plume does exist. How could you do this to us  😇. Now all we need is a Kirb ball to make it really true. 

 

[Ford2112]

2 hours ago, 99call said:

That too haha

[El Presidente]

I am more than happy to believe that "plume" is a crystallisation of oils. For the love of God, just show some proof. Where is one test that takes those scapings and tests them? 

We honestly have tried. 100% mold. Different varieties certainly. 

[Chas.Alpha]

From a cheesemaker’s point of view, there are definitely different kinds of mold. The crust that you find on Camembert, Brie and other soft cheeses are mold. They are even referred to as Mold-Ripened cheeses. The red streaks that you see on Munster and some others are linens, another type of mold. The “Blue” in blue cheese? Yep, mold.

That white shite on your cigar?… 🤔

[ATGroom]

For me, Rob settled the mould vs plume question many years ago, but the question I still have is "is mould bad?"

I.e., do you actually need to wipe it off? If you smoke a mouldy cigar, is there anything harmful that survives the incineration process and gets into your lungs and makes you ill? Not a doctor, but it seems a bit implausible to me that it would. 

If there's no health risk, well, there are many products where the whole appeal depends on the flavour of mould. Perhaps a nice mould flavour can improve cigars as well.

Maybe with enough research we will someday be able to say that a well cultivated mouldy cigar is a great sign of proper aging.

[BrightonCorgi]

4 hours ago, El Presidente said:

I am more than happy to believe that "plume" is a crystallisation of oils. For the love of God, just show some proof. Where is one test that takes those scapings and tests them? 

We honestly have tried. 100% mold. Different varieties certainly. 

Didn't watch the video yet and I already know it's mold. Every cigar has mold on it. How much and how it manifest's differs. 

Which brings up a good thread on its own, "Does mold add to the character of a cigar?"  

[Habanoschris]

3 hours ago, ATGroom said:

Maybe with enough research we will someday be able to say that a well cultivated mouldy cigar is a great sign of proper aging.

I must admit, I don't mind/ kinda get a kick out of finding a bit of plume (the dusty bright white that wipes off easy). Over the holiday break I had opened 2019 cardboard box of Vegueros Entretiempos, one of which had plume.

I've had plume before but I am not seasoned enough to notice a relationship with plume & better taste/aging. Jasmin's crystallized sugars & oils description does make it sound tasty (but I guess we know it's mold in fact not just sugars & oils??).

I still recall, in 2008 or so, that I saw a box with nearly all wrappers coated in plume at LCDH Grand Cayman & naively I asked Wallace there about concerns of mold; he was kind of frustrated with me and quick to point out it was not mold but plume... was shaking his head 🙂 And of course it was not the green funky kind and not in the foot or filler, so I learned that day to just wipe it off and smoke 'em lol 🤷🏻

[SirVantes]

I'm not smart enough to hold these 2 thoughts in my head simultaneously:

1. "your handmade cigar is touched by 200 [unsterilized] hands before it reaches you"

2. that's not mould.

3 hours ago, BrightonCorgi said:

Which brings up a good thread on its own, "Does mold add to the character of a cigar?"  

And a sister thread, "Is the mould character of a cigar a fault?"  cf. bread in wine, FWP (French Whore Perfume notes) in 80s/90s Bowmore, or is it all on the tongue/nose of the beholder, or angels on a pinhead?

[Li Bai]

3 hours ago, ATGroom said:

For me, Rob settled the mould vs plume question many years ago, but the question I still have is "is mould bad?"

I.e., do you actually need to wipe it off? If you smoke a mouldy cigar, is there anything harmful that survives the incineration process and gets into your lungs and makes you ill? Not a doctor, but it seems a bit implausible to me that it would. 

If there's no health risk, well, there are many products where the whole appeal depends on the flavour of mould. Perhaps a nice mould flavour can improve cigars as well.

Maybe with enough research we will someday be able to say that a well cultivated mouldy cigar is a great sign of proper aging.

Now that's interesting 👍

What bothers me about this video and many, many other posts among cigar influencers on social media, is that it's not based on research and actual objective truth, rather on opinions and/or "tradition" and/or what some cigar smokers want to hear.

Tbh, I'm not a big fan of those social media influencers but I feel kinda bad for them, how hard it must be to find something new and interesting to talk about several times a week.

[99call]

9 hours ago, Ford2112 said:

That too haha

The real strange stroke of genius is that the guy in the gif is Jeremy Hunt (he has another nickname). He is a Tory MP and an epic bell end, responsible for kneecapping the NHS. It's fitting that he is captured for evermore in this little film reel. A truly unpleasant individual. 

[ned]

16 hours ago, Habanoschris said:

I must admit, I don't mind/ kinda get a kick out of finding a bit of plume (the dusty bright white that wipes off easy). Over the holiday break I had opened 2019 cardboard box of Vegueros Entretiempos, one of which had plume.

I've had plume before but I am not seasoned enough to notice a relationship with plume & better taste/aging. Jasmin's crystallized sugars & oils description does make it sound tasty (but I guess we know it's mold in fact not just sugars & oils??).

I still recall, in 2008 or so, that I saw a box with nearly all wrappers coated in plume at LCDH Grand Cayman & naively I asked Wallace there about concerns of mold; he was kind of frustrated with me and quick to point out it was not mold but plume... was shaking his head 🙂 And of course it was not the green funky kind and not in the foot or filler, so I learned that day to just wipe it off and smoke 'em lol 🤷🏻

It was mould.

[Habanoschris]

8 hours ago, ned said:

It was mould.

I agree & thank you brother, I'm definitely with you. That part was ironic, mentioning how he was shaking his head at me etc 👍 

I was newer to CC then BUT today, of course, in my experience there is the mold that wipes off easily aka plume and the real funky non-smokable mold infested cigars. 

[VeguerosMAN]

I thought all those vintage cigars with white spots were plumes. Could they all be mold after all? If so, why would anyone pay an arm and a leg for such cigars unless mold adds character to the taste? 

[Fugu]

9 hours ago, Li Bai said:

What bothers me about this video and many, many other posts among cigar influencers on social media, is that it's not based on research and actual objective truth, rather on opinions and/or "tradition" and/or what some cigar smokers want to hear.

Well, what to think of someone keeping the foil on when smoking a NGM.... 😂

[Li Bai]

33 minutes ago, Fugu said:

Well, what to think of someone keeping the foil on when smoking a NGM.... 😂

Now that you mention it 😁

That being said, keeping the foil on seems to be mandatory on Instagram these days 😂🤣

[joeypots]

Yea, but the thing where you whip the freshly lit cigar around like you are getting ready to pitch a softball works great.