Plume

[Ivaylo]

Quick question guys. Usually how much time you need to age a box at the right conditions to start seeing plume? Thanks in advance.

[JohnS]

Here we go....!  

We are going to get many varied answers on this one, some will address time, others will address whether plume even exists! 

Short answer...it depends on the oils in the wrapper. From my practical experience, you need to be patient, like a few years.

[Guest Nekhyludov]

I DISAGREE! I HAVE AN ANECDOTE!

[El Presidente]

12 minutes ago, Ivaylo said:

Quick question guys. Usually how much time you need to age a box at the right conditions to start seeing plume? Thanks in advance.

Plume is not a formulae. 

......there is not even a definition as to what it is (as far as i am aware). 

[Ivaylo]

Yeah i dont think its connected much with the time cause ive bought a box from the locker sale which was from 2004 and didnt have any..

[PigFish]

Plume: Mold as seen through the eyes of many a vendor, present company excluded.

-Piggy

[Smallclub]

55 minutes ago, Ivaylo said:

Yeah i dont think its connected much with the time cause ive bought a box from the locker sale which was from 2004 and didnt have any..

You must be specially unlucky …

I have bought, stocked, aged (or not), and smoked several hundreds boxes in the last 15 years without having seen a single case of plume…

[canadianbeaver]

Perhaps this is the first thread of dozens, but I think I finally have the answer. The Pig and The Club will maybe have to get into a three way with me (of thought) to confirm but here goes.

Residue on the surface of a cigar is marketing at retail, white disgusting yeccchh, dust and dirt only on earth that is discussed in printed words.

Plume or bloom is an interplanetary phenomenon that you can put in your mouth without gagging on white stuff. It sparkles subtly for seconds then disappears when it burns so no one sees it but you.

Yup.

That's about it.

CB

[jfire]

I've only seen it 2Xs. Once on a early 80s Monte Especiales No 2
And a 50s Havana made white owl.
Both were in cello. Both had what looked like fiberglass inside the cello in almost hexagonal shapes from cello to cigar. When I removed the cigars many of the strands broke off. They were also tinged colored yellow like you see the wax paper in cabinets turn after a few years of aging. This is the only time I've seen Plume. I've have cabs that are approaching 10 years old that still show no signs.


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[TBird55]

Keep your cigars very moist,  and warm, and you will see "plume" in no time at all.

[Andy04]

2 hours ago, Ivaylo said:

Quick question guys. Usually how much time you need to age a box at the right conditions to start seeing plume? Thanks in advance.

Around 12 hours if you keep them in a 90/90 environment...

[Fuzz]

 

10 hours ago, El Presidente said:

Plume is not a formulae. 

......there is not even a definition as to what it is (as far as i am aware). 

PLUME/PLOOM/BLOOM

noun  plüm / blüm

1. The crystalized remnants of oils left on a cigar wrapper
2. Mold on a cigar
3. A term frequently used on cigar forums to polarise the membership into one of three camps; Believers, Sceptics & Undecided
   • "Hey! Check out the plume on my cigar!" "You idiot! That's just mold!" "I'm not sure about that.... does it wipe off easily?"

verb blooming

1. To create plume/bloom
   • "Feel and see that? That gritty sparkling sheen is proof this cigar is pluming."
   • "Your temp and RH is too high. Those cigars are blooming."

adjective blooming

1. "You think that is bloom?, Well, you're a blooming idiot!"

 

 

[RijkdeGooier]

I've seen it a few times; once on a Sir Winston from 2003 and once on a Montecristo Tubo from the 1980's. 

[gusto616]

I've seen it more on NCs than CCs -



And no, it is not fuzzy & it does NOT wipe off.

[gusto616]

I can see the crustiness forming on this 2003 Sig VI (one of my last two )



... so I guess the answer to the OP's question is - about 13 years, give or take a few.



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[Fuzz]

6 hours ago, gusto616 said:

I've seen it more on NCs than CCs -



And no, it is not fuzzy & it does NOT wipe off.

Nah, that's just really stubborn mold.

[Ivaylo]

4 hours ago, gusto616 said:

I can see the crustiness forming on this 2003 Sig VI (one of my last two )



... so I guess the answer to the OP's question is - about 13 years, give or take a few.



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Beauty!

[Leopolis Semper Fidelis]

I wrote the following on a similar thread recently, and it is germane to this discussion:

I bought a 10-pack box of Davidoff 80 Aniversario cigars c.1990, with two of the sticks in cedar tubes and the remainder had the usual thin cedar overlay.  The box was placed in a wardrobe where the temperature fluctuated between 12°C and 25°C and the relative humidity ranged from 40 to 65.  After less than a year, I noticed that all the cigars (including the the tubed ones - note that the tubes had a small hole in them) had white crystalline deposits on them, which I brushed off.  The cedar covers had oily stains as well.  The droplets (if one wants to call them so) never returned, and those cedars still have the oily residue.  Did I have the elusive bloom/plume?  Surely it wasn't mould.

[Cigar Surgeon]

Mold. It's always mold.

You can be guaranteed it's mold if you can take a picture of it, as plume show as crystals and won't show up for most photography unless you have a macro lens and good lighting.

I define plume as: A great story that uninformed B&Ms tell their customers in order to move product with mold on it.

[Colt45]

If plume is the result of essential oils migrating to, and crystallizing on, the wrapper surface, why would we think that a good thing?

How 'bout the Bloomin' Onion at Outback Steakhouse?

[Fuzz]

24 minutes ago, Colt45 said:

If plume is the result of essential oils migrating to, and crystallizing on, the wrapper surface, why would we think that a good thing?

How 'bout the Bloomin' Onion at Outback Steakhouse?

Why do you think they deep fry it? To hide the mold!

[Colt45]

39 minutes ago, Fuzz said:

Why do you think they deep fry it? To hide the mold!

No rules, just right!

[gusto616]

I detect a little Plume Envy.
You're right guys, it doesn't exist.
LOL


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[Smallclub]

50 minutes ago, SenorPerfecto said:

MOLD on the other hand is a product of improper storage.

No.

Mold is a natural phenomenon that has not always been considered undesirable. Zino Davidoff had no problem with it.

How do you explain that it occurs in every shop, every warehouse worldwide? Improper storage facilitates its apparition, but it's not a requirement.

[PigFish]

Mold on tobacco is a result of capillary water and the food source, the tobacco. The mold is eating the tobacco, not surviving on gamma rays.

I too can muster some respect for seasoned notable figures, but it does not mean that I blindly follow any of them. My dear mother was a seasoned notable figure and she told me that when a hair was shaved it comes in thicker...! I want to know how the dead hair knows that it has been cut?

The point in this is that it is well understood that short-term mold growth on a cigar does no damage. You don't send a box back because it has a little mold. The keys are little, and short-term. However long-term growth is damaging.

What did I post in the beginning? Most vendors, famous notables included, think that mold is okay because they are still interested in selling the stock that they have neglected to maintain. Yes, I said it... Mold growth on cigars is due to poor humidor administration. No one wants it, or likes it and it will do long-term damage of left to grow and thrive. Vendors don't care because they should not be storing cigars for years, they should be moving them along. They can have inherited the mold from the supplier, and it may not actually be active mold, or the vendors fault. Tubed cigars are prime examples here.

To my knowledge, but I am willing to hear all arguments, mold has zero benefit for a cigar. It can be a neutral event, and a negative event, but it is never a positive event.

I don't care what any vendor has to say about mold on cigars. They are ultimately biased... Present company excluded... If you present them a moldy master case and they see it, a dime will get you a dollar they will pass on the cigars as well. Now if the cigar is rare and they can make a killing (selling them)... they will brush the mold off and go right ahead and sell them off to the customer!!! Money has everything to do with the mold argument when you involve vendors, speculators and collectors, notable seasoned figures included.

Do we need to start a poll. If offered two identical cigars, one moldy and one not, which do you take?

I thought not...

-the Pig