Mold?

...difficult to call without a visual...

+1 on pics. I've never had Wood bridge but Blackpool seem always has white stuff on it. I was worried it was mold, according to the interwebs people it's the topping they use. I guess it turns white over time.

If it's tiny white beads, what I have read is it is blooming from the tobacco and some prefer smoking it. I had one jar come up with clumped tobacco the size of ping pong balls and I could see the mold over it. Mold will spread out not clump, unless it causes, as I said, the tobacco to clump. Mold has more colors than white, depending on type. Tiny Beads I would not worry about

Those pictures ARE alarming. When you wrote glittery and no smell, I thought "probably plume/bloom". But looking at these images makes me think cobwebs and Santa's beard, and that's mold. Do you know anyone who can analyze a sample for you?

Tobacco mold is really toxic to humans, though more so to humans too stupid to throw out moldy tobacco.

as with food . . . if in doubt, toss it out.

That is terrifying! Sorry about the loss of all that premium smoke, brother..

papipeguy The 'Summer of 2017' comment... should I be scared? As a new pipesmoker, my entire cellar is 2016-2017!


Also.. I read a great, but disheartening article someone shared from a cigar site in which they tested many cigars at a university and in every instance it was mold. They actually claimed the sugar bloom thing was a myth. 

I am going to be a voice of dissent (who me?). It's clear that papipeguy's sample is mold - you can see the fuzzy, wispy stuff that's actually growing above and beyond the tobacco itself. But in the pics tedvig posted the white is more uniform, almost coating the entire strands. Combine that with the fact that white stuff is known to occur on some Eso blends, and I think the jury's still out - especially with blurry pics. I think it could very well be dried sugar-based topping. Blackpool, at least, is very obviously licorice-topped, and is even a little gooey when fresh. When dried it gets a uniform white coating, which disappears when rehydrated.

tedvig, When you hold it in the sun does it glisten a little? If so, it's not mold.

Here's a good thread with excellent pics of Blackpool:

pipesmokersforum.com/community/threads/bloomin-blackpool.59254/

And here's one from reddit with a Woodbridge sample (scroll down to comment from user Fuzzy_Totemz):
www.reddit.com/r/cigars/comments/6uljgm/hoping_someone_can_tell_me_if_these_are_moldy_or/

Yikes! Nothing like that!

I sent a sample of Blackpool to a scientist member over at PSF, and he was going to analyze with a scanning electron microscope or some such gizmo. But alas, he never did (at least to my knowledge).

I think there's a difference between plume and the stuff on Blackpool. I've never seen plume cover so uniformly. I'm pretty convinced it dried topping, and since it's sugar based it would also be sparkly and crystalline.

Smoking some now, BTW, and it's all sweet VA licorice goodness.  Not a trace of must or mold.

I say heavy plume.  Looking at the flake on the right zoomed on my 24" monitor, it clearly follows the grain of the leaf in the flake.  That's a sign of plume.  Mold spreads willy nilly and doesn't follow the grain of the leaf.

Try smoking some of it.  If your hair falls out after smoking it, I was wrong.   
 

The other thing I noticed is that I took a little to dry out in the microwave and the plume melted. I have to think that oils and sugar crystals might do that whereas mold would not. I could be wrong. Hopefully, this won't have an adverse affect on my hairline.

I think I am going to buy a cheap microscope and a book or two on mycology. Not only seems prudent with all I have invested, but fun.

Hahaha  I'm gonna call you Double Entendre The Giant.


12k is a little more than I'm willing to spend.   The one I buy will probably have pictures of children on the box. haha  There are a lot of cheap-os on Amazon that look more than adequate.  This actually looks like a must have.

link