Esoterica Bloom

Plume remains a much bigger mystery in the world of cigars than in pipe tobacco from what I am learning here.  When we cigar smokers talk about it there are all kinds of mitigating factors that nobody can say for certain are the cause either way.  The group of people I have discussed this with have concluded that several factors completely out of our control may be the catalyst.  We are all quite fanatical about the preservation of our cigars to a point of being ...... well ..... fanatical   And then there are the couple cigar makers or vendors who chime in a remind us that cigars may spend weeks in the hold of a ship where the humidity and temperature would kill a human being.

I had a long conversation with Pete Johnson the maker of Tatuaje cigars at a charity function and we laughed about the angst that presents itself with the dilemma of receiving a box of cigars which you intend to age.  There is nothing better than removing the plastic wrapper and opening a 12 year old box of cigars and letting the view and the aroma overwhelm you.  There is nothing worse than opening that box to find it full of mold which was clearly there the day you received the box.

In the case of cigars it is the oils and not the sugars which can result in plume and I think it makes sense that different cigars have wildly varying amounts of oils in them when they are shipped.  And unlike pipe tobacco, those oils will disappear forever if the cigar gets too dry even for a short period of time and there is nothing which can be done to bring the flavor back.  Plume on a cigar will look like powder but also have a crystalline appearance under a scope, mold will look like spider webs with major intersections.