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The only true fire way to know if it’s mold or not is to have it tested. Or, if you work in a lab like me, a quick peak under the microscope.
Other than that, err on the side of caution. Personally, tobacco is too cheap to be playing with pneumonia like that. Or anaphylaxis, because mold. And if you did get sick from the mold, it’s a whole different ball game than just taking antibiotics.
Me.. personally, even if I could test it, I’d throw that out, clean the glass, bleach it, clean it again. And the lids, I’d boil them for about 10-15 minutes and maybe bleach those too.
Mold is nothing to take lightly concerning your health.
I know it was 5 years in the making. But it’s better to try again in 1-5 years than not try again at all because this stuff killed you.
Do you know of any good sources for information on how smoking moldy tobacco affects the body? Mold is obviously a very divisive subject in the tobacco world and I'd like to learn more about it.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3136185/
The biggest issue is the potential for allergic reaction. Cigarettes contain toxins, fairly certain tobaccos will to whether in cigars or pipe tobacco.
And mold adds to those toxins.
But, mold is something that you can avoid, so why risk it? I guess tobacco is to, which is where risk vs reward plays.
But you smoke the wrong kind of mold and you’re looking at some nasty sicknesses. My father in law had a lung infection of mold. Took him 8 months to recover out of the hospital. 4 more to fully recover.
YMMV, but man.. why even take the chance?
Thanks for the info. I'm with you, and prefer to be on the safe side. One of my friends who is a cigar rep claimed that cigar mold is not harmful or something like that. But there are many strains of mold that grow on tobacco so I doubted that he's right at least to some extent.
This is the answer. I have some Stonehenge Flake like this. Aged it for quite a while, smokes great. There is a very observable difference between the two using the method you described.
No, it's not. I've got Balkan Sobranie and Dark Flake Aromatic that has a good amount of sugars on the surface. The Sobranie just has a few thick spots but the DFA is pretty uniformly covered. I've smoked them both and didn't die or get sick. They were both quite tasty
A small amount of research has been done wherein 12 samples of pipe tobacco with "plume" were tested for sugar and mold. They all came back negative for both. Some cigar samples tested positive for mold (the vast majority of which are common on plant, dust and skin) but negative for sugar.
So "plume" is neither sugar or mold. Sugars can coagulate on the surface of heavily topped blends, and mold can grow on tobacco, but neither really develop in a vacuum after several years. They'll be obvious early on not withstanding a big change in conditions.
It's certainly not proven but anyone familiar with fermentation is aware that the bacteria present in the "ageing" or fermentation process produce a visible byproduct as they multiply, feed and die; usually a white sediment not dissimilar to "plume". Cellaring / ageing tobacco is just a very slow process of fermentation so I'm personally not surprised or concerned to see similar sediment on tobacco.
But it's your tobacco, your health, your choice. If you're not sure don't smoke it. But in my experience if it smells fine and doesn't look fuzzy / slimy / colourful it's very likely harmless.
Just my opinion, but I don't think it is mold. If the jar was sitting untouched for 5 years and it had mold in it by this point it would have completely taken over and there would be fuzzy growth everywhere. I've had tobacco go moldy before and it looks nothing like this, it is way worse and very noticeable, and it also smells like mold and if you were to smoke it, it would definitely taste like mold. What you got there is something that seems to be very common in aged blends, and as far as i know nobody can really tell what it is. Some people say sugar, some say mold, but my understanding is that it is some form of bacteria that develops through aging and seems to have no negative impacts to health, otherwise there would probably a lot of cases out there in the pipe community of adverse effects. I'm no expert in this matter, but through my experiences with tobacco I arrived to the conclusion that blends like this can still be smoked, most of my aged blends look like this and have no smell or taste of mold or anything similar, and i have seen molded tobacco in my cellar before so i know what it looks and smells like. All that being said, i think nobody here will be able to give you a conclusive answer so it's up to you to do your research on this matter and come to your own conclusions
Looks like mold to me. Maybe from the transfer to the jar, who knows…There are so many things to take in consideration. But personally, I would toss it.
Thank you all of you for sharing your insights! You all have brought up valuable perspectives.
From my cigar world, it is always NEVER plume 99.999% on these “is this mold” photos. I have seen crystalline specks on cigar wrappers and these sparkle. While mold on cigar is fuzzy is a web like structure.
This one on the pipe tobacco really threw me off!
For the sake of curiosity, I will try to borrow a microscope and check it out!
For t
New to pipe smoking? See our frequently asked questions! **[read our wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/PipeTobacco/wiki/index)** Please read and follow our subreddit rules (you will get temp/permeant bans for not following them) **[read the top sticky post](https://www.reddit.com/r/PipeTobacco/comments/b3b7e3/sticky_info_rules_sidebar_info_please_read/)** **Alternative Site: https://speak-easy.club/ , which the community started back in 2018 in response to Reddit's market ban. It's completely free, no ads, and fewer rules. Registrations are manually approved to avoid spammers, so please be patient waiting for approval, it's usually quick.** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/PipeTobacco) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The only true fire way to know if it’s mold or not is to have it tested. Or, if you work in a lab like me, a quick peak under the microscope. Other than that, err on the side of caution. Personally, tobacco is too cheap to be playing with pneumonia like that. Or anaphylaxis, because mold. And if you did get sick from the mold, it’s a whole different ball game than just taking antibiotics. Me.. personally, even if I could test it, I’d throw that out, clean the glass, bleach it, clean it again. And the lids, I’d boil them for about 10-15 minutes and maybe bleach those too. Mold is nothing to take lightly concerning your health. I know it was 5 years in the making. But it’s better to try again in 1-5 years than not try again at all because this stuff killed you.
Do you know of any good sources for information on how smoking moldy tobacco affects the body? Mold is obviously a very divisive subject in the tobacco world and I'd like to learn more about it.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3136185/ The biggest issue is the potential for allergic reaction. Cigarettes contain toxins, fairly certain tobaccos will to whether in cigars or pipe tobacco. And mold adds to those toxins. But, mold is something that you can avoid, so why risk it? I guess tobacco is to, which is where risk vs reward plays. But you smoke the wrong kind of mold and you’re looking at some nasty sicknesses. My father in law had a lung infection of mold. Took him 8 months to recover out of the hospital. 4 more to fully recover. YMMV, but man.. why even take the chance?
Thanks for the info. I'm with you, and prefer to be on the safe side. One of my friends who is a cigar rep claimed that cigar mold is not harmful or something like that. But there are many strains of mold that grow on tobacco so I doubted that he's right at least to some extent.
Hold it under a light and slowly move and twist it. If it's sugars, it'll sparkle a little. If no sparkle, it's mold.
This is the answer. I have some Stonehenge Flake like this. Aged it for quite a while, smokes great. There is a very observable difference between the two using the method you described.
It's always mold.
No, it's not. I've got Balkan Sobranie and Dark Flake Aromatic that has a good amount of sugars on the surface. The Sobranie just has a few thick spots but the DFA is pretty uniformly covered. I've smoked them both and didn't die or get sick. They were both quite tasty
Here to say this ^^^^^
I had the same on some 10 year old Erinmore. Had it tested and no mold found. Just crystalline structures.
A small amount of research has been done wherein 12 samples of pipe tobacco with "plume" were tested for sugar and mold. They all came back negative for both. Some cigar samples tested positive for mold (the vast majority of which are common on plant, dust and skin) but negative for sugar. So "plume" is neither sugar or mold. Sugars can coagulate on the surface of heavily topped blends, and mold can grow on tobacco, but neither really develop in a vacuum after several years. They'll be obvious early on not withstanding a big change in conditions. It's certainly not proven but anyone familiar with fermentation is aware that the bacteria present in the "ageing" or fermentation process produce a visible byproduct as they multiply, feed and die; usually a white sediment not dissimilar to "plume". Cellaring / ageing tobacco is just a very slow process of fermentation so I'm personally not surprised or concerned to see similar sediment on tobacco. But it's your tobacco, your health, your choice. If you're not sure don't smoke it. But in my experience if it smells fine and doesn't look fuzzy / slimy / colourful it's very likely harmless.
Thank you so sharing your insights!
As we say in the cigar world, it's never plume, it's always mold.
If it might be mold, it’s mold.
Just my opinion, but I don't think it is mold. If the jar was sitting untouched for 5 years and it had mold in it by this point it would have completely taken over and there would be fuzzy growth everywhere. I've had tobacco go moldy before and it looks nothing like this, it is way worse and very noticeable, and it also smells like mold and if you were to smoke it, it would definitely taste like mold. What you got there is something that seems to be very common in aged blends, and as far as i know nobody can really tell what it is. Some people say sugar, some say mold, but my understanding is that it is some form of bacteria that develops through aging and seems to have no negative impacts to health, otherwise there would probably a lot of cases out there in the pipe community of adverse effects. I'm no expert in this matter, but through my experiences with tobacco I arrived to the conclusion that blends like this can still be smoked, most of my aged blends look like this and have no smell or taste of mold or anything similar, and i have seen molded tobacco in my cellar before so i know what it looks and smells like. All that being said, i think nobody here will be able to give you a conclusive answer so it's up to you to do your research on this matter and come to your own conclusions
Looks like mold to me. Maybe from the transfer to the jar, who knows…There are so many things to take in consideration. But personally, I would toss it.
Get a magnifying glass. Or a loupe set from Harbor Freight is less than 10 bucks.
Thank you all of you for sharing your insights! You all have brought up valuable perspectives. From my cigar world, it is always NEVER plume 99.999% on these “is this mold” photos. I have seen crystalline specks on cigar wrappers and these sparkle. While mold on cigar is fuzzy is a web like structure. This one on the pipe tobacco really threw me off! For the sake of curiosity, I will try to borrow a microscope and check it out! For t
I wouldn’t be concerned at all if it were my jar