Heavenly goodness. It’s a byproduct of the aging and fermentation process.
Unless you’re a retailer and then it’s ALWAYS plume
It's a white crystal substance that sometimes appears on tobacco, typically after being stored in a tin or jar for a few years. Pipe smokers debate over what the crystals consist of and whether they actually make the tobacco smoke better. It's unpredictable and doesn't always occur regardless of how old the tobacco is; however most smokers take it as a sign of good fortune and that the cellaring is going well. Along with mold (plume's evil adversary) it represents the lore and mystique of pipe smoking.
Got those crystals on a box of semois cheroots and oh my god did they go from good to sublime.
oh yes and more often then with pipe tobacco. Then again the idea of cellaring pipe tobacco seems like only a recent thing as far it being common. In fact many posts about it with pipe tobacco used to reference I know with cigars it works this way, is it the same with pipe tobacco?
The word "plume" came from the cigar world and unfortunately some brethren here have adopted it in place of "Bloom" which describes the crystals that can form on pipe tobacco.
Plume can also occur on unprocessed hanging tobacco.
