Stonehaven: Plume Or Mold?

[jeff540]

I have two bags from 2019 that are as of yet unopened. I'm still working on the bag I bought in 2018, and probably won't finish it for another year or so.

But out of curiosity I may just open one of the 2019 bags to see if there is that much of a difference. The OP's photograph looks like Sam Gawith FVF to me...

 

[hauntedmyst]

How is Stonehaven? The only place around me that has it is in the bags and I'm hesitant to drop $60 on it just to try it.

 

[canadianpuffer]

How is Stonehaven? The only place around me that has it is in the bags and I'm hesitant to drop $60 on it just to try it.

Just try Germains rich dark flake, easier to get and practically identical

 

[Chasing Embers]

How is Stonehaven? The only place around me that has it is in the bags and I'm hesitant to drop $60 on it just to try it.

Great if you like treacle. Not a fan myself.?

 

[jpmcwjr]

How is Stonehaven? The only place around me that has it is in the bags and I'm hesitant to drop $60 on it just to try it.

Buy it and sell it here for a modest profit.....

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Just try Germains rich dark flake, easier to get and practically identical

How is RDF easier to get when it is only sold in the UK? I think RDF is superb and I like it better than Stonehaven. I see some similarities but I also think they are significantly different.

 

[SpookedPiper]

How is Stonehaven? The only place around me that has it is in the bags and I'm hesitant to drop $60 on it just to try it.

I'll split it with you if you want, I haven't had the chance to try it either. Let me know..either way it would be easy to sell if you didn't enjoy it.

 

[canadianpuffer]

How is RDF easier to get when it is only sold in the UK? I think RDF is superb and I like it better than Stonehaven. I see some similarities but I also think they are significantly different.

As in it’s always available to the UK market. And I’ve made enough deals with UK pipers I can order to them and they will ship it to me. A lot of guys seem to have made similar arrangements for US friends. But the retailers only stopped shipping to Canada about a year or two ago. So building a stockpile then was even easier. I know they didn’t ship stateside however.

 

[badbriar]

A cigar forum owner had a lab do a series of tests on 'plume' and mold. This was from dozens of samples submitted from literally throughout the globe. Results were rather interesting. ALL of the samples received (yes, from dozens of samples) proved to be various strains of mold. The series of tests proved that there is actually no such provable thing as plume. Yep - all of the submitted samples of 'plume' that he received turned out to be mold. Photos were absolutely convincing that many of the samples were gorgeous crystals and just HAD to be plume. Not! ??

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

As in it’s always available to the UK market. And I’ve made enough deals with UK pipers I can order to them and they will ship it to me. A lot of guys seem to have made similar arrangements for US friends. But the retailers only stopped shipping to Canada about a year or two ago. So building a stockpile then was even easier. I know they didn’t ship stateside however.

Few people have contacts in the UK that will purchase and ship RDF to them. I'm fortunate to have a friend there who has sent me several pounds. It is quite good. Since Stonehaven is actually shipped here to the states, it is easier to obtain.

 

[Casual]

A cigar forum owner had a lab do a series of tests on 'plume' and mold. This was from dozens of samples submitted from literally throughout the globe. Results were rather interesting. ALL of the samples received (yes, from dozens of samples) proved to be various strains of mold. The series of tests proved that there is actually no such provable thing as plume. Yep - all of the submitted samples of 'plume' that he received turned out to be mold. Photos were absolutely convincing that many of the samples were gorgeous crystals and just HAD to be plume. Not! ??

Do you have a link?

 

[Chasing Embers]

Do you have a link?

FOH Mould Study

The idea behind the mould study was to shed some light into the world of mould and plume. Earlier in the year we asked for examples of both from members and then selected 10 representative cigars for testing. Testing was undertaken by the team at Australia Biotech Laboratories. In the event that ...

www.friendsofhabanos.com

 

[Casual]

FOH Mould Study

The idea behind the mould study was to shed some light into the world of mould and plume. Earlier in the year we asked for examples of both from members and then selected 10 representative cigars for testing. Testing was undertaken by the team at Australia Biotech Laboratories. In the event that ...

www.friendsofhabanos.com

Thanks, that was interesting. I would love to see equivalent work done on pipe tobacco.

 

[blues4goose]

A cigar forum owner had a lab do a series of tests on 'plume' and mold. This was from dozens of samples submitted from literally throughout the globe. Results were rather interesting. ALL of the samples received (yes, from dozens of samples) proved to be various strains of mold. The series of tests proved that there is actually no such provable thing as plume. Yep - all of the submitted samples of 'plume' that he received turned out to be mold. Photos were absolutely convincing that many of the samples were gorgeous crystals and just HAD to be plume. Not! ??

I wrote an article on plume & mold on cigars for my company's Cigar of the Month Club, and I referenced this study as the major factor that played into me becoming a plume naysayer. If you dig deep enough into the thread and everywhere it goes, you'll find that they actually did a test on a few different pipe tobaccos as well, and got the same result. No plume, just identifiable species of mold or bacteria.

 

[blues4goose]

https://www.friendsofhabanos.com/forum/topic/131757-foh-mould-study/page/6/

On pg 6 they tested several different pipe tobaccos,
"Unfortunately they came back as common bacterial plant growths. FYI - rendered harmless by the protective effects of the immune system. "

 

[Casual]

https://www.friendsofhabanos.com/forum/topic/131757-foh-mould-study/page/6/

On pg 6 they tested several different pipe tobaccos,
"Unfortunately they came back as common bacterial plant growths. FYI - rendered harmless by the protective effects of the immune system. "

Thanks, I jumped to the end of the thread and missed that.

 

[Casual]

https://www.friendsofhabanos.com/forum/topic/131757-foh-mould-study/page/6/

On pg 6 they tested several different pipe tobaccos,
"Unfortunately they came back as common bacterial plant growths. FYI - rendered harmless by the protective effects of the immune system. "

I read further. It’s definitely not tested well enough to actually determine what I want to know. It looks like they tested for mould/bacteria first, and only on a negative result would they test to see what the white stuff actually was.

The pipe tobacco “plume” samples cultured bacteria growth in a dish, so they never went on to analyze the white stuff further. Not mould, please note: not fungus. Just bacteria, in probably harmless quantities.

But, that doesn’t rule out plume, it just shows that there’s bacteria at a threshold to begin a culture on the tobacco. Well, sure, who would bet otherwise? They didn’t even send in a control; a non-plume fresh flake to test to see if it also cultured bacteria. I’ll bet it would.

So it seems like a lot of the “sciencey” stuff going on nowadays. There are people with graduate degrees running around in lab coats using petri dishes and Bunsen burners, but the methodology used likely doesn’t justify the conclusions drawn. Repeatability crisis, anyone?

 

[BROBS]

I mean wouldn’t the bacteria have to be present to create the plume?

 

[kola]

Wow ! Could it be ? No such thing as plume? All of it nothing but different types of mold?

I saw the link (study?) posted above, I started reading it - but I'll have to put aside some time to get through all of it.

I thought (years back) it was Greg Pease? who talked in detail about the fermenting of tobacco sugars creating what many of us came to believe as plume. And plume being a good thing, as a highly ripened enrichment of the tobacco. <scratchin' my head here> wtf.

Next thing ya' know people will tell me there's no such thing as Santa.

BTW, I do like Stonehaven very much on rare occasion. And I don't think RDF is the same as SH.

 

[kola]

from 2017, guess I missed it :

Plume = Bacteria :: General Pipe Smoking Discussion - https://pipesmagazine.com/forums/threads/plume-bacteria.61216/