I keep seeing posts about evil mold, but how bad is it really? We breathe in literally millions of types of spores with every breath, some are very useful, even medicinal. So is it overreacting to toss a tin with a few white spots? Is there any data about anyone actually being damaged by smoking some slightly moldy tobacco?
Just How Dangerous is Mold?
- Thread starter panamacharlie
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Roll the dice all the want. My health, even if I'm chicken little, it worth more than $12.99.
You are correct, spores are everywhere, but so is radiation. Doesn't mean I vacationing in Pripyat Reactor #4 (Chernobyl).
You are correct, spores are everywhere, but so is radiation. Doesn't mean I vacationing in Pripyat Reactor #4 (Chernobyl).
I've wondered about this myself. Can't find any conclusive answers, mostly anecdotal evidence. I seem to recall GL Pease writing about it, saying (more or less) that it depends on the type of mold. He argued that if it smells bad, it's almost certainly spoiled your tobacco's flavor. While in other cases if it's a small bit of mold, the offending part could be removed and still leave the remaining tobacco untainted.
Actually, there is information about this online. After the C&D Carolina Red disaster a couple of years ago, I did some looking and found answers. The bottom line, molds associated with tobacco are highly toxic.
Jimkinks contacted a friend of his who is a botanist to ask her about tobacco molds and her answer was simple. "Get rid of it!!"
Jimkinks contacted a friend of his who is a botanist to ask her about tobacco molds and her answer was simple. "Get rid of it!!"
The mold we breathe is randomly scattered throughout the atmosphere at a concentration of one part per zillion.
Pulling a soggy, fuzzy flake from a tin or jar and then setting it ablaze in order to take in the particulate laden smoke is a serious concentration of said molds directly into your body.
It's the difference between smelling nasty exhaust while crossing the street versus running your car in the closed garage while doing your deep breathing exercises sitting by the tail pipe.
Pulling a soggy, fuzzy flake from a tin or jar and then setting it ablaze in order to take in the particulate laden smoke is a serious concentration of said molds directly into your body.
It's the difference between smelling nasty exhaust while crossing the street versus running your car in the closed garage while doing your deep breathing exercises sitting by the tail pipe.
There is no way to say if you don't know what kind of mold it is. It is like saying if mushrooms are dangerous, some are delicious and some are deadly, you cannot really say by naming just mushrooms.
As a general rule I would be conservative and reject a baccy which has obvious mold unless I am sure of the contrary.
The real issue is what to do when we are not sure if it is mold or plum. My impression is that most of the times we think it is plum it is actually mold and here it comes the difficult decision to make.
As a general rule I would be conservative and reject a baccy which has obvious mold unless I am sure of the contrary.
The real issue is what to do when we are not sure if it is mold or plum. My impression is that most of the times we think it is plum it is actually mold and here it comes the difficult decision to make.
My scientist friend - a genetic botanist - said that smoking mold could get into your system and cause serve damage, even death. If it gets into your lungs, you are in big trouble. She has 37 years of experience, and she knows better than we do. Saving a few bucks isn't worth the potential problems.
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