MOULD ALERT: FVF 250g Bulk Box Riddled With Mould (Pics)

mawnansmiff · Jun 21, 2017

I just opened a fresh 250g box of Full Virginia Flake and got the shock of my life...it's green! I have encountered small patches of mould in tins in the past but never anything like this in a bulk box. As can be seen, there is nothing recoverable in this package so it is a total write off.
I seem to remember a while ago when asking the forum how best to cellar bulk boxes, open them up or leave them as they are? and many folks suggested they would be fine left as is. Having just opened this box I now see that as bad advice so get those boxes opened folks and check 'em out. Imagine sitting on a box for some years thinking it is ageing nicely only to open it and find this! :crying:

Regards,
Jay.

ashdigger · Jun 21, 2017

Wow Jay, if you go back through that thread you'll see I urged opening and jarring. That's really tragic. Thank you for the pictures.

cortezattic · Jun 21, 2017

I wonder if transferring the tobacco to a jar (which I always do) would have made a difference. My reasoning is that the tobacco probably came with the contaminating spores, and they would have grown in the jar as well.
I seem to recall that some, if not all, producers treat their tobaccos with a food-grade fungicide or inhibitor. Maybe Gawith's processing fell short for some reason. At what temperature was your package stored?

jvnshr · Jun 21, 2017

What a pity, Jay! I didn't give any advice about cellaring before, because I am not cellaring anything. If I had been cellaring, I would have never left any tobacco to age in its own packaging (even the pouches) except tins. Even tins could be unreliable sometimes. :-(

bluegrassbrian · Jun 21, 2017

Considering you're in the UK I can't help but think they'd gladly replace it for you.

paddypiper · Jun 21, 2017

Not that I have much experience first hand I've never seen that much mold on tobacco. Usually it's the little patches that are more common than they should be. Was the tobacco kept in a box or somewhere out of the light?

sablebrush52 · Jun 21, 2017

That's really unfortunate. The 250 gram boxes are nothing more than a baggie in a cardboard box. They're not a sealed container and need to be jarred. Tobacco doesn't age in a baggie. It needs to be jarred or tinned to age. Sorry that you were given bad advice by clueless people.

woopigpiper · Jun 21, 2017

This sucks. I opened up a vintage tin of moldy Wessex Sovereign Curly Cut the other day to this unpleasant surprise.

mawnansmiff · Jun 21, 2017

Cortez and Paddy, as stated on the first line of my post, this is a fresh box. It only arrived this morning.
I've been onto the supplier and a replacement will be dispatched tomorrow along with a return label so as they can pass it back to SG for a refund.
I now worry for those folks who cellared their bulk boxes without inspecting the contents :roll:
Regards,
Jay.

paddypiper · Jun 21, 2017

Oh ok. I didn't get that when I read your post. I thought you had meant you just opened the box for the first time.

didache · Jun 21, 2017

Jay - that is scary! It made me go to my two boxes of SG Navy Flake which were, thankfully, just fine. But I shall be jarring them tomorrow, thanks to your head's up on this.
Mike

bluegrasspipe · Jun 21, 2017

Jay, that is heartbreaking.. I hope they make it right..

pipestud · Jun 21, 2017

I wonder if transferring the tobacco to a jar (which I always do) would have made a difference. My reasoning is that the tobacco probably came with the contaminating spores, and they would have grown in the jar as well. - Cortez

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Click to expand...

As indicated by some of the posters here as well as from my own experience, Cortez is right, both bulk and tinned tobacco can have mold grow in them. Sealed bags of tobacco, even vacuum sealed commercial grade bags will eventually break down. For long term storage (I'm talking more than just a year or two), the contents should, IMO, be placed in sterile, air tight glass jars to preserve the leaf. In the case of Jay's tobacco, rushing to put the contents in a jar would probably not have helped, especially since he said it was a fresh bag that he just had received. The invasion had already begun before he got the tobacco.

clickklick · Jun 21, 2017

That bag has been compromised by a hole somewhere along the line which culminated the growth.
I'd return it for a replacement. Do not try and jar it as the mold will just continue to migrate, even if you only put in flakes that look visibly mold free.
I always jar after receiving bulk. And I am always very vigilant in continually checking the tobacco if I find that the sealed bag they arrived in had been compromised by a hole.

tozert · Jun 21, 2017

Wow, what a shame. At least it will be replaced. I just got a box of FVF and Brown Flake a couple of weeks ago, and I'm off to jar it right now after seeing that!

woodsroad · Jun 21, 2017

That bag has been compromised by a hole somewhere along the line which culminated the growth.

Probably not.
My guess is that the tobacco wasn't treated sufficiently with antifungals AND it was exposed to a lot of mold spores at some point, maybe before it was even processed at the factory. I doubt that this mold problem is isolated to this one box that Jay was unfortunate enough to receive.

mcitinner1 · Jun 21, 2017

Jay I opened two boxes of FVF this morning that are going in the mail, and they were in good condition. : puffy

:

jpmcwjr · Jun 21, 2017

Glad you caught that now, and not in several years'!
Mold, in order to grow, needs 1. Spores; 2. Temp above Xº; 3. Moisture above Y%. I believe absence of one of the above will prevent growth. Jay's situation developed long before he opened the package.
If your bulk tobacco seems very moist, dry it down a bit before jarring up in clean Mason or Ball jars. Then store away from heat.

saltedplug · Jun 21, 2017

Tins are usually good but bulk packaging usual/always not. Even Esoterica bags are suspect, though many say they are fine for long-term. Unless in a tin you might think of the packaging as the blender's cheapest means for getting the tobacco to you, leaving the expense and the effort of storage up to you. The blender's intention is to sell you bulk at the cheapest price that can give them the profit there need to survive.
A remark was made about tobacco requiring jars to age. I think this is not quite true as tobacco is an organic substance that continues to ferment no matter the conditions that do or do not contain it. Jars control the conditions of its fermentation, not the basic process itself. Air is a critical factor of the conditions, and tobacco ferments differently in its presence or absence, differently but not better, which is up to the palate of the smoker; and in any case to tell the difference requires a refined palate that I don't have.

mawnansmiff · Jun 21, 2017

I opened this particular package with the idea of rubbing it all out afore putting it in a jar to decant from as and when, not for long term storage.
Others I have opened and stacked in tall jars for slightly longer term keeping but I stopped doing that and at the risk of being shouted at I now jar up the whole 'baggie'. I can get three 'baggies' in one jar. The reasoning being that if perchance one baggie was compromised even slightly on arrival it shouldn't affect the neighbouring baggies. I visually check my jars weekly.
BTW, I don't stock up on baccy for ageing, that is just a bonus, I stock up merely because the day will come when internet sales of baccy are banned and I just want to make sure I have enough to see me out.
I would have been suicidal if I had stored several boxes (uninspected) for some years only to find I had a load of compost 8O
Regards,
Jay.

MOULD ALERT: FVF 250g Bulk Box Riddled With Mould (Pics)

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