Almost Threw This Away

[DotAndBang’sPipes]

Aged Stonehaven that I thought was molded… I put it out in the sun and could see crystals everywhere. I’m still a little iffy about it because, when not in the sunlight, it just looks like white streaks of that which shall not be named. In terms of the smell test, it’s hard to say. The Esoterica scent is so strong in the tin that its pungency confuses my nostrils. I’ve read some of the posts here that note Esoterica flakes can and do crystallize like crazy when aged. So it makes sense. But I really did almost throw it out!

 

[newbroom]

Send it back.

 

[ThermionicScott]

If you're still worried about it, I can PM you my address.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Aged Stonehaven

I'd definitely have thrown that away.

 

[Architeuthis]

get yourself a 30x loupe. you''ll be able to see if it is fuzzy or just crusty looking with some magnification

 

[anotherbob]

seriously if it was mold you'd have tossed it.

 

[ophiuchus]

It’s hard to tell if those spots are nucleations or nodules from these images. I’d hold off consuming it until you can get a better look.

 

[BingBong]

Well, smoking a bit of it might be the arbiter. Either it will make you boak, or it will be the finest unicorn you have ever smoked, in the sad knowledge that it's not repeatable.

 

[sablebrush52]

When in doubt, throw it out. But making a determination based on photos is not really reliable.

When I see sparkles that run through a flake like a strata in a rock I'm pretty comfortable that it's plume, or mineral deposits that have traveled to the surface of the flake, and not an issue. If it looks like Santa's beard, cotton blobs, or a cobweb, out in the trash it goes.

 

[sardonicus87]

Just set a piece out in a moist environment for a week and you'll know if it starts growing.

This isn't rocket surgery.

 

[Coreios]

My rule is if I can't wipe it off It gets tossed, that means its growing out of it. That's just me though.

 

[DotAndBang’sPipes]

Update: I moved it out of the jar and into a different tin to carry with me on a trip. When I opened that back up a few days later there was a definitive smell or mold. Tossed!

 

[bluegrassbrian]

Looks like normal Stonehaven to me.

 

[EchoPlex]

Dang, I would have loved to examine this under my stereo scope, but saw this thread too late. I think this might be a case of both micro-crystalline deposits AND mold, but would have to examine under the microscope where mold structures are easy to identify. Micro-crystalline deposits are very common on aged Stonehaven and can often look nefarious when they are not. But the bad smell you report leads me to believe both.

Edit: Forgot to say - Old Stonehaven, Hampton, and RDF can have a bit of "barnyard" funk to them on the jar. Some might perceive this as negative, but this note is not that of mold. Mold will smell like if a laundry load sat too long before being put in the dryer or worse. There are good funks and bad funks.

 

[isaac]

Stonehaven always looks like that. Something with their processing. Penzance has a touch of it as well