Mold!!?? Sobranie New Tin
- Thread starter drbenway
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I wouldn't. None of my Sobranie has had anything that looked like that on it, and I've recently had jar-aged and freshly de-tinned stuff in front of me. That looks like freshly de-tinned stuff that got infected with something in the jar. My jar-aged stuff was much darker and had some age crystals on it, but they looked like sugar crystals. The freshly-opened stuff has some crystals on it, but not as many, and they still look like sugar. :
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Looks like a type of mold to me. As for smoking moldy tobacco, not a good idea. Do a little reading on the forms of mold that form on tobacco and what they do to one's lungs. It ain't pretty.
There are people who will smoke moldy tobacco to prove something. They're imbeciles.
There are people who will smoke moldy tobacco to prove something. They're imbeciles.
I never wash my new jars. Ball and Mason jars are sanitized before shipping. Moisture in the jar as it was drying may have accumulated some bacteria.
No worries on that, just joking. I haven't been an imbecile for at least 5 years. I guess my question is- is there a greater chance it is something I did or didn't do vs just something with the tobacco? So i can be more cautious in the future with my handling of tobacco.
It's probably a fungus of some sort. It would have to be examined by a mycologist to determine exactly what it is. As for "why" it is there, there are several possibilities.
First, mold spores will always be present, especially in a crop like tobacco. The only way to kill them is by autoclaving or using chemicals that would ruin the tobacco and that you would not want to smoke.
Second, the conditions need to be right for the spores to germinate. To keep mold from growing, tobacco either has to be treated with an anti-fungal or the environment has to be unfavorable to reproduction. For tobacco, that would mostly mean a low moisture content and cool temperatures. So either the tobacco wasn't treated properly with anti-fungals in manufacturing, or the conditions changed (increased moisture and temperature) to allow the spores to germinate.
Who is responsible for this mold bloom is difficult to determine via the internet.
Either way, I wouldn't smoke it.
First, mold spores will always be present, especially in a crop like tobacco. The only way to kill them is by autoclaving or using chemicals that would ruin the tobacco and that you would not want to smoke.
Second, the conditions need to be right for the spores to germinate. To keep mold from growing, tobacco either has to be treated with an anti-fungal or the environment has to be unfavorable to reproduction. For tobacco, that would mostly mean a low moisture content and cool temperatures. So either the tobacco wasn't treated properly with anti-fungals in manufacturing, or the conditions changed (increased moisture and temperature) to allow the spores to germinate.
Who is responsible for this mold bloom is difficult to determine via the internet.
Either way, I wouldn't smoke it.
This repeated notion that your hands were dirty before handling the tobacco and a person introduced the mold spores always makes me laugh. If I'm reusing a jar I simply wash it out first. Never encountered mold, I attribute moldy tobacco to improper treatment of fungicide, handing tobacco which is grown in dirt with hands that aren't sterile isn't going to add any more mold spores than are already there. It's a plant, it has mold spores. Face it.
Me,too. I totally blame the blender. It's not like tobacco is living tissue that must be kept in a septic environment, or that you need rubber gloves and a surgical mask to handle it. I put my filthy paws in tobacco jars, tins, and bags all the time and never transmitted mold to them. In fact, I've never seen the user-error argument before. Like when C&D has mold problems, everyone assume it's them and not the user's poor hygiene.
I agree that moldy pipe tobacco is almost always a result of manufacturer error.
But there certainly are scenarios where the consumer would be to blame for mold growth. An example would be a manufacturer that doesn't have to treat with antifungals because they ship the product dry enough that mold will not grow. Then the consumer raises the moisture content of the product (intentionally or unintentionally) and BOOM, conditions are right and mold spores germinate.
But that's a hypothetical and probably doesn't happen. Much.
But there certainly are scenarios where the consumer would be to blame for mold growth. An example would be a manufacturer that doesn't have to treat with antifungals because they ship the product dry enough that mold will not grow. Then the consumer raises the moisture content of the product (intentionally or unintentionally) and BOOM, conditions are right and mold spores germinate.
But that's a hypothetical and probably doesn't happen. Much.
I am still going on with Staph bacteria again. Bear with me. It looks similar to Staph on a blood agar plate. Staph, normal and pathogenic, can get into the sinuses. Normal Staph is already there. How does Staph spread in hospitals? Nurse care that is close contact. I caught a Beta Staph that way in 1978.
What do you do with your tobacco? You sniff it. When you are exhaling you are probably breathing on your tobacco.
I am certainly not ruling out manufacturer error, but bacteria is a lot more common to spread in the air than yeast and mold. BTW, some molds are also yeast, depending on the temperature. Dimorphic.
I wouldn't put it in any warm place until you watch Steve McQueen in The Blob. You are warned
What do you do with your tobacco? You sniff it. When you are exhaling you are probably breathing on your tobacco.
I am certainly not ruling out manufacturer error, but bacteria is a lot more common to spread in the air than yeast and mold. BTW, some molds are also yeast, depending on the temperature. Dimorphic.
I wouldn't put it in any warm place until you watch Steve McQueen in The Blob. You are warned
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