Mould Problem: HELP Please.
- Thread starter mawnansmiff
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I had the same think happen to me once. It was a jar of capstan blue Flake. It was under identical conditions as all my other jarred tobaccos. It was all on one corner of the flakes so I assume it was the result of some sort of contamination durimg my handling of the flakes. I threw the entire contents away and it has never happened again. I do take a little more precaution when transferring blends to jar now. Good luck with the rest of your brown sugar Flake.
To be honest, I've never had a mold issue. I've left stuff in jars for years with no special care. I use the same jars for coffee beans and tobacco. If I go to use a jar and it has dust in it from one or the other, or a smell from previous contents, I wipe it clean. Rarely, I will wash and dry it. If you are going to have a mold, I don't think it is from lack of sterilization under UV light and ozone, I think is is something with the baccy you put in it, perhaps multiplied by some real bad storage conditions maybe. I think if you use reasonable care and reasonable storage, you'll be alright 99% of the time.
Well folks here we are, prepare yourselves for some nasty pictures!
The first is the bulk of the tainted tobacco....now flushed down the toilet (saved some in a sealed petri dish for future examination under the biological microscope). The following are close up shots, each of which is about 4mm across...spores aplenty I would say :crying:
I'm inclined to agree with Cortez and Toob inasmuch as this is a one off...I sincerely hope it is. How it happened I cannot say but clearly something got into the jar when I was loading it with baccy. It wasn't the first time that jar had been filled with Brown Sugar Flake so I must have introduced some nasties when I last filled it up.
I cannot think of anything I can do to prevent this happening again so fingers crossed this is a first and last time for me.
Regards,
Jay.
The first is the bulk of the tainted tobacco....now flushed down the toilet (saved some in a sealed petri dish for future examination under the biological microscope). The following are close up shots, each of which is about 4mm across...spores aplenty I would say :crying:
I'm inclined to agree with Cortez and Toob inasmuch as this is a one off...I sincerely hope it is. How it happened I cannot say but clearly something got into the jar when I was loading it with baccy. It wasn't the first time that jar had been filled with Brown Sugar Flake so I must have introduced some nasties when I last filled it up.
I cannot think of anything I can do to prevent this happening again so fingers crossed this is a first and last time for me.
Regards,
Jay.
Sorry for the baccy but those pictures are great. We should keep them for the future references.
@bigpond :rofl:
@bigpond :rofl:
I have over 100 jars in my cellar, but no mold. All jarred straight out of the tin and into a fresh jar. AI open them, smell them, get tobacco out. Never had an issue. Also only 2 of the blends are C&D. And they were very aged when I opened them. Not sure why you have the mold growth, I think this happens when a sample comes contaminated from the factory if the jar is indeed brand new.
Well clearly, certain conditions must be met. Mold spores are everywhere, in the air, on the tobacco, the problem is what takes them from being dormant? They need a food source--- obviously the tobacco, but if you keep the RH down, below 70% and keep the storage area cooler, the sixties are nice, you greatly improve your chances of staying mold free, that is, inactive.
Other than that, if a particular tobacco gets moldy, chances are good that something happened to it early in life. It did not have good ventilation while drying or was subjected to excessive dampness, and so already had an active colony when you got it.
Other than that, if a particular tobacco gets moldy, chances are good that something happened to it early in life. It did not have good ventilation while drying or was subjected to excessive dampness, and so already had an active colony when you got it.
Jay- Was that tobacco pretty moist when you jarred it?
Toob- Very few tobaccos come with an RH as low as your preferred 70%, so drying would be required before jarring.
Toob- Very few tobaccos come with an RH as low as your preferred 70%, so drying would be required before jarring.
Brown Sugar Flake is very moist and takes a long time to dry, IMO. Maybe the moisture and sugars override their mold inhibitors and provide a feast for the mold spores.
"Mold spores are everywhere, in the air, on the tobacco"
Absolutely true Toob but there are mould spores and there are mould spores...likely zillions of different types and of course they are everywhere. Evidently some particular tobacco loving mould spores were hanging around either when it was packed at the factory or here when I jarred it up. I'm leaning toward the latter.
"Jay- Was that tobacco pretty moist when you jarred it?"
Yes John, it's a Gawith blend afterall and they are not known for selling dry tobacco :wink:
When I can be bothered I'll dig out my more powerful biological 'scope and attempt to identify which family of moulds this is. That said, I am no mycologist but it's clearly a saprotrophic fungus given the growing medium.
We shall see!
Regards,
Jay.
Absolutely true Toob but there are mould spores and there are mould spores...likely zillions of different types and of course they are everywhere. Evidently some particular tobacco loving mould spores were hanging around either when it was packed at the factory or here when I jarred it up. I'm leaning toward the latter.
"Jay- Was that tobacco pretty moist when you jarred it?"
Yes John, it's a Gawith blend afterall and they are not known for selling dry tobacco :wink:
When I can be bothered I'll dig out my more powerful biological 'scope and attempt to identify which family of moulds this is. That said, I am no mycologist but it's clearly a saprotrophic fungus given the growing medium.
We shall see!
Regards,
Jay.
Mold free here!
Just came up from my cellar to inspect everything for the first time in about 8-9 months and all is OK. The cellar stays in the 60's and is very dry. If it is not in a tin, I keep it in a glass mason jar. First, I took all of my square tins and wrapped them with tape. Been meaning to do that. One by one I went through the jars and it is funny the stuff you find you forgot you had.
Kinda hard not to open stuff and sniff it or take some back up but I have plenty to smoke upstairs. Lots of ropes, plugs, cakes, flakes and coins. All looking dandy. What I found interesting was that the only places I could get a sense of tobacco smell were the tubs that had tins stored in them!
Some nice plume on some G&H Brown Flake.
Considering what tobacco goes through drying, processing and storing, I think it unlikely that all tobacco doesn't have spores in it. Being super clean about hands, jars etc., doesn't hurt but unless they are filthy, I'm not sure it is a huge factor. The kicker is keeping it inactive. Don't give mold the conditions it wants. Cool temps, refrigeration even if you must, and pack tightly, keep the air away. If the stuff is overly moist, you might want to let it dry some in a clean area.
As to that smell, I guess the next time I dig the stuff out, I will probably put a tape seal on the round tins next. :mrgreen:
Just came up from my cellar to inspect everything for the first time in about 8-9 months and all is OK. The cellar stays in the 60's and is very dry. If it is not in a tin, I keep it in a glass mason jar. First, I took all of my square tins and wrapped them with tape. Been meaning to do that. One by one I went through the jars and it is funny the stuff you find you forgot you had.
Kinda hard not to open stuff and sniff it or take some back up but I have plenty to smoke upstairs. Lots of ropes, plugs, cakes, flakes and coins. All looking dandy. What I found interesting was that the only places I could get a sense of tobacco smell were the tubs that had tins stored in them!
Some nice plume on some G&H Brown Flake.
Considering what tobacco goes through drying, processing and storing, I think it unlikely that all tobacco doesn't have spores in it. Being super clean about hands, jars etc., doesn't hurt but unless they are filthy, I'm not sure it is a huge factor. The kicker is keeping it inactive. Don't give mold the conditions it wants. Cool temps, refrigeration even if you must, and pack tightly, keep the air away. If the stuff is overly moist, you might want to let it dry some in a clean area.
As to that smell, I guess the next time I dig the stuff out, I will probably put a tape seal on the round tins next. :mrgreen:
"Hmm, that's exactly what C&D refer to as "well aged"!"
Bigpond, whether you said that in jest or not I don't know, but looking back to a forum post of five years ago where a member contacted that company regarding a mould issue here is the supposed response from the company...
The answer from C&D follows. I include it in it's entirety, rather than paraphrase:
Mr. X,
Absolutely nothing wromg[sic] with the tobacco. What you have is tobacco that has picked up yeast. This is a good thing. The yeast ages the tobacco. Enjoy a full mature smoke.
Regards,
Chris.
If that is a genuine response to a mould query I have to say I am somewhat astonished to say the least 8O
"The kicker is keeping it inactive. Don't give mold the conditions it wants. Cool temps, refrigeration even if you must, and pack tightly, keep the air away. If the stuff is overly moist, you might want to let it dry some in a clean area."
Toob, I have read elsewhere that that is not a good thing, particularly if the baccy is moist in the first place as one is only making it more so by compacting it in a tighter space. That said, I do tend to pack tight, really tight once I have rubbed it out.
Perhaps in the future I ought just jar the flakes as they come, then take them out as and when for smoking.
Regards,
Jay.
Bigpond, whether you said that in jest or not I don't know, but looking back to a forum post of five years ago where a member contacted that company regarding a mould issue here is the supposed response from the company...
The answer from C&D follows. I include it in it's entirety, rather than paraphrase:
Mr. X,
Absolutely nothing wromg[sic] with the tobacco. What you have is tobacco that has picked up yeast. This is a good thing. The yeast ages the tobacco. Enjoy a full mature smoke.
Regards,
Chris.
If that is a genuine response to a mould query I have to say I am somewhat astonished to say the least 8O
"The kicker is keeping it inactive. Don't give mold the conditions it wants. Cool temps, refrigeration even if you must, and pack tightly, keep the air away. If the stuff is overly moist, you might want to let it dry some in a clean area."
Toob, I have read elsewhere that that is not a good thing, particularly if the baccy is moist in the first place as one is only making it more so by compacting it in a tighter space. That said, I do tend to pack tight, really tight once I have rubbed it out.
Perhaps in the future I ought just jar the flakes as they come, then take them out as and when for smoking.
Regards,
Jay.
I don't know, I've got tons and tons jars of Sam Gawith no mold.
Manmansniff, I always wash my hands really well before jarring tobacco. Bleach wipe the whole surface of the table I use, and use a clean piece of paper. Use new mason jars, don't wash em and dry em, no problem reusing them when I blend runs out either. But don't wash them. It could be SG, or it could be you, but atleast do what you can do prevent it on your end
That is what I do. I leave everything in whole form. I pack as tight as I can in many cases leaving little air. Some of the blends come shredded and chipped, soft and what I consider wet aros packed to the nines. No mold.
Any reading I've done on mold says that keeping air away helps. I think that if the stuff is on the moist side, if you are not going to dry it, at least press out all the air.
Those pictures you show look like a raging mold infection. I'll forego the yeast theory. :mrgreen:
I would call whoever you bought the stuff from and ask them. These dealers have tons of tobacco laying around in bulk--- how do they deal with it?
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