Sugar or Mold

[Annaresti Red]

G'Afternoon Pipe friends,

For folks who have been around a bit this may seem like a silly question.

I was hoping some people could help me in understanding how to tell the difference between various expressions of sugar crystal development and what may be a mold.

I thought I could tell the difference but I got a couple of older samples from my uncle and I wanted to see some photos and hear some knowledge.

Thanks for the help as always.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Smoke it. If it tastes sweet, it's sugar. If you pass out, it may be mold. Seriously, the mold I've seen has been obvious. Seems like though, any time people see little flecks of white, they panic and think it's mold. If it is, I should have died a long time ago.

 

[prairiedruid]

Mold tends to be furry/hairy looking not crystalline.

 

[Annaresti Red]

Mold tends to be furry/hairy lookingwas

not crystalline.

That's what I was looking for, but I couldn't tell with my old eyes.

Thanks!

 

[FurCoat]

Hold it up to some sun light, if it sparkles, all is good.

 

[bullet08]

If it looks like a month old slice of pizza in a box that you got before the last girlfriend that you ate after breaking up, don't smoke it. Otherwise, enjoy.

 

[canucklehead]

If it looks like this, smoke it.

 

[ashdigger]

If it looks like a month old slice of pizza in a box that you got before the last girlfriend that you ate after breaking up, don't smoke it. Otherwise, enjoy.

Phrasing

 

[kcghost]

Looks like sugar to me.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

If it looks like a month old slice of pizza in a box that you got before the last girlfriend that you ate after breaking up, don't smoke it. Otherwise, enjoy.

You have her a good licking and she broke up with you? Dude, you best brush up on your technique. Commas address your friend.

 

[mikefu]

If it looks like a month old slice of pizza in a box that you got before the last girlfriend that you ate after breaking up, don't smoke it. Otherwise, enjoy.

Punctuation matters. ”I need to help my friend, Jack, off his horse,” is terribly different without the commas. So is the “last girlfriend that you ate.”

 

[elessar]

Looks like we need a refresher course lol.

 

[Pipenwheels]

Mold almost always stinks. Used to be professional mold remediator, and you can smell mold before you see it. Musty, mildew-like, funky smell. It would definitely change the odor of the container it's in. Active mold growth produces MVOC's. If it smells bad, chances are good that it is. Good luck!

 

[Ahi Ka]

This is mould.

 

[rajangan]

This is air cured Virginia that was turned into cavendish and pressed hard enough with a hydraulic jack for it to ooze. Whatever is growing on here isn't sugar. This might be mold but I think it's yeast. It does not smell or taste at all like mold. The tobacco tastes really good. I have no qualms about smoking it.

 

[gervais]

Mould won't look like sugar, so judging by the title of the thread, you have nothing to worry about!!

 

[karam]

This is air cured Virginia that was turned into cavendish and pressed hard enough with a hydraulic jack for it to ooze. Whatever is growing on here isn't sugar. This might be mold but I think it's yeast. It does not smell or taste at all like mold. The tobacco tastes really good. I have no qualms about smoking it.

View attachment 69475

Yeast is a fungus as you likely know, but this really doesn't look like yeast to me. Yeast colonies are usually shiny and wet-looking. I think this is mold, in fact recall in the FTT forum the cavendish thread explicitly says it is prone to flash molding (if that's even a word).

I had chopped up some of my homegrown, spritzed with rum and honey and twisted into a rope tobacco and forgot about it in a small box. When I fished it up again it was all hairy and very clearly moldy.

 

[rajangan]

Yeast is a fungus as you likely know, but this really doesn't look like yeast to me. Yeast colonies are usually shiny and wet-looking. I think this is mold, in fact recall in the FTT forum the cavendish thread explicitly says it is prone to flash molding (if that's even a word).

I had chopped up some of my homegrown, spritzed with rum and honey and twisted into a rope tobacco and forgot about it in a small box. When I fished it up again it was all hairy and very clearly moldy.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I would say yeast are to fungi as algae are to plants.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure it isn't sugar as there is form to the way it seems to have spread. It doesn't taste or smell like other molds, green, black, or white, that I have encountered. I've never really discussed this in FTT because the fact that I smoke it might be frowned upon by some members or taken as gospel by others. And, I don't want to be responsible for anyone following my example and getting sick.

 

[karam]

Maybe I'm wrong, but I would say yeast are to fungi as algae are to plants.

Sounds like a good analogy, though embarrassingly, although I'm biologist/biochemist by training my university days are 20 years behind me and I can't recall specifics.

 

[puff_not_snuff]

If it looks like this, smoke it.

View attachment 69400

View attachment 69401

You smoke bark?