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Annaresti Red

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jan 20, 2021
243
1,185
Concord, CA
www.tobaccoreviews.com
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.
 
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Pipenwheels

Starting to Get Obsessed
Nov 3, 2020
130
975
Ohio
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!
 

rajangan

Part of the Furniture Now
Feb 14, 2018
974
2,809
Edmonton, AB
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.

20210307_025341~2.jpg
 

karam

Lifer
Feb 2, 2019
2,341
9,012
Basel, Switzerland
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

Part of the Furniture Now
Feb 14, 2018
974
2,809
Edmonton, AB
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.