This was something we discussed last night at our pipe club meeting. The cigar guys are all the time "fixing" moldy cigars. But, no one is willing to give moldy pipe tobacco as shot. I have no idea what the difference is.
Well Well Well MOLD!
- Thread starter perdurabo
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How do they fix moldy cigars?
My concern is if you are screwing around with moldy tobacco, you are most likely to contaminate another batch. I mean, you're already running a risk, because mold is everywhere. Touching it exclusively, the risk is higher to cross contaminate.
My concern is if you are screwing around with moldy tobacco, you are most likely to contaminate another batch. I mean, you're already running a risk, because mold is everywhere. Touching it exclusively, the risk is higher to cross contaminate.
Theres been a lot of plane crashes lately. Its a shame really. Seems the buzz coincides with the move from the old crew to the new crew.
I love C&D, but will not purchase anymore for fear of cellaring and opening a tin in 5 years to find mold.
That's a hard thing to say.
I love C&D, but will not purchase anymore for fear of cellaring and opening a tin in 5 years to find mold.
That's a hard thing to say.
I discovered a small amount of mold in my large supply jar of FVF, when putting some into my small everyday supply jar. This tobacco was jarred back in August(very humid and hot here). The mold was contained to a small area on three strips that were in closet proximity to the lid. I cut them off and trashed them, maybe a bowls worth. I will be keeping a watchful eye on all my jars. No others were affected.
You better go see a doctor about that! (Har!) Seriously, I find it interesting that this seems to be becoming an increasing issue in the modern era of recent blends. I wonder if it is a byproduct of decreased QC under the pressures of the FDA or changes made in the search for newer and ever-more-interesting blends?
Cigars--- I used to be a big cigar smoker and mold is not much of an issue there. First, they are usually under constant control in a humidity (and often temp) controlled environment, and second, any spot of mold (often it isn't even mold but just normal bloom) is just along the outer wrapper and easily wiped away. Tobacco being mainly a porous and loose fiber is much more susceptible to deeper contamination.
Is it harmful? I can't say how safe your mold is but as recently discussed, probably not the best thing to ignore unless you are sure. Even "good" mold like penicillin will have an effect on you (it cures diseases!) and bad molds might do anything from cause minor illness and flu symptoms to organ damage and beyond. Is a jar or tin of tobacco really worth all of that?
Heat will kill mold and sustained temps above 140° will kill most varieties, but that said, killing the mold still leaves behind any toxins produced as byproducts (waste) of their eating the tobacco and that is really what you have to watch.
If the mold is white or gray, and localized, it is your choice to try to remove the moldy parts and an inch around it in loose tobacco, maybe less if it is solid cake, then take the remaining tobacco, put in a fresh, clean container and bake for a while (a couple of hours?) at above 140° and take your chances. That might caramelize the tobacco and make it better anyway. Sterilize the old container.
If the mold is blue or green, throw that stuff away.
I've heard people say they never buy any C&D blends and to me that's a shame because they offer many good blends not found elsewhere. Looking over my inventory, I don't think I have anything to worry about. My current C&D inventory is (in bulk):
Long Cut Perique
Blending Latakia
Old Joe Krantz
Dark Chocolate
Billy Bud
Autumn Evening
Epiphany
Star of the East
and I don't plan on stopping buying from them, and I have seen absolutely no issues with any of those, whereas the only C&D tins I have right now where there might be a greater risk are:
Pirate Kake and Black Frigate
and no one seems to have any Frigate issues.
Why the mold?
The causes are few---
* Some sort of potential quality control / storage issue at C&D?
* Source tobaccos being brought in and used for certain blends are coming in contaminated due to improper ventilation during drying or the crop was subject to bad weather?
* Improper cleaning and processing of the tobacco during deveining leaving active mold in the bales?
* Mold is being promoted with one/some of the processing methods used to post-treat, condition or age certain tobaccos for a blend.
C&D will have to resolve this whatever the cause and find a way of changing things to bring this under control.
What can we do?
Mold is everywhere. In the air, in every breath in the form of spores, waiting for a trigger. All it needs is the right moisture content and temperature. In tins, you have little control over moisture, but in bulk, your moisture content should be close to 30% at most I believe to minimize risks, or measured differently, open a jar and put it in a sealed ziplock with a digital hygrometer for a couple of days. If it reads 70% RH or higher, you have an issue. Better I think would be in the 60% or lower.
The only other thing you can do is control temp. Warmer temps certainly make mold easier to grow, so, if you have any suspect tobaccos that worry you, keep 'em cool. Maybe even put them in a fridge. If you can drop the storage temp by 20°, you probably cut the chances for mold development in half.
One other possibility is to try sterilizing your tobacco with strong short-wave (tanning) UV light. That might kill active mold but might not kill all spores. And while retarding aging, eventually, bacteria inside the tobacco should reestablish itself again.
Good luck.
I said this before in this forum, but it apparently bears repeating. Some months back, I talked to a friend who has been a genetic botanist for thirty-five years. She said throw that tobacco out. Even if you can't see the mold, it is there. Whether you inhale or not, you'll get mold spores in your system. Mold can get into your lungs and cause severe damage, even death. Don't think you can avoid that potentiality. Don't be stupid, don't be macho, don't be cheap with your health. Is it really worth taking the chance just to have a smoke when there's other stuff that is relatively safer? I don't believe in playing Russian Roulette with pipe tobacco, and neither should anybody else.
Jiminks, I don't always agree with your reviews, but I wholeheartedly concur with everything you just stated right there.
I am not about to smoke any moldy tobacco, but why is it that the cigar guys do it quite often. Is it a different type of mold? And, if spores are always on the tobacco, as Woodsroad has said, then we are smoking mold spores all the time. Right?
But yeh, just questions that come to mind.
Looks fuzzy, I toss it. I can't imagine it would taste very good.
But yeh, just questions that come to mind.
Looks fuzzy, I toss it. I can't imagine it would taste very good.
I don't think he was saying that mold spores are always on tobacco. I think he was saying if the tobacco gets moldy, there will still be spores there no matter how much you clean it.
I remember reading about Bijou mold in an earlier thread, so I opened by my tin to check it out at that time. No mold, so I jarred it up and have smoked a couple of bowls in the past couple of months. After reading this thread I figured I should check it again. Yup, mold! Trouble is I can't remember where I bought it but I think it was SP.com. Not sure what to do about it other than throw it away. Sad case of affairs indeed. 
Here's what I found....
Here's what I found....
This is interesting. A lot of people are reporting no mould at first inspection, but after having the tobacco in a jar for a time, the mould develops. This is very concerning.
Here is a question to add to the list; is the new anti-fungal agent (which is clearly experiencing problems) only being applied to new product lines (Bijou and Carolina Red Flake Small Batch)? Or has it been applied to all product lines, eliminating the use of the old, tried and true anti-fungal?
Here is a question to add to the list; is the new anti-fungal agent (which is clearly experiencing problems) only being applied to new product lines (Bijou and Carolina Red Flake Small Batch)? Or has it been applied to all product lines, eliminating the use of the old, tried and true anti-fungal?
Woods...
I'm not arguing. I'm just mulling over all that I've read and heard. You'd have to be a desperate pipe junky to want to smoke any nasty looking moldy tobacco. But, when I hear my cigar buddies talking about their humidors molding over and them saving $400 worth of moldy cigars to fix... gag.
hmhaines, I didn't think of that, but after I posted, I did do just that. So apparently I didn't order it from either SP, PC, or 4Noggins, so that usually leaves Country Squire in Jackson, but I just don't remember getting it there.
ashdigger, is it too soon to make a tongue in cheek remark about C&D's crappy Virginia blends, or should I wait till after the pitchforks and torches are all put away? Too soon?
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