What Is This White Stuff?

[olkofri]

Just opened a couple of tins a few years old and noticed some leaf chunks have this:

Is it mould? Crystals? Something else? Is this tobacco smokable?
BTW, the tins were new, as in still vacuum sealed (had to open them with a coin and I heard the hissing of air rushing in).
TIA

 

[virginialover]

How old are those tins? It's weird, it looks more like mold than plume to me.

 

[hawky454]

How does it smell? Mold will usually smell really bad in the tin.

 

[olkofri]

5 and 2 years old. The smell is that smoky one characteristic of English blends.

 

[olkofri]

Mold will usually smell really bad in the tin

Meaning it would overpower the natural smell of the tobacco, and/or not smell like tobacco at all?

 

[olkofri]

Sorry for the multipost, but I just went to smell them again. (I was transferring them to mason jars about an hour ago.)
The 2-year-old has a bit of a scent of fermentation.

 

[mayfair70]

What are the blends? Who made them?

 

[olkofri]

Dunhill Nightcap.

 

[hawky454]

I've only had a mold outbreak on one of my blends so far (knock on wood) but man, it was rank and there was no question about wether or not I would smoke it... it was that nasty! I think it would overpower your blends, yes but lets see if someone with more knowledge chimes in.
How magnified was that original photo?

 

[unkleyoda]

I hate to say it, but it looks moldy.

 

[virginialover]

I've had 15 years old Nightcap with plume and it didn't look like this.

 

[olkofri]

How magnified was that original photo?

That chunk is about 5/8 inch.

 

[philobeddoe]

Looks like mold to me, plume looks like sugar crystals, I wouldn’t smoke that.

 

[hawky454]

It may appear to be mold because the photo is so magnified. Bloom looks different depending on the tobacco so I am at a loss here. On some tobaccos it looks like sparkling crystals while on others it can look like a powdered dusting.
This is a picture of some perfectly healthy, well aged (5 years) McConnell's Latakia Flake:

I assure you, that the above was bloom, not mold.

 

[mayfair70]

When you knock it about, if it makes little clouds, it is mold. This one is a tough call from visual only. We need to know what characteristics the powder possesses. What happens when you rub the powder between your fingers?

 

[theloniousmonkfish]

Where's the resident Mycologist? Doesn't take more than an offended sense or two before ascertaining if something isn't right in a bad way. Had some Breckenridge, looked similar, smelled heinous, it was moldy and went in the refuse. Here's some 1792, sweet smell of ferment from this tin, smokes great, no need to toss.

 

[olkofri]

I tried to rub the white stuff but it's so tiny that it just turned to dust in my fingertips. Nigh invisible dust. I've been washing dishes quite a bit and my hands aren't very smooth. I'll try fishing out some more chunks out of the now-jarred blends, and repeat the operation, and report back.

 

[btwes7]

If you shine a flashlight on it is it reflective - like shiny and sparkly? I have some Blackpool with definite crystals that sparkle when the light hits it right.

 

[jvnshr]

It is not mold IMHO. I had a tin of Dunhill EMP and it had the exact same thing on the ribbons of the Orientals. They weren't there when I opened the tin but became visible after keeping the tobacco jarred for 6 months or so. I am not sure but I think those are the oil crystals but not sugar. Someone has posted a similar thing few months ago and it was EMP as well if I am not mistaken.
Edit: Here is the thread I was talking about and it was Nightcap as well:
http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/anyone-else-having-mold-issues
And response of the OP:

I contacted smokingpipes.com, they said is in fact plume. The tins are a patch from 2012.

 

[madox07]

Interesting, I have been reading about this bloom/plume thing before, but didn't manage to find a logical explanation to it, nor one on what it is exactly. Some of you more knowledgeable would care to explain please?