Would You Smoke this 11 Year Old FVF?

[Chrislw324]

EDIT: Fixed Capitalization in Title (See Rule 9)

So I opened up up a jar of some Samuel Gawith Full Virginia Flake that I've had jarred since 2009.
My first thought is that it's mold, and I should toss it. But I was just reading up on sugar crystals or plume forming on aged tobacco. I think it's probably not mold now, but would like a 2nd opinion.

 

[bluegrassbrian]

Lol. Send it to me... I’ll smoke it.

 

[jaytex1969]

I must concur with Brian. Send a flake to each of the first 5 respondents to this post and we will collectively help you determine the suitability of this tobacco.

Looks good to me. Any "off" aroma?

 

[SpookedPiper]

Wait a minute....send me some too!

Smoke it up!! Looks delish!

 

[pipestud]

Chris, if it smells good then it's good. If it smells musty and not pleasant then its some kind of mold. If the white powder is flat against the leaf and doesn't come off its probably fermented sugars from the leaf and should be wonderful. If it's powdery and comes off easily then its mold.

I'm with all those other guys. Looks tasty to me.

 

[gervais]

Is it “sugar-like sparkling”? Or web-like?

 

[PipesAndCigarsInFrance]

AS mentioned....I'll take a risk to confirm for you

 

[donjgiles]

A good way to tell is if the crystals are only on certain types of tobacco in the flake or mixture, such as in your photos. See how the crystals are more concentrated on certain parts of the flake? Mold would be much less selective.

 

[verporchting]

Beautiful stuff. I’d send it to me to verify. ?

 

[mso489]

From the response, I'd say, smoke it.

 

[Chrislw324]

It doesn't smell, but I'll have to check whether it scrapes off easily when I get back home.

So, so far it's looking good. Hopefully the other 10-ish jars of this stuff I have are just as good.

 

[lochinvar]

Looks good to me. The first test for me would be smell. I've never had any where you could see mold and not smell it. I have opened some where you could smell it, but it wasn't immediately visible.

 

[jeff540]

Not mold from those photos.

 

[didimauw]

Yup looks like plume.

The mold I had was fuzzy.

 

[maulragoth]

I'd smoke it even if it was mold. Does seem like plumes a bit from the images. Cut off the portions of mold if afraid, but incineration and temp should kill any harmful products in my opinion. Still not sure how that might affect flavor, so I'd cut it off or try a different portion before tossing those blooms/crystals. Seems like a good way to compare to me. However, I do not inhale my tobaccos when smoking, and I would not be afraid to cut mold off of cheese and still eat the cheese after. Most interested to hear what you do with it and how it goes.

 

[BROBS]

Not mold.
just a delicious flake.

 

[alaskanpiper]

Smoke it right now.

 

[didimauw]

This is mold.

 

[alaskanpiper]

This is mold.

View attachment 27980

AAAAAAAAHHHHHH! You can’t just post pictures like that without warning, man. Mods, please delete.........oh wait......

 

[didimauw]

AAAAAAAAHHHHHH! You can’t just post pictures like that without warning, man. Mods, please delete.........oh wait......

Sorry, I know that was gruesome. Next time I'll warn. Hahaha.
And it was my Briar Fox too....
But it was fully replaced by Jeremy at C&D