Are certain cigars more prone to mould?

[cnov]

Quiet day at work so I thought it would be a good time to go through the coolidor and see how it's all looking.

All as expected, except for one box (24) of Trinidad Reyes (GLE FEB 20) that had a bit of white mould on a few cigars. Nothing of great concern, easily wiped off and returned to the coolidor. They were fine on receipt so I know that it's something that's occured during storage. Some showed significant mould around the edges of the bands, which were very tightly stuck to the cigars.

This is only the second time I've ever had a mould problem in a box, which also happened to be a box of (12) Reyes from 2009 in around 2011.

This got me wondering whether some cigars are just more prone to mould? Appreciate it's about a small a sample as can be but a bit of a coincidence.

On the bright side, it's cemented the fact that I'll be smoking them rather than selling! So they have that going for them.

 

 

[mprach024]

Interesting question!  My first instinct is no, why would they, it’s all just tobacco leaves.  But, I’m actually in same boat, the only cigars I’ve ever found mold on were in my tuppidor of overflow stock and it was only on my boxes of Bolivar Petit Coronas.  I always put it down that in that section of the container there must have been an imbalanced humidity level.  Maybe residual from the boxes themselves?  No idea.  

Very anxious to hear from some of the tobacco experts here to weigh in.  

[Silverstix]

Oh that's just plume, a sure sign of perfectly aged cigars 😆

But no, I haven't noticed it being common to one cigar more than others.  Have had very little experiences with my collection but the few instances seemed pretty random

[BrightonCorgi]

I could see certain batches or master cases of cigar have more mold for one reason or another.  Something happened along the way to introduce it.  Not by virtue of the vitola or marca.

[cnov]

18 hours ago, mprach024 said:

Interesting question!  My first instinct is no, why would they, it’s all just tobacco leaves.  But, I’m actually in same boat, the only cigars I’ve ever found mold on were in my tuppidor of overflow stock and it was only on my boxes of Bolivar Petit Coronas.  I always put it down that in that section of the container there must have been an imbalanced humidity level.  Maybe residual from the boxes themselves?  No idea.  

Very anxious to hear from some of the tobacco experts here to weigh in.  

It was only around the pigtail and bands of a few, I think it would be unlikely to be the box as I'd expect to see some at the foot but all were fine.

Likely just a coincidence that it happened to two boxes of Reyes but I was interested to know if anyone else might have experienced the same.

 

[cnov]

17 hours ago, Silverstix said:

Oh that's just plume, a sure sign of perfectly aged cigars 😆

But no, I haven't noticed it being common to one cigar more than others.  Have had very little experiences with my collection but the few instances seemed pretty random

🤣 I'm sure some merchants might try and spin the plume yarn to earn a little more!

[BrightonCorgi]

If you start sneezing when you open the box then there's a problem.

[Tstew75]

I would say that's a pretty definite no. All cigars act the same in terms of RH exchange.

That box could've been on the 'wet' side when you received & stayed that way in storage, or that spot in your humidor is rich with moisture. Try rotating your boxes more often.

[cnov]

1 hour ago, Tstew75 said:

I would say that's a pretty definite no. All cigars act the same in terms of RH exchange.

That box could've been on the 'wet' side when you received & stayed that way in storage, or that spot in your humidor is rich with moisture. Try rotating your boxes more often.

I don't think a wet spot in the humidor is the case in this instace, it's a coolidor with 62rh boveda packs. The box was stacked on the top and all other boxes around it were fine.

Definitely a possibility that they could have been on the wetter side upon receipt though, this seems plausible.

I'll definitely be taking a peak in there more often.

[jakebarnes]

56 minutes ago, cnov said:

I don't think a wet spot in the humidor is the case in this instace, it's a coolidor with 62rh boveda packs. The box was stacked on the top and all other boxes around it were fine.

Definitely a possibility that they could have been on the wetter side upon receipt though, this seems plausible.

I'll definitely be taking a peak in there more often.

I usually give new boxes a few days of drying out after arrival. Find they're usually too wet do the time helps even it out a bit. 

[Edicion]

On 9/15/2022 at 1:49 AM, Tstew75 said:

That box could've been on the 'wet' side when you received & stayed that way in storage

Spot on. Two boxes of Rio Secos were like this for me, I pulled them out of the humidor to dry up and then they've been fine and now smoking great, with only a year on them.

[Akela3rd]

Could it just be a concentration of tobacco around the pigtail, with the extra twists and folds inherent in this type of roll, thus not allowing free evaporation of moisture on what were slightly damp cigars?
Does this happen more often on pigtails I wonder...?

Sent by spooky action at a distance

[cnov]

On 9/17/2022 at 10:42 PM, Akela3rd said:

Could it just be a concentration of tobacco around the pigtail, with the extra twists and folds inherent in this type of roll, thus not allowing free evaporation of moisture on what were slightly damp cigars?
Does this happen more often on pigtails I wonder...?

Wondered whether the glue might play a factor too, they must use a reasonable amount for the cap which is then twisted within the pig tail, I guess it would be hard to know whether there was much time between rolling and being put in the box.

[Foulhook]

In my experience most mold occurs in dress boxes. Almost never in SLB for me. Twice a year I inspect and move boxes around the two humidor cabinets. Just did this a month ago. There were traces of mold but all was dress boxes. Just my 2 cents. I keep both cabinets at 67% 

[bmac]

Tubos

[Blakes]

13 hours ago, cnov said:

Wondered whether the glue might play a factor too, they must use a reasonable amount for the cap which is then twisted within the pig tail, I guess it would be hard to know whether there was much time between rolling and being put in the box.

This.

The glue used IIRC is Gum Tragacanath, which is the dried sap of a plant from the Middle East. I once bought some in powder form for damaged cigars, and every time I mixed some up it wouldn't be long before a layer of mold developed on the surface of whatever was left over, even though it was sealed airtight.
My guess is it's where too much glue is applied and/or it doesn't have chance to dry properly, retaining some moisture when boxed.

[jakebarnes]

12 hours ago, Foulhook said:

In my experience most mold occurs in dress boxes. Almost never in SLB for me. Twice a year I inspect and move boxes around the two humidor cabinets. Just did this a month ago. There were traces of mold but all was dress boxes. Just my 2 cents. I keep both cabinets at 67% 

I had mold in a Mag 46 cab before that was shipped to me. It can happen anywhere, IMO. Always the environment as the main contributing factor. 

[Sir Diggamus]

I think the answer is yes from my experience. I have a humidor that I would check from time to time and have a few specific cigars in that humidor that over the years have developed a coating of mold a few different times. The cigars around them had none, just these. I moved them to another area of the humidor and it happened again a couple of years later. Same sticks, different spot. I don’t know how else to explain it. Growers cross-breed all kinds of plants to make them more robust against diseases, maybe it has an effect on mold too?


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