Aunthenticity Verification

[ashauler]

Plume or Mold.......if you saw "spots", and the box was damp to the touch.....I'm betting mold. Plume should sparkle and look as if the cigar was "dusted" with something.....not individual spots randomly distributed over the cigar.

I've read some seriously fucked up descriptions of "plume" from retailers.

[badwhale]

Plume or Mold.......if you saw "spots", and the box was damp to the touch.....I'm betting mold. Plume should sparkle and look as if the cigar was "dusted" with something.....not individual spots randomly distributed over the cigar.

I've read some seriously fucked up descriptions of "plume" from retailers.

Yeah. I think under a magnifying glass, you'll see the little stalks, and tops of mold. Plume doesn't look like that.

I saw some MAJOR mold on cigars in a shop down St Armands Circle, FL. It was unquestionable.

Either way, unless it was really bad, I'd just dust that shit off, and smoke it anyway.

Quarantine of course if you're not going to smoke it right away.

Will

[CptnBlues63]

Yeah. I think under a magnifying glass, you'll see the little stalks, and tops of mold. Plume doesn't look like that.

I saw some MAJOR mold on cigars in a shop down St Armands Circle, FL. It was unquestionable.

Either way, unless it was really bad, I'd just dust that shit off, and smoke it anyway.

Quarantine of course if you're not going to smoke it right away.

Will

Thanks for the input guys.....as I say I was concerned it was mold at the time.

Just to clarify, it wasn't big spots, it was more like a lot of little tiny white crystalline looking dots.

Now, I admit I don't have the most sensitive nose but when I sniffed them (after talking to the owner of the B&M on the phone) I couldn't smell mold and I do know what that smells like.

I also wiped my finger on the cigar and tasted it. It didn't taste moldy either (the taste I did get was kind of oily, and a touch bitter) so I just wiped them off and smoked them. I live to far from the city to just run back and return them.........LOL

Ever since then, when I buy a box pack like that, I open them there before I pay.

I like to think it was plume because I didn't smell or taste mold....but I'll tell you this much, if I ever run into it again, I'm going to dig out a magnifying glass for a closer look. I can tell the difference between a crystalline structure and mold.

[Chè]

Just a heads up, Cptn, the 1 experience I had with mold sounds an awful lot like yours. I was new to the game and based on circumstances similar in the logic you used, I was convinced it must have been plume. In my case, it made little sense that the contents of 1 box in my possession more than 6 months in the center of my storage space would suddenly develop mold, while the surrounding 30 or so were not affected.

I am by no means the expert on the subject - keep that in mind. Based on the actual rare occurrence of real plume, I'm about 101% certain the former experience I had was mold.

From my own experience, the good news is white mold on the wrapper appears to be easily correctable - brush off and keep away from moisture. I still have 10 or so of the sticks from years ago that had the white mold on the wrapper. Colored mold, or mold in the body of the cigar or any mildwew odor - I think you'd want to TOSS.

[TachyCoventry]

Ok so a friend went to Bimini last weekend and picked me up some smokes, problem is that I think that they are fake. I wanted some more experienced opinions to verify. Thanks in advance.

On a side note, do you tell a friend who tried to pick you up some cigars that he got shafted by some fakes? He doesn't even smoke them, he just picked them up as a gift for me and another buddy. Oh price was $15 each if that matters

[EGQ]

Unfortunately, you already know the answer... See how they smoke -- may not be too bad.

I wouldn't tell a friend they were had -- it was a nice gesture -- I'd leave it at that.

[Mangyrat]

Real or fake it don't matter, they were a gift.

[ggiese]

Absent better photos, Those look like they might be Monte A's - and pretty ugly examples at that. $15 for a 'real' Monte A seems relatively cheap...

I suspect based upon where the cigars were purchased, what they look like overall and how much they cost - you likely have fakes on your hand.

[TachyCoventry]

you likely have fakes on your hand.

That's kind of what I thought, but I tried one the other night, smoked really well and tasted great! Even if it is a fake I'm still going to smoke them and appreciate the gift. Although my friend did ask me if they were real or not so I told him the truth. I said that they may be fakes but they still were a good smoke and I'll be enjoying the rest!