Quote Originally Posted by Chè View Post
snip......

From what I've learned, "plume" is a temporary condition that occurs from sudden changes a cigar is exposed to. It could in fact be that the "sudden" change was your removal of the box or the change from the BM's atmosphere.

In the right conditions, you'll blink and find a cigar you pulled out to take somewhere with you suddenly has plume crystals on its surface. I've had the experience several times when the weather outside was extremely cold (for my location at least).

Plume is actually tiny crystals (looks like grains of salt) - once you've seen em', you'll be hard pressed to confuse it with mold ever again. My understanding is in rapid change, when oil and moisture on the outter wrapper surface recede, if conditions are ripe, the moisture recedes faster leaving the oil separated to crystallize on the outter surface. That trapped surface oil = "plume".
X2 on the hi-jack.....my apology.

I've never heard this explanation of how plume forms and would be very interested in the source of that info.

From everything I've read, seen, and experienced true plume is a rare occurence, and forms due to the stability of the storage condidtions rather than some rapid or sudden drastic change in the cigars environment.

No expert here.