Aunthenticity Verification

[ashauler]

Fair point ashauler. The source of the information was the Honk Kong author. And while there are many opinions on the guy, some of which I won't argue are without merit, that aside there have been two occasions that stand out where I've witnessed plume form unexpectedly out of the blue. Both those occasions involved cooling - 1 on my own behalf / purposely, the other nature and the weather (from house & storage to destination that was approximately 30 degrees cooler than home). The "nature" occasion was with-in a 1 hour period, a cigar that had no plume was pulled out and to my surprise showed 7 -10 crystals up & down the wrapper.

Very interesting. Agreed on the varying opinions of the "all things cuban" dude and I'll not argue either side.

I will say that it get's pretty cold where I live, and I have taken many cigars on jaunts where the cigars in my possession experience large swings in temperature from their storage environment to their smoking environment.....and I have never seen this. Not saying it didn't happen, my experience just doesn't match yours.

A question I would have is, if the cause of plume is the rapid change in temperature of a cigar from it's storage environment to it's smoking environment, why is it so rarely observed? Certainly the situation you describe as creating the plume happens much more frequently than "perfect and stable" storage conditions.

In retrospect, of all you've heard over the years, I'm curious, beyond the opinions of it being perfect or extremely stable storage conditions yaddy yaddy yah, what exactly has been the explanation of what plume (the actual substance) is?

I believe plume to indeed be crystallized oil that has "oozed" to the surface of the wrapper.

Another thing & JMHO... My experience is, it's mythical that plume represents some huge gain in strength, flavor or any other immediately discernible enhancement.

I concur with this, however, due to my understanding of the yaddy yaddy yah, plume is indeed evidence of proper storage of the cigar over time. I further believe this "time" to be an extended period of time.

If the good Dr.'s theory is correct (about oil + moisture) and the phenomenon in general, you're probably looking at a cigar with significant oils present to begin with. Perhaps that's the explanation of the psychological belief that a pluming cigar is the Holy Grail?

I have not held this belief for quite some time now.