Ashes to ashes...

**Cohibanut** · 05-06-2005, 06:53 AM

Hi everybody! I am new to your forum as a contributor but have been reading your posts with great interest for the past 2 months or so. Where to start...Well, I visited Cuba 3 weeks ago and what can I say? My first cigar ever was a Cohiba Siglo IV. I am totally hooked!

I've had about 3 different cigars since (all Cohibas I must say) and cannot get enough of them.

Here is a question I wanted to ask you , experts that you are: I have read some thread regarding the colour of the ash of a given cigar and I am not sure how (if at all) this can tell us anythign about the cigar itself in terms of taste, quality or whatever else. I have read accounts of "black" ash and "white" ash. What is the difference in terms of the quality of the cigar?

Thanks!!!

SFG75 · 05-06-2005, 07:04 AM

Welcome Cohibanut!. How in the world did you make it over to the Island?

To answer the question posed-the color of the ash indicating quality is a myth. In all actuality, you want shades of gray.

This notion has become a selling point for many cigars since the status-conscious boom years of the 1990s, despite the fact that Cuban cigars, still the benchmark of excellence, are not known for this particular attribute.

So what does a clean powder-white ash contribute to a cigar’s quality? “Other than aesthetics, absolutely nothing,” is the blunt answer from Bahia Cigar’s Tony Borhani. “It means the soil has lots of phosphorus and calcium. The soil that produces Sumatra tobacco will always give a white ash. Cuban soil is low in calcium and that’s how they maintain it, so Cuban cigars’ ashes are hardly ever white.”

Quesada adds magnesium to the list of minerals that could influence an ash’s color, and believes that a range of gray ashes indicates healthier tobacco. “The traditional criteria in the industry are that extremes are never the rule,” he states. “Too white or too black is not as desirable as a range of grays.” Magnesium, while it may have an effect on how sweet a tobacco tastes, can also cause the ash to become flaky if there is too much of it in the soil.

http://www.smokemag.com/0604/feature.htm

Check out the Cohiba myth, as well as myth #5.

**Cohibanut** · 05-06-2005, 08:11 AM

Hi!

Thanks for replying!

I am actually French and living in London so going to Cuba is not a problem.

Could I ask you another question? I have noticed a kind of dust or mould on top of certain cigars in humidors when I was there. What is it? Is it a good thing or a bad thing?

(Please forgive my ignorance as I am totally new to all this!

SFG75 · 05-06-2005, 08:39 AM

I have noticed a kind of dust or mould on top of certain cigars in humidors when I was there. What is it? Is it a good thing or a bad thing?

It's one of two things. If it's white, first appearing as small crystals, you have bloom. This is a good sign, as it shows that the cigar is aging wonderfully. Cigar mold is quite a different story. It ranges in color from white, to gray, to a bluish-green hue. I've always been told that bloom is easy to wipe away and that mold will just smear. Now I don't know how solid this advice is, but it's very widespread. In order to be safe, you need to isolate the "contaminated" cigars. I have a few that at one time I thought had mold, but it turned out to be bloom. I made a tuppedor and put them in there by themselves. If it is mold, take a moistened paper towel and then gently apply it to the area in question. You then should check your humidity, mold doesn't occur until the rph is aroung 85%. Hope this helps to some extent.

(Please forgive my ignorance as I am totally new to all this!

Don't worry, we've all been there at some point. Heck, I didn't even recite the above from memory, I had to look it up really quick.

Believe me, my cigar book library has been an invaluable resource for me. That's the point of boards like this-to talk about cigars and cigar related stuff.

**labmonkey** · 05-06-2005, 08:39 AM

Originally Posted by Cohibanut

Hi!

Thanks for replying!

I am actually French and living in London so going to Cuba is not a problem.

Could I ask you another question? I have noticed a kind of dust or mould on top of certain cigars in humidors when I was there. What is it? Is it a good thing or a bad thing?

(Please forgive my ignorance as I am totally new to all this!

what you may be seeing is bloom, not mold. Mold is bad...bloom is good.

http://home.alltel.net/jbperry/cig.htm here is a fairly good link that shows pictures of the difference.

http://www.cigarwise.com/artman/publ...icle_189.shtml here is a short article that explains more about bloom.

**Cohibanut** · 05-06-2005, 10:31 AM

I see. Hm... I think you've just given me an extremely good piece of advice here: I'm going to read up on all this. My mission for this coming weekend will be to find myself a good book on cigars!

I haven't event got a humidor yet!

In fact, all I brought back with me from Cuba are a couple of Siglo I and that's it! DOH! I have placed them in an airtight Tupperware box and do keep an eye on them regularly. I've placed a small piece of tissue with a couple of drops of water on it inside the box and they look fairly happy in there.

To briefly go back to the mould issue, I have seen this in a very reputable shop (Fortnum and Mason) in London and I am pretty sure it wasn't the blooming effect you describe. I am not sure it was mould either (although it does sound like it could be). It looked like a fine dusting of a grey/green sort (which does corroborate the mould theory). I have seen this quite a few times in several shops so I am really reluctant to think it could be mould.

Hmm...puzzling.

**wrath186** · 05-06-2005, 11:47 AM

Mold, from my experience, is looks fuzzy close up. The bloom can look similar, but if you take a really close look at it you will see crystals. The bloom will cover the entire surface of the cigar, while the mold will grow in patches here and there.