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.