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Plume or Doom?

MNBrian

MNBrian

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 16, 2015
Messages
1,390
So -
 
 
I got some new Padron's from a high-end B&M and dude tells me they're "pluming". I was pretty skeptical... so I checked them over.
 
What I found was even coloration on each cigar, and it was different for each as well. The supposed plume doesn't seem 3 dimensional. It doesn't spider out from a point of origin, and cigars that were right next to one another had a completely different shade that was consistent from end to end. I checked the foot of each and found no discoloration or spotting as would happen with mold. I ran my finger over them to see if i could break any off and found it to be hard and smooth and a part of the wrapper. 
 
It even looks different in different lightings at different angles.
 
Now, my friends, I may be an idiot. Seriously, it is likely true. But I wasn't born yesterday...I know not to go fishing in an outhouse... 
 
But these cigars seem legit.
 
Your thoughts? Pictures below -
 
[sharedmedia=gallery:images:12626]
[sharedmedia=gallery:images:12625]
[sharedmedia=gallery:images:12624]
[sharedmedia=gallery:images:12623]
[sharedmedia=gallery:images:12622]
[sharedmedia=gallery:images:12621]
 
 
I'm casting my vote for plum even though I was thinking mold as soon as I read the title of your post.
Nice grabola
 
This may be the rare time where if you have to ask, it really is plume.
 
Since I'm the old one here, suggest you send two. If I don't die, you know your safe. NICE sticks.
 
It seems evenly distributed, isn't spotty, and not really fuzzy like mold would get.  I'd put in a vote for plume as well.  Very nice find.  Enjoy!
 
Wasn't Padron going to begin dating their boxes?  It would be interesting to see if this was one of those boxes.
 
bfreebern said:
Wasn't Padron going to begin dating their boxes?  It would be interesting to see if this was one of those boxes.
Click to expand...
 
Very good question. I didn't buy the box but I can probably drop by there and check if it interests you.
 
As to the rest of you plume-sayers - thank you for reinforcing that I am not crazy and did indeed find some great cigars!
 
Although I guess there's the matter of the powdered sugar doughnut I was eating just prior to the photos... I suppose that did get some white stuff all over the cigars... ;) JK
 
Padron has always put a note in the box giving you some info. Date of the box is included on that note.
 
oke&coke said:
This may be the rare time where if you have to ask, it really is plume.
Click to expand...
 
If it is plume, one would ask why did it only form around the foot of the cigars?  Looks pretty furry to me for plume, but what do I know.....
 
Looking at the thumbnail images, it looks like plume but when I look at the full size picture, it might be the beginnings of some mold.  In the bottom image, could you get a closer and in focus image of the foot of the cigar closest to us?
 
Edit: Not facing the foot but just the bottom half of that particular cigar.
 
Setharsis said:
Looking at the thumbnail images, it looks like plume but when I look at the full size picture, it might be the beginnings of some mold.  In the bottom image, could you get a closer and in focus image of the foot of the cigar closest to us?
 
Edit: Not facing the foot but just the bottom half of that particular cigar.
Click to expand...
 
The top image is focused close and the bottom image is focused far but they were taken at the exact same moment from practically the same angle.
 
Update, i did go back to get a better look at the box and I have some mixed feelings. On the one hand, I bought the last two in a box (he had several showing signs of the ploom in question) and checked the date provided on the inside (the full box date slip) and it shows 2006. Which matched his story. And he opened a fresh box that was still shrink wrapped (seal intact) and it had a date slip of 2007 so I feel the date is legit.
 
On the other hand, a few cigars I checked in that room DID show what was clearly a little white fuzzy mold. I wondered if perhaps he had been sweeping off the mold with a dust feather brush and leaving the rest... however... i literally WATCHED him open a box of cigars and found the same plume I have in the photos on boxed and shrink wrapped and uncut labeled cigars...
 
The truth might end up being a mixutre of both? I don't know... Effing plume... it's like snipe hunting in Minnesota...
Well if it is mold, it should jump from one cigar to the next, right?
 
Maybe my best method of figuring this out is quarantining the cigars in question with some sticks I don't really care about, and leaving it in a nice humid place for 3-4 weeks to see if my non-Padron's grow magic plume all over them as well?
 
SMOKE ONE
What shop is sitting on there Padron stash for 6 or 7 years before putting them out to costumers?
 
It's a strange shop. Old-timey pipe tobacco and cigars only. The dude hates cigarette smokers and chewers apparently...
 
The place is called Jonathan Robert Fielding and Co. And holy cats does he have a big room full of cigars.
 
His Padron selection alone covers two full walls, and the stack of boxes he's got above the shelves... let's just say its a lotta cigars.
 
I tried one the first day I got them. It was the best cigar I've ever had, but I've never tried a Patron so honestly my pallate is probably about as mature as an infant. And who knows. Maybe I like mold.
 
I'm taking a magnifying glass to them and looking for trees. We'll see.
 
bfreebern said:
8 and 9 year old boxes of Padrons at a cigar shop.  Damn.
Click to expand...
Yeah! Pretty awesome, but it sort of makes sense. Minnesota is B*$%*( for cigar tax. We've got the highest of any state! 
 
They mark them up 95% over cost just for tax, let alone for breaking even. In the last few years they realized how insane this is, so for cigars over $10 bucks a stick, the 95% is capped at... 3.50.... so add 5 bucks at least to any cigar over 10 bucks and the ones that are under are ridiculous.
 
I saw a single Partigas black label going for $18.00 and that was a ROBUSTO. CI.com has a 5 pack for $6 more...
 
Let's just say I really hope I can work out a deal for a starter pack with someone! :)
Half the stores can't even stock the Fuente Opus X because it's too dang spendy. nobody would buy it...
 
Heck, this particular owner doesn't stock Montecristo's because he can't SELL them and turn a profit. $19 bucks for a yellow label churchill.

Moral of the story? Minnesota is not cigar friendly.
 
If it's smoking well, I'd smoke em now. Regardless if it's plume or mold, those are some nicely aged cigars and it doesn't look like the mold is too pervasive.
 
Setharsis said:
If it's smoking well, I'd smoke em now. Regardless if it's plume or mold, those are some nicely aged cigars and it doesn't look like the mold is too pervasive.
Click to expand...
Yah dude, that's the plan! I Am now confident what was in the 2007 box the guy opened was crystallized plume, and it was really only on one or two cigars but it fell off nice and easy.

Now that I've seen the real deal I think I've got some coloration that might be the start of plume and a little white mold on the surface that I've since been able to get rid of. Thank you all for your comments on this! I think I no longer have to ask! :)
 
I can't say for certain based on the pics but I have seen similar coloration from over glued wrappers.
 
MNBrian said:
 
8 and 9 year old boxes of Padrons at a cigar shop.  Damn.
Click to expand...
Yeah! Pretty awesome, but it sort of makes sense. Minnesota is B*$%*( for cigar tax. We've got the highest of any state! 
 
They mark them up 95% over cost just for tax, let alone for breaking even. In the last few years they realized how insane this is, so for cigars over $10 bucks a stick, the 95% is capped at... 3.50.... so add 5 bucks at least to any cigar over 10 bucks and the ones that are under are ridiculous.
 
I saw a single Partigas black label going for $18.00 and that was a ROBUSTO. CI.com has a 5 pack for $6 more...
 
Let's just say I really hope I can work out a deal for a starter pack with someone! :)

Half the stores can't even stock the Fuente Opus X because it's too dang spendy. nobody would buy it...
 
Heck, this particular owner doesn't stock Montecristo's because he can't SELL them and turn a profit. $19 bucks for a yellow label churchill.

Moral of the story? Minnesota is not cigar friendly.
 
Click to expand...
I was stunned last year coming back from Canada and stopped at someplace just south of Minneapolis named Egan and bought a few smokes for the rest of the ride home as I ran out approaching the border, complete sticker shock.  Spent $80 on 6 cigars that should have cost $40. 
 
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