Sometimes you might see some fine white powdery dust that forms on your cigars. Have no fear, this isn’t mold. It’s actually called Plume (also known as Bloom) and it forms on cigars when oils exude from the tobacco as a result of aging. The oils then dry to create a white powder on the outside of the cigar. Some avid cigar smokers prefer to only smoke cigars that have aged to bloom. You can just easily brush it off prior to smoking.
Some examples of cigars with plume:
Now if the residue you see is more of a bluish color and leaves a stain on the wrapper, then your cigar is a victim of mold. Mold is mostly caused by high temperature and humidity. Just make sure to keep your humidor near 70 degrees and 70% humidity, and you will be fine. Also, make sure to use distilled water in your humidification device.
Some examples of cigars with mold:
We hope this post will help you identify plume vs. mold 🙂
