Mold--a good thing?!

C

Corona Gigante

Ann Coulter's Cabana Boy
I recently received a box of fairly hard-to-find cigars from what I thought was a very reliable source. On inspection, I discovered two of the cigars to have patches of mold. I informed the vendor, and this was the reply.

The mold may occur on the change of humidity upon transit. Please note that this mold is not harmful to the cigars in anyway infact is it a good thing. If case was dense bloom then it would affect the wrapper of the cigar.

If you wipe it off gently with a soft brush you will be able to see that the cigars have not been affected in any way.​

I have to say that I was a bit disappointed with this reply. In particular, the mold appeared too well advanced to have developed during the three or four days the box was in transit.

I wonder how an experienced cigar aficionado would respond?
 
I would respond firmly with a statement that mold is not acceptable and certainly is not good. I would review the vendor's return policy. I would then state my remedy. And I would be suspicious of any further dealings. I become rather irate when vendors lie to me.
 
I would reply with

" Here are the tracking numbers for the package I am sending you back "
 
jgros001 said:
I have read from many more experienced than me that they just wipe the mold off if it is not too advanced and move on. I do not think I can agree that the mold 'is a good thing' but if it wipes away, I think I'd keep the cigars. Definitely varying opinions on this issue.

http://www.clubstogie.com/vb/showthread.php?t=29155&highlight=mold

and a good post by Mo
http://www.clubstogie.com/vb/showpost.php?p=801841&postcount=88
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:tpd: Probably not an issue, but I do not like the reply you got. A good vendor would offer to replace them if you wanted to.
 
Teninx said:
I would respond firmly with a statement that mold is not acceptable and certainly is not good. I would review the vendor's return policy. I would then state my remedy. And I would be suspicious of any further dealings. I become rather irate when vendors lie to me.
Click to expand...

I would take the opposite approach, personally. As long as the mold is only on the wrapper surface, I'd just brush it off. No big deal. Honestly, I think people get far too freaked out about this.

While the vendor's reply isn't terribly encouraging, given the rash of recent mold/plume complaining posts we've seen, I wouldn't be surprised if he's been inundated with similar inquiries over what he considers to be routine matters.

Now, if the cigars are infested with mold and its heavy on the foot, I'm a little more concerned because I don't want to smoke mold--I figure it can't be good for my allergies.
 
Had a great stick with a little mold on it, gave it a wipe and it smoked great.

However, the vendors reply should be more apt to take care of your worries and not respond that way.
 
What do you want the vendor to do?

If they are hard to find cigars, there may not be another box so easy to ship you.

Do you want anouther box? Your money back? Discount on the next order?

It's a two-way street and you should tell him how you would like to remedy this situation.
 
croatan said:
I would take the opposite approach, personally. As long as the mold is only on the wrapper surface, I'd just brush it off. No big deal. Honestly, I think people get far too freaked out about this.

While the vendor's reply isn't terribly encouraging, given the rash of recent mold/plume complaining posts we've seen, I wouldn't be surprised if he's been inundated with similar inquiries over what he considers to be routine matters.

Now, if the cigars are infested with mold and its heavy on the foot, I'm a little more concerned because I don't want to smoke mold--I figure it can't be good for my allergies.
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I can deal with a little mold on the cigar's wrapper. I can't deal with the vendor telling me that mold is good. Hence the strict response.
 
Whatever happens, I sure wouldn't put the moldy cigars in with all of the rest of your cigars. No matter what the outcome, I know a lot of gorillas would appreciate knowing who the vendor was. There are too many good vendors we can deal with and there's no need to put up with this kind of stuff.

WyoBob
 
WyoBob said:
Whatever happens, I sure wouldn't put the moldy cigars in with all of the rest of your cigars. No matter what the outcome, I know a lot of gorillas would appreciate knowing who the vendor was. There are too many good vendors we can deal with and there's no need to put up with this kind of stuff.

WyoBob
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Then you might consider PMing Nicholas to see if he's willing to tell you. The vendor won't be publicly discussed, I'm sure.
 
I don't think the point is whether or not they are smokable here. If you bought a box or a cab, you are probably planning on storing some of them for a bit. So, even if you wipe the mold off, there always going to be a greater chance of them developing more mold in the future because it'll be impossible to totally remove all the spores from the sticks and box.
 
Thanks, everyone, for sharing your thoughts.

I've come to the conclusion that mold happens and in the case of just two sticks it's not a deal breaker. I'm going to dry box the two affected sticks and wipe off the mold. They will then remain in quarantine (individual zip lock baggies) until the day comes to smoke them.
 
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croatan said:
I would take the opposite approach, personally. As long as the mold is only on the wrapper surface, I'd just brush it off. No big deal. Honestly, I think people get far too freaked out about this.

While the vendor's reply isn't terribly encouraging, given the rash of recent mold/plume complaining posts we've seen, I wouldn't be surprised if he's been inundated with similar inquiries over what he considers to be routine matters.

Now, if the cigars are infested with mold and its heavy on the foot, I'm a little more concerned because I don't want to smoke mold--I figure it can't be good for my allergies.
Click to expand...


:tpd: If it hasn't invaded the foot, it doesn't really bother me. I just brush it off & smoke. I have recieved boxes from vendors that displayed some mold growth on the cigars, & like Mo in the link above, have noted that the mold disappears after a short time under drier conditions.
 
I have to say that's a disappointing response from the vendor. I believe good service is proactive and they should have offered a number of options to you like here are a few options so that you can be happy such as we can refund you, exchange it and pay for shipping or give you a discount, etc..

Mold is a good thing? Maybe the vendor was thinking about how penicillin was discovered accidentally as mold on bread.
 
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