:-):-):-)
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I've never seen a bad batch like that before...glad everyone else has the knowledge in here to specially say what it is that way I know for future purchases and whatnot. Does look like mold to me but...I wouldn't smoke them
:-)
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Holy crap, that's bad ... really bad! Disregard my suggestions.
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Did you forward pics to them? It's unbelievable that anyone who sees this pic would even think for a microsecond it's plume. Either really clueless or really dishonest.
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I don't know if I would say clueless or dishonest, but maybe misinformed. Just because they work for a cigar company does not mean they are as well informed and educated as, say, the fine members of this board. Just sayin...:-)
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n00b here, I found this thread while sitting in my accounting class tonight. As luck would have it I received two samplers from FSS today of the very same cigars.

I opened the first and found a spot of mold on one so I picked up the phone and called the 800 number on the invoice. The lady was polite and immediately set out to get a return label to me and another sampler sent my way. After hanging up I opened the other one and found mold on ~half of the gars. :-)

I called back and spoke with someone else. He asked me what color the spots were and as soon as I said "white" he immediately flew into a "That's not mold that's...". Hold the phone hoss, I've seen plume, and I've seen mold in many places on many things. They look nothing alike and I'm not a dummy, despite how I may look.

I offered to send pictures and they gladly accepted them. Here's the reply

"Thank you for your email. My manager, supervisor, and myself all took a look at the pictures you have provided and we can confirm definitely that is in fact plum (bloom) and not mold. Mold would be green or bluish and when you wipe it off the cigar it would leave a stain and can rip the wrap because the mold would seep into the wrapper itself. If you wipe what you have on the cigar right now off, there should be no stain and the wrap will be intact. We have all confirmed what you have is simply plum. You can wipe it off and enjoy your cigars. If we had a littlest suspicion it was mold we would immediately inform you to return the cigars."

I guess there is no such thing as white mold. Tis impossible for it to grow on tobacco. Some guy on the internet said so.


Here's a pic
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send them back.done.
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Yeah I wouldn't order from them anymore.
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One mo' pic for good measure. Sure looks crystalline to me.
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I'll be sending an e-mail off to them tomorrow. It was after COB today when I got their reply. It's one thing to get a product that has mold on it. They were in tubes, and the package was shrink wrapped, there was no way for them to know. However, I don't take being lied to lightly. I don't know how they could willingly be so ignorant or deceitful. Reputation is everything and in the age of the net, all it takes is one PO'd customer to go blazing a trail and you're taking on water. At least the La Aurora Preferidos I ordered showed up fine. :-)


FSS is rating high on my fecal roster.
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Yep...there's plenty of places to buy from. They should treat people with that attitude.
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I got a few AF Double Chateau from FSS with moldy looking spots under the cedar. I just wiped them down and smoked them. Tasted great. That's not to say that FSS shouldn't let you return them if you want though.
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That is mold....
This is plume... these are some wrappers that i have, that had been aging. after opening the bag you could smell the ammonia

Image
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I'm actually pretty sensitive to mold, and a few other environmental factors, so my concern is mostly about inhaling spores and ending up with the crap growing in me. :-) I know mold is omnipresent, but what I can't see doesn't tend to bother me. What I can does. I'm funny like that. I'm more put off by their attitude. I wasn't asking for anything for free, nor do I expect it.

I have to wonder if they actually think they're right, or if they think since they're around cigars all day that they know everything and the customers are just unknowing hacks?


When I was in Guatemala I saw the hotel had a walk in humidor with cohibas. I got excited and called for someone to let me in. I looked in the top of one of the boxes and it was covered in a carpet of blue green mold. It was ugly. I just left since I didn't speak Spanish and wouldn't have been able to tell her why I wasn't buying any. These cats speak english.
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I hear you. I just had a similar experience in a local shop. I appreciate it when people are just honest. I can't really say if they were lying or truly don't know better. It isn't limited to cigars either. Its Anything that has to do with sales.

Anyways, I personally just wipe them down if the foot looks okay, but I can respect that not everyone wants to do that, especially given the high cost of cigars. I agree that they should both be honest and allow to to return them. A grocer wouldn't think twice about letting you return moldy bread, regardless of how harmless they may think it is.

I have returned some cigars to FSS with no problem due to cracked wrappers and a beetle hole. Actually, they just sent me replacements as it wasn't enough to warrant the shipping cost to return them. I've never tried to return anything due to mold though.

Welcome to Cigar Asylum!
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Yep welcome BTW...

http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=7
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That's not what you want to be Famous for.
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there is a local store here in leavenworth with a sizeable walk-in humidor. The temp is WAY over 70 and the humidity is so thick that it soaks your clothes! My wife and I paid them a visit (it's the only walk-in humidor within 30 miles) when we arrived here in 2010. The mold on the cigars was ridiculous. Some cigars in the boxes were so thick with mold that you couldn't see a hint of a wrapper or band. We left before we caught some sort of respiratory ailment. The guy running the store (it's in a gas station) wasn't at all concerned. I'll never go back unless someone locally wants to see a case study in mold growth.
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blacklight if your not for sure :-)
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Fool, I've seen you smoke moldy cigars before! :-)
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