This is plume... clear difference from 99% of pictures posted.

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I would suspect the reason most don't see plume is because the lighting conditions aren't bright enough to reveal it. Plume sparkles in the light, appears evenly distributed and is usually very fine particles, though I did see some that looked like they had small salt crystals on them. Nearly every cigar I have found in a B&M where the owner claimed plume, it was mold. I was actually chewed out by an employee of the B&M I used to frequent for saying there was mold on his cigars which is one of the many reasons I don't go there anymore. I think that most B&M's see that box of destruction and can't even consider the loss so they pawn them off to uneducated 'victims' as mold. I've only had 1 brand of cigar that's had plume and it was some Vega Fina Jose Sejas L.E.'s. They sparkled in the sun but was virtually undetectable in roomlight.
The pic by the OP is hair mold. Hair mold has no toxins so it's safe to smoke. Just wipe it off. However, all those other examples are toast.
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Of course, I just got back from a fairly well known factory in Esteli, and some of the people there said that when they find plume on cigars, they throw them out, as it is a sign of not being aged properly...
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:-)
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I've never heard this before (I don't know much). What did they say was wrong with the way they were aged and why does this cause plume?
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If they were just throwing away perfectly fine sticks, and not molded -- I'd hire an individual to dumpster dive for these sticks to sell them. In all honesty though, if they are throwing away sticks with plume -- I don't think I want to try their sticks whatsoever.
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I just gifted a Padron Millenium with beautiful plume just like that one! Now that's a stocking stuffer!
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Plume!! Definitely plume!!

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Brilliant. :-)
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Sandwich time!:-)
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No doubt, i love me some good plumey bread...
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saw these pictures... seem to sum it up...

MOLD

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PLUME / BLOOM

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I always get a chuckle out of the use of the term "bloom" to reference plume, because blooming is exactly what the mold colony is doing.

Someday, the idiot blogger who first started using that term incorrectly... :-) :-) :-)
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Yea... I refer to it as Plume... Bloom seems to carry the wrong connotation...
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What a blooming good term! Yeah, mold is so easily identified, it's just pathetic for some people to argue the most obvious examples of mold.
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