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Bloom on BBF SLB's

Man, what an odd (but delightful!) dilemma!
My cigars have bloom but might be in their sick period!
If I were you, I would wait until you were pretty sure the cigars were out of sick. It is possible that the wrapper and the otermost tobacco are showing bloom, while filler could still be sick. I wouldn't want to risk losing a bloomed cigar to a premature smoke.

That's outstanding.
 
Gaman said:
If I am you, I will light up one after it has a good rest in humidor/coolidor for one month to see how it taste like. Then will taste test one again in every two to three months later. If could resist the temptation. :p
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What Gaman said. Try one once they have stabilized from their journey and have reached your prefered humidity level. The bloom has more to do with the wrapper than the rest of the cigar (especially at this point), so they are not necessarily in a sick period. Your taste will be the test. If they are not prime, sit on them for a few months and then try another. Repeat until done. :p

It is unusual for bloom to have started so quickly, but not impossible. As for the tobacco being aged before rolling (as someone above suggested), I would not bet on that. The Cubans actually do little aging of the tobacco or the cigars (at least compared to the high end NCs). Even the ELs only use 2 year old tobacco, so you can bet that the normal run cigars don't use much over a year.

Looks like you have some great sticks there...ENJOY! :thumbs:
 
Definitely looks like plume.

In regards to a reference above about Cuban tobacco being aged a few years before the cigars are rolled is inaccurate. Cuba does not age their tobacco, once it has finished it's fermentation, the cigars are rolled and sold. We are the ones who are aging the tobacco,not Cuba.
 
Ginseng: Thank you for your help with the pics and your encouragement.

strayvector & armedak: The vacuuming thing was possibly one of the funniest
things I have ever read in a forum (I'm still chuckling
about this a day later). Hope you don't mind but I have
been telling people at my office about your comment. LOL.

Gaman: This shipment was a mistake!! I thought I had a cabinet with
boxcode ABR05 to start smoking as soon as the weather breaks here.
What a mistake!!! I'm keeping them.

smokelaw1: I agree completely. I would rather wait a while than "waste" even
one of these smokes. I will definitely follow-up on this with
everyone at a later date. Of course, these smell so delicious I
may not be able to wait more than a few weeks before sampling one.
Meanwhile, I am sucking down other cigars like crazy out of sheer
frustration (impatience?).

cigardawg: If you look closely at Pic #3 you may see the bloom is on the bottom
of the foot also. But you are right and I agree it is mostly the
wrappers. I just have never seen this sort of thing with such
youngsters. Under a microscope, I can see essential oils trying to
come up through the pores in the wrapper, but I cannot see this on
the feet.

To all responders: THANK YOU for your advice and input. I really look forward
to "working" with you folks in the future. There is truly
a lot of knowledgeability and great humor on this board.
I am so glad I joined up!

To my son (who is not a member or cigar smoker): Dude, thanks for taking the
pics for me!!!!

I remember seeing a post (cigar-reviews.org? can't remember for sure) where someone claimed to have gotten a batch of BBF-SLB's that were darker, oilier and more aromatic than usual. I think the person said they went back to the tobacco shop and searched through a dozen cabinets and could not find similar again. So maybe this is just a weird once-in-a-while thing.

BTW, has no one tasted bloom/plume before? I would love to hear what someone else would describe the flavor of this. I am not too good at taste descriptions.

antaean
 
antaean said:
Hello to all! As a newbie I have lurked in the forums here for a long time studying before registering! I have many questions.

I recently got an SLB cabinet of Bolivar Belicoso Finas [FIM SEP05]. When I opened the cab, it had the usual Bolivar aromas. However, when I unwrapped the bundle I noticed the sticks looked a bit dusty. I looked under a magnifier and it looks like dust. No fuzziness or obvious mold appearance. I plan on checking these every few days to make sure its not mold. I keep my humidors at 65%-70% RH and usually 62F-64F. I think this is habanos s.a. guide.

The sticks have dark rich wrappers. My question is this: are these too young to have bloom/plume? I have not had BBF's before so am not sure what to expect. I looked on some web sites that have mold vs. bloom pictures, and they don't seem to be what I have. Sorry guys, but no digital camera here.

antaean

(Edit: See Post #14, I got some pics)
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I just got a box today that has the same box code. And what a beautiful selection of cigars they are. :thumbs: :thumbs: Mine doesn't appear to have as much dust on them as shown in the picture, but it is definitely there.

But I couldn't wait. I have had a rough couple days / week at work and I really wanted to smoke a cigar. So I thought, "What the hell? If I smoke one now it will give me the true experience from start to finish."

First impressions: a little spongy, but still a nice prelight draw. It lit a little unevenly, and I have had to touch it up with my matches a couple of times. I think the 69% humipack that it shipped with has this stick a little more moist than I would typically like. However, they are definitely not sick.

I feel content to let the rest of them sit for several months now. These are one of the ISOMs I have come to love and am really looking forward to watching these puppies age. I have read in some other posts / forums, some people think the 04/05 BBFs have lost a little something. The first BBF I tried was from 03, and was a little stronger than this one. I'm not sure if these will mature in a couple of years to my experience with that one, but it is still a great smoke, even when young.

Enjoy!
- C
 
If you do the regualr observation and cant tell if it is mold or dust or plume, turn off the lights. Then shine a flash light on them, if it is plume, it shhould be a little sparkely.
Emo
 

I feel content to let the rest of them sit for several months now. These are one of the ISOMs I have come to love and am really looking forward to watching these puppies age. I have read in some other posts / forums, some people think the 04/05 BBFs have lost a little something. The first BBF I tried was from 03, and was a little stronger than this one. I'm not sure if these will mature in a couple of years to my experience with that one, but it is still a great smoke, even when young.

[/quote]

Your review is much appreciated! I have been having a hard time not obsessing about these cigars, and it will be a bit easier now for me to wait a few more months to sample them. I truly prefer Bolivars but have not tried a BBF or Corona Gigante or Immensa yet.

antaean

emodx said:
If you do the regualr observation and cant tell if it is mold or dust or plume, turn off the lights. Then shine a flash light on them, if it is plume, it shhould be a little sparkely.
Emo
Click to expand...

This never occurred to me. Thanks for the great science tip Emo. I will try it tonight.

antaean
 
antaean said:

I feel content to let the rest of them sit for several months now. These are one of the ISOMs I have come to love and am really looking forward to watching these puppies age. I have read in some other posts / forums, some people think the 04/05 BBFs have lost a little something. The first BBF I tried was from 03, and was a little stronger than this one. I'm not sure if these will mature in a couple of years to my experience with that one, but it is still a great smoke, even when young.
Click to expand...

Your review is much appreciated! I have been having a hard time not obsessing about these cigars, and it will be a bit easier now for me to wait a few more months to sample them. I truly prefer Bolivars but have not tried a BBF or Corona Gigante or Immensa yet.

antaean

emodx said:
If you do the regualr observation and cant tell if it is mold or dust or plume, turn off the lights. Then shine a flash light on them, if it is plume, it shhould be a little sparkely.
Emo
Click to expand...

This never occurred to me. Thanks for the great science tip Emo. I will try it tonight.

antaean
[/quote]
I can't take credit fir this one. Learned this one from a great BOTL!
 
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