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White Crystals on the caps?

D

DarrenR

I swear I am number 8!
Joined
Jan 5, 2001
Messages
963
I will get pictures up as soon as I can get yahoo pictures to work right.
I love my father to death but he can kill a cigar with the best of them. :p I did not know he had purchased these until recently. Around 2001 my father bought a box of Nov 2000 H. Upmann Tubed Carona Minor's and put them in a make shift cooledore in his basement and never opened them. :0 I finally talked him into bringing them to me to open and store properly in my cabinet. He never checked them or calibrated the cooler. As I opened then opened each tube they were very wet but no real mold some but nothing to worry about. I started to slide them out and the caps of nearly all of them were covered in what I would call salt. It was white, very crystal like and granular. I wiped it off and the caps look like they where shot with a shotgun! :angry2:
It all came off but I did sacrifice one to the knife to see if it was inside. At least on that one I am safe. :(
I have never seen this before, so I don't know how to treat it. Right now I am treating them as if it is mold. I have them seperated and out to lower the moisture content. Next they will get their own humi for me to monitor for a while. Then if all goes well I was going to add them to general population.
Please let me know if you have seen this and what you did.
Thanks
DarrenR
 
Darren,

That's pretty strange. My first guess would be that due to the wetness inside these tubes, you might get migration of crystallizable components (salts and other organics) from the cedar sleeve and tobacco. Rather less likely is that the crystals are related to corrosion of the aluminum tube itself. Aluminum hydroxide forms as a product of corrosion under certains conditions (one of which is exposure to water) and is often seen as a whitish film or powder.

How does the sleeve look? Does the inside of the tube look pitted or corroded?

Wilkey
 
Not corroded but most were pretty discolord. I am thinking of cutting one of the tubes so I can see into the but end this weekend. If the pictures will work I will post those too if I see anything. :cool:
 
Sometimes it's best not to take chances. If it's questionable....cut your losses and toss the lot.

I wouldn't eat green meat, drink funny smelling milk, sleep in a motel bed...maybe you shouldn't smoke those cigars either.
 
You shouldn't need to cut a tube open to inspect the end. Just look down into one with a flashlight. You'll see the seams of the petals of the aluminum tube that are spun together to close the end.

I'm with indyrob on this one. I wouldn't chance smoking one. Not that you might get sick, but they just might be so heinous as to really leave a bad impression.

Wilkey
 
Damn Darren....... after all of these yrs with this board......



Group: Members
Posts: 666
Joined: 5-January 01
From: Akron, Ohio
Member No.: 8
 
:) Do I get a prize. LOL
Ok here are some links to photos thanks to Nullsmurf who was kind enough to hook me up. Thanks man!
r0015119.jpg

r0015118.jpg

r0015114.jpg

Sorry for the blurryness of the sloseup. The camera would not focus right.
The more I look at this stuff the more I think it is salt from evaperated water but I do not yet have the courage to taste it yet. :p
Thanks
DarrenR
 
In the book "Complete Idiot's Guide to Cigars" they describe mold as "white" in color and similar to what is pictured.
 
Going by the pics, I had that happen to a Magic Mountian cap that was barely touching a round creedo in my one humi. I brushed it off, dryboxed it for 2 days and smoked it. There wasn't a problem or difference in the taste at all.Granted I'm talking about a cigar that was stashed away for maybe 8 months,not 5 years like yours were.
 
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