Is this mold? @izzi

[izzi]

Hello everyone, I'm izzi. I live in the Netherlands but I am from Spain. I found myself in a tight spot as cigarette prices went over the moon so I decided to begin rolling my own. A couple of days ago I received my first order of tobacco leaves, mixture of Virginia Gold, Burley and Oriental Samsoun, but as I was taking the stems off I noticed a lot of spots on the leaves, spots that look like mold. As I am completely new to this I have no idea if indeed this is mold or if I am just being paranoid. I'm also not sure this is the right the category for this post, so please excuse me if not, I just could not find a better one. If anyone can help out I would very much appreciate it.

The pictures are from the Virginia Gold. By the way, if I try to scratch it off with my finger nails it does not go off.

Thanks in advance!

PS: The leaves were shipped just in a cardboard box which I found pretty crappy. Only the samsoun was in a plastic bag, I guess so not to be confused with the burley. Already looking for a different provider but not so easy in the EU. Every help and advise is more than welcome.

 

[deluxestogie]

Welcome to the forum. Feel free to introduce yourself in the Introduce Yourself forum.

It's always difficult to identify mold from standard photographs. My impression is that the gray areas are mold in the first image. The well-circumscribed spots in the second image do not look like mold. In general, use in cigarettes does not present a hazard, since whatever mold might be there will be entirely combusted, and not toxic. If, with some moisture added, it smells like mold, then remove and discard those parts. Mold on tobacco becomes a toxic risk with smokeless preparations and with cigar wrappers.

Perhaps other members will render their opinions on the photos as well.

Bob

 

[Sergey Ukraine]

It's hard to tell from the photo... sometimes color reproduction distorts the actual color. If the spots in the first photo are green, they could be chlorophyll residues, if they are gray, they are most likely mold... if you wipe them with hydrogen peroxide and they wash off, then they are definitely mold... I haven't checked myself, so I can't say for sure whether this is true or not. In the second photo, there appear to be brown spots, most likely from moisture/water droplets during drying, which is not a concern. There may sometimes be a white coating on the veins - this is crystallized salt, which is also not a concern.

 

[Old Gasman]

I've bought similar leaves as yours possibly from the same supplier. My leaves also had the same markings but I don't believe it's mold, the tobacco tastes just fine. I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[izzi]

Thank you for your replies guys. Very much appreciated all the input. In response to @Old Gasman I don't know. I got it from supposedly a french supplier but it came from Germany so go figure (I don't think I should talk about this publicly so if you like I'd love to have a private chat about it). I have only found another supplier so there is not much offer around here. I am beginning to wonder about importing and taxation.