Stonehaven question

Late last year I scored 2 bags of Esoterica Stonehaven from a Tobacconist online. I opened the first bag and it was great. After finishing it off I opened the second and it has a frosty appearance that the first did not and I found it very hard to smoke. In fact at first I could not smoke it at all without immediate tongue bite. Has anyone else opened a bag that has this frosty salt like appearance? Anyone go through several bags of Stonehaven specifically and never seen it or always see it? I have had this batch for a year now and the appearance has gone unchanged.

Thanks in advance,

Scott

Hi Scott, that's hazardous stuff and you should send it to me for proper disposal.

Seriously, though, that is either crystallized sugars or something called plume or bloom, which is the result if good aging. Nothing to be concerned about at all. If you don't like it, you'll find lots of traders in the stock exchange.

Have you had a bag of Stonehaven like it? I ask because I had finished one bag then opened the bag in question the same day and they are night and day in harshness.

No, but I've seen that in lots of other flakes and in a bag of Penzance I had. Pretty common.

In trying to sort this out do you have Stonehaven? If you know what it should be like I would be willing to send a sample for your opinion of this batch is why I ask.

I do have Stonehaven--just none of it has any plume/bloom on it yet. I'll drop you a PM.

I got a sample of Stonehaven from a lovely member while I was back home in NY over the summer. It looked just like that but with even more plume patches. It didn't smoke bitey at all though. They use treacle to flavor Stonehaven so it might just have had more than the other bag?

Like Micah said, better safe than sorry. BL members would destroy that for you with no worries

Here's a pic of the Stonehaven than Brian gave me.

Senshi said:

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Here's a pic of the Stonehaven than Brian gave me.

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That's a ridunkulous amount of plume.

Senshi said:

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Here's a pic of the Stonehaven than Brian gave me.

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Thank you Andrew. That is identical to some of mine so it appears I have my answer. I just hate to open a bag and not be able to enjoy it.

Just got a fresh bag of Stonehaven in today. As I was jamming it all into a mason jar, I saw a flake that had some plume on it... and that's straight outta the bag.

Thanks Jason I have now been schooled in plume by the fine gentlemen of this forum.

life2short1971 said:

Have you had a bag of Stonehaven like it? I ask because I had finished one bag then opened the bag in question the same day and they are night and day in harshness.

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I have Stonehaven that is loaded with sugar crystals

I must have had a slight case of tongue bite and when I opened the second bag the slight difference between the two was enough to really make it worse because I just tried the batch in question again and the problem seems to have disappeared completely.

life2short1971 said:

I must have had a slight case of tongue bite and when I opened the second bag the slight difference between the two was enough to really make it worse because I just tried the batch in question again and the problem seems to have disappeared completely.

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I have heard the argument that depending on the acidity levels in your mouth (varying from your particular daily diet) that the taste of tobaccos can vary.

That is very true although that is not what I was experiencing.