Mold

[Smallclub]

When a cigar has white spots on the wrapper the only way to tell between bloom and mould is to look through a microscope.

The simplest desktop magnifier does the trick?
Anyway, bloom/plume is extremely rare, and never occurs on young cigars? I've seen one occurrence of bloom in the last ten years, most smokers have never seen "plume" and will never see it?

[Styler]

...most smokers have never seen "plume" and will never see it…

It's good to keep this in mind as every time mould is mentioned plume seems to enter the equation as well. I would hate for someone new to the hobby to have a case of mould but do nothing about it under the assumption that it might be plume.

[NathanJD]

Thanks to everyone for the messages so far, I really feel like we're cutting through the general hearsay on this matter. Thanks as well for the point by point answer Agricola. I guess the 'what's the science' part of my question refers to the general consensus regarding the 'it's bad' general statement made when referring to mold on the foot of cigars. Really what I'm trying to ask is wheter there are specific symptoms or ailments that pertain directly to moldy cigars or whether this advice is based solely on the logic of as agricola puts it - mold + human lungs = bad