Tweet
I suspect those Partagas have some considerable age?
I reckon it's a type of bloom or plume - fienely powdered or crystalised oils from the wrapper. I know these are usually greyish, but with strongly coloured wrappers some of the pigment might be extruded together with the oils.
If it's not actually the oils forming a powderey coating - it might just be the outer surface (ie the outer cells of the tobacco leaf) of the wrapper breaking down to a fine powder.
I still have a few ERDM demi tasse from the 80's & they had a noitceably yellow powdery coating that I put down to either/both of the above processes (the ERDM's having much paler wrappers than that Partagas). They also had a few tiny patches of more usual crystaline bloom which also showed a slight yellowy tinge.
I also suspect the coating is the same or similar to the "dust" one notices puffing on a freshly cut stick before lighting it. I tend to find the older the cigar the more dust I taste.
I reckon it's a type of bloom or plume - fienely powdered or crystalised oils from the wrapper. I know these are usually greyish, but with strongly coloured wrappers some of the pigment might be extruded together with the oils.
If it's not actually the oils forming a powderey coating - it might just be the outer surface (ie the outer cells of the tobacco leaf) of the wrapper breaking down to a fine powder.
I still have a few ERDM demi tasse from the 80's & they had a noitceably yellow powdery coating that I put down to either/both of the above processes (the ERDM's having much paler wrappers than that Partagas). They also had a few tiny patches of more usual crystaline bloom which also showed a slight yellowy tinge.
I also suspect the coating is the same or similar to the "dust" one notices puffing on a freshly cut stick before lighting it. I tend to find the older the cigar the more dust I taste.
)
Comment