Need help with moldy batch of burley

[The Working Acre]

Hello, I have just received this replacement batch of Burley from a supplier. This looks better than the one that they replaced but I'm still a little hesitant to work with that much mold. It was a 5lbs bag with half pound bunches. all the bunches were molded in the middle. They arrived brittle. The smell was okay but im worried about the amount of mold present during storage. Is this safe to handle/ smoke or is this beyond the realm of 'a little bit of mold on the rib is normal'? Gut tells me to toss it. You can see where the mold has penetrated the veins and runs all the way to the leaf edge. I smoked a small sample of the clean leaves I did process and im not dead, but don't want to push it. Everything I've ordered from WLT has been pristine quality so I'm wondering if you guys would throw that in the trash or process it with some PPE. I will stick with you guys from now on I promise!

 

[deluxestogie]

Welcome to the forum. Feel free to introduce yourself in the Introduce Yourself forum. You may wish to scan through the topics in our Index of Key Forum Threads, linked in the menu bar.

Some mold on the central vein is fairly common in cured burley. The risk of mold is aflatoxin that it may produce. Aflatoxin presents a risk if you will use the tobacco in a smokeless preparation, or as a cigar wrapper (where your mouth directly contacts it). By contrast, aflatoxin is mostly combusted if you smoke it in a pipe, cigarette or as cigar filler.

So, given those caveats, I would consider it safe to use. Once the leaf is rehydrated, remove the central vein.

Bob

 

[The Working Acre]

Welcome to the forum. Feel free to introduce yourself in the Introduce Yourself forum. You may wish to scan through the topics in our Index of Key Forum Threads, linked in the menu bar.

Some mold on the central vein is fairly common in cured burley. The risk of mold is aflatoxin that it may produce. Aflatoxin presents a risk if you will use the tobacco in a smokeless preparation, or as a cigar wrapper (where your mouth directly contacts it). By contrast, aflatoxin is mostly combusted if you smoke it in a pipe, cigarette or as cigar filler.

So, given those caveats, I would consider it safe to use. Once the leaf is rehydrated, remove the central vein.

Bob

I got my order in from WLT, and the quality difference was night and day. I ended up throwing the old batch away after having a chance to compare the two. There was two slightly moldy leaves in the new order. like small patches of mold. Barely noticeable. The batch I threw away was 90% of the main rib on 80% of the leaves. There's certainly an acceptable amount of mold, and I'm sure that varies from person to person. I really like opening every leaf and taking a big smell, and can't reasonably do that with a ton of mold. I personally never want to see baccy with mold that has spread from the midrib to the smaller veins again! I appreciate you taking the time to explain the risks with me. I think I have a much better idea of the line between discount and refuse tobacco.