Origin of Plume

[Silound]

I was told some of this by Jesus Fuego when he last stopped by the shop. After some extra research and data gathering of my own, this is what I've concluded:


Plume is indeed the crystallization of oils from the tobacco on the surface of the leaf. However, plume will not necessarily form on a cigar just because of age, nor will it visibly form on any cigar.

Waxy oils of the tobacco are suspended within the cellular structure of the leaf of tobacco, and help to prevent moisture loss and protect against extreme heat. As the aged leaf gets older, the cellular structure will eventually start to break down on a microscopic level (known as ripening, or in a layman's term: decomposing), causing the oils to be further released out of the leaf. When sufficient oils are released, they eventually crystallize at the point of accumulation. Thus, plume can form "inside" the cigar without you ever seeing it, just as it can form on the outer wrapper.

Unfortunately, that breakdown happens SO slowly at "optimal" conditions, that the cigars may take years to develop plume thus the stigma that a plumed cigar is well aged. In fact, certain temperature and humidity fluctuations can cause the tobacco to ripen (almost identical to what happens when a leaf ferments under heat and pressure to become a maduro wrapper) and release oils faster, thus allowing a cigar to possibly plume. Oil accumulations form where the structure has broken down, thus allowing them to crystallize in spots. This is why cigars will plume evenly, because the natural breakdown in the cellular structure happens in an even distribution. The larger the crystal structures and the more spread out they are, the slower the oils accumulated and then crystallized. The smaller crystals in a more dense spread is the result of rapid crystallization where the oils crystallize too fast for them to migrate to a central spot and build a larger crystal.

Leaves that are fermented, especially Maduro and Oscuro wrappers, tend not to plume as much given the cellular walls are already broken, releasing many of the oils to give the leaf it's characteristic flavors and color.



Anyway, I found there are a LOT of similarities between the biological and geological concepts that happen when cigars plume. But this is merely my own hypothesis on my own research.