Green Crystal Mystery
Posted on June 14, 2008
Filed Under Help Wanted |
Alan sends us a rather detailed query:
I am writing to inquire about the green crystals on some pipe tobacco. I was at a shop last night buying some more MM965 and some others, and had inquired about a tin of Christmas Cheer they had on the shelf. It was a sample tin, about half remained, and the lady just gave it to me. They didn’t have any unopened.
I’ve read of these crystals before, but this is the first I’ve seen of them. I noticed some other site on the net that had a couple of quotes from Greg Pease about the crystals, both saying that he essentially didn’t know what they were; he was pretty sure they’re not sugar, they are not soluble in water, and he didn’t have enough of them to get it analyzed.
Anyway, today is the first I’ve seen of this news section on tobaccoreviews.com, and I thought this would be a perfect question to submit. What are the crystals? How frequently might one find them? I have tins that have been open for as much as 8 months and have not noticed this in any. Could it have something to do with the fact that they have a humidifier disc in the tin? I don’t ever find it necessary to use them; my tobaccos have never dried out too much. Does anyone notice any adverse effect from them when smoking? Should they be removed?
Can anyone shed any light on this?
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My best guess is that these are humidor crystals of some sort as you have said earlier. These crysatals are normaly used in cigar humidators to boost the moisture content in iside the box. As far as their effect on the quaiity of the smoke I can’t say as I’ve come across them in any pipe tobacco I smoked.
Typically “sugar crystals” are white, and may or may not be due to the aging of tobacco, green is usually bad, such as mold, not sure if that’s what ya got though, pics would help
I too have seen these crystals. I have access to a Scanning electron microscope. The atomic profile that came back in the test leads me to believe that it is some sort of hydroscopic(water seeking) substance similar to gelatin, glycerine, pg, etc. I would just guess that it is some sort of medium used to regulate humidity levels. Some tins will naturally have higher moisture content than others, especially when at different levels of maturation. I speculate that what ever the stuff is, it is leeching from the internal leaf in search of what little ambient moisture is residing in the air within the tin. As aerobic and anaerobic processes age the tobacco the water is used up leaving the “crystalized” substrate behind. Its only a guess but I was for a time really consumed by trying to reverse engineer what really went on during the production of some of our favorite smokes.
I’ve not seen the crystals, but what I’ve read here (with the exception of the part about not being water soluble) leads me to believe these are nicotine crystals. Nicotine is a hygroscopic, oily liquid that as a nitrogenous base forms salts with acids that are usually solid and water soluble. Since it constitutes about 1-3% by weight of dry tobacco, seeing it’s crystals could be expected in pressure treated pipe tobacco. The green color could be from absorbed chlorophyl. Mixing with another plant resin could produce a resin mixture that is not water soluble but which would also not have a specific melting point. My guess is that if analyzed they’ll have a very high nicotine content. Enjoy.