It seems that in 1.2.9 and the previouse version that when a retraction happens with z-lift enabled, the lift occurs before the retraction allowing the back-pressure in the nozzle to ooze a considerable amount in the short time between the lift and retraction. Of corse this ends up in ugly stringing everywhere and little bits of debris being dragged around by the nozzle. I dont recall this being an issue in older versions, and certaintly isn't an issue in Cura.