Found a bug, though not a beetle (maybe)

I opened my box from cigarbid and there was a bug inside. After panic subsided I examined the little bugger. A Google search or two later revealed that it wasn't a tobacco beetle (I'm about 95% sure it isn't one). I examined each cigar and didn't find any evidence of beetles. There are about 4 cigars that had cracks in the wrapper so I put them aside.

My question is should I err on the side of caution and just freeze all of the cigars or since I'm pretty sure it wasn't a beetle I can go ahead and put them in my cooler?


I snapped a bad picture of the culprit and will post it in a second or two.


http://i515.photobucket.com/albums/t...90807-1621.jpg

Looks like your everyday beetle to me. I wouldn't freeze them, but I would keep them segregated for a few days.

We call those lady beetles down here in south Louisiana. They are mostly black with underlining dark red? correct?

Rich

It was mostly brown. I could see its wings on the outside, though so that's what made me think it wasn't a tobacco beetle.

I almost want to say its a stink bug but its smaller than most I have seen.

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Originally Posted by TravPSU

I almost want to say its a stink bug but its smaller than most I have seen.

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I was leaning towards calling it a stink bug too

I'm 99% sure that isn't a tobacco beetle. Tobacco beetles look like little scarabs or just little brown round ovals. Had he been a tobacco beetle, I'm guessing you would have found him inside the bags the cigars were held in and not just in the box itself.

Here's a nice picture of one

http://www.insectscience.co.za/pictu...0big%20pic.jpg

Edit* woops.

Yeah - I think that's a "true bug" - there's a lot of different kinds. They're stink bugs and they have this bigass beak thing that folds up under their thorax (front part of the body). Some of them are pretty big - there's one here that is gray, about 1/2 the size of your thumb, and has a big semi-circular ridge on it's back just behind the head - we called these "ugly bugs"!

Silencei2 that's a nice shot of a tobacco beetle - never seen a close up of one like that.

Ok, panic mode is over. Thank you everyone for your input. Just to be sure, I'm going to have to smoke the cigars that have any unusual cracks or marks on the wrappers. You know, just to be safe. :smiley2:

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Originally Posted by TravPSU

Ok, panic mode is over. Thank you everyone for your input. Just to be sure, I'm going to have to smoke the cigars that have any unusual cracks or marks on the wrappers. You know, just to be safe. :smiley2:

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If you received an order with cracked sticks I call up the customer service line of who ever you purchased them from. Its happened to me in the past and I've been able to send the whole order back and they'll replace them. Just my $0.02

It was only about 2 or 3 out of the 40 I got in the box. None of the cracks were anything drastic so I'm not too concerned. If it were anything worse, though, I would definitely call. Thanks for the advice.