Tobacco Beetle Experiences

[Smoked!]

Can I vote twice?

1. My first beetle experience involved a humi I had in long-term storage. (Why? Because I'm a monkey - that's why.) The contents were turned into mulch. I kept no cigars on hand for many years.

2. Several years after the first incident, I decided to again keep a few sticks around my office. In '07, I received a box purchased from a very popular on-line vendor. There was evidence of beetles. Not knowing how to handle such an event, I turned to the internet for information. Brilliant! Fortunately, I discovered this forum while searching for beetle control information. There are several mentions on the board of possible solutions and good information on proper storage to help prevent such occurrences. Once the second small problem was managed, I had no further beetle incidents.

I wouldn't worry too much about beetles. Enjoy the hobby and deal with the small problems if they arise.

[SMEG]

I keep my coolidor in the basement. It usually runs around 70-73 temp and 70 humidity. I barely have any humidification sponges in their either. Is that a problem? Will my cigars start to get that basement smell and taste? Am I more at risk for beetles because I keep my sticks in the basement?

U

[ashauler]

I keep my coolidor in the basement. It usually runs around 70-73 temp and 70 humidity. I barely have any humidification sponges in their either. Is that a problem? Will my cigars start to get that basement smell and taste? Am I more at risk for beetles because I keep my sticks in the basement?

U

Not having the proper humidity is indeed a problem. 70% is a little high for my smoking preferences, but is the rh% that I use for aging. At 70% I experience too much wrapper splitting, so I keep my smoking humis at 60-65 %.

If your cooler seals well, the outside environment shouldn't affect the cigars at all, imo.

No, the lower temps are the protection against beetles. The higher the temp in your cooler the more chance for beetles to hatch......so you're better off with it in the basement, imo.

[ggiese]

I keep my coolidor in the basement. It usually runs around 70-73 temp and 70 humidity. I barely have any humidification sponges in their either. Is that a problem? Will my cigars start to get that basement smell and taste? Am I more at risk for beetles because I keep my sticks in the basement?

U

No worries - as long as the coolidor seals well. And I store my cigars in discarded cedar cigar boxes I pick up from my local B&M. They all smoke incredibly well after storage.

[Eville]

I have only experienced beetles in my nightmares, thankfully.

[Mangyrat]

With summer coming on I do get a little concerned with shipping cigars and having them sit in a hot mail truck or warehouse for 4 to 7 days.

[ndv21]

I haven't had a problem yet but as the weather is beginning to change, I think I am going to adopt the practice of keeping my humidors between 60-65. I find that they smoke well at that humidity.

[badwhale]

I haven't had a problem yet but as the weather is beginning to change, I think I am going to adopt the practice of keeping my humidors between 60-65. I find that they smoke well at that humidity.

Beetle hatching has more to do with temperature than humidity.

Will

[Tdre977]

I was fretting the other day because my temp spiked to like 83ish, I looked around the forum and decided to add a ice pack to bring it down, but man, it had me worried about them beetles. Now I moved it to the bottom of my closet, not as asthetically pleasing as it was sitting on my dresser, but the temp has dropped considerably.

[MarineOne]

I've had some temp spikes out here when the A/C in my room died while I was home on leave, and didn't have any issues with beetles.

It ruined a couple of cigars, but most were able to be saved.

[ilikefishes]

Beetle hatching has more to do with temperature than humidity.

Will

This could not be truer. It actually is all about temperature. When the leaf is rolled and the eggs are on it the future is set. Then you order sticks from your favorite on-line dealer. When they ship them in UPS or something similar, then the temps in the back of those trucks get above 85 f. This causes the beetles to hatch and then you done. The best way to keep from loosing a tremendous investment is to freeze new cigars for three (3) days, refrigerate for three (3) days, lay on your counter for three (3) days and then place in your humidor. I am sure you could probably skip the last two steps, but it makes the shock to the cigar leaf not as drastic. If you are not going to smoke the cigar right away do this with every stick you are going to put in your humidor. When I do the math, I have more than $1,500 in my humidor. I could not even tell you how I would feel if I lost all my "special occasion" cigars.

[ericbee]

I saw an "organic" cigar being marketed recently. One of the points was no pesticides. I started to think back to this thread, and wondered if they were more likely to get beetles. But do cigar companies ever use pesticides?