Recently, complaints have once again been accumulating about the active life of the "Lasioderma Serricorne", the dreaded tobacco beetle, in cigar boxes. There is possibly a secret weapon now existing to eventually eliminate these small beasts that cannot even be seen by the bare eye - the microwave.

The tobacco beetle exists in all tobacco-planting countries and infests the tobacco leaf before it is processed. In Caribbean countries, the hot climate suits this terror of the aficionados particularly well. When the larvae (up to 4mm long, white and plump) hatch, the moths eat their way through the tobacco or, respectively, through the cigar - this can be detected by the small punctures which show up on the wrapper leaf. Then a cigar often looks like a small flute.

Exposing the tobacco to gas in their countries of origin obviously seems to help only in a limited way, since this insect turns out to be very capable of surviving. Like the moth, the tobacco is also filled with life - of a botanical type. Up until recently, the attempt was to destroy the beetle and the larvae of the infested cigars by shock-freezing them at the temperature of minus 20 to 22 degrees centigrade. Tobacco importers, though not all of them, are deep-freezing their tobaccos, as well as their cigars, for up to 14 days.

Tobacco importers like Philipp Schuster of August Schuster Cigarrenfabrik in Bünde, fared very well with this method - however at a freezing temperature of minus 28 degrees centigrade! "At higher freezing temperatures, the larvae and eggs of the to-bacco beetle can still survive, even if the moths themselves die". This is exactly the point. Botanists also admit the survivability, even at low temperatures.

The humidors, and not just the electrically and electronically controlled humidors of tobacconists, are creating permanent Caribbean environmental conditions around the clock, independent of the seasonal conditions in their countries of origin. The Cologne cigar pro Peter Heinrichs had extensive problems with the tobacco beetle brought in with a lot of boxes.

His shock-freezing experiments did not prove to be a lasting solution. After the deep-freezing there are no more moths caught in scented "love traps" anymore, since in principle the insects were annihilated. However the larvae, which remain encapsulated in the cigars, are not neccessarily destroyed. The thicker the cigar, the better the chances are that eggs and larvae will survive even icy temperatures. The life-cycle of the beetle from the laying of the egg up to the hatching of the larvae is around 46 days. In climate-controlled rooms and humidors and at a temperature of 20 degrees centigrade, the beetles are laying eggs only once. In Caribbean countries, at a temperature often by far exceeding 30 degrees centigrade, a repetition of egg production occurs.

Peter Heinrichs lowered the temperature of the humidor down to 17-18 degrees centigrade and at the same time the humidity as well - under 60%. What happened was that in the shock-frozen boxes, the beetles gradually moved to the wrapper surface of the cigar - evidence of the survivability of the larvae. "Even before opening the filler, one could see under the magnifying glass, that the encapsulated larvae still lived".

Heinrichs experimented with the possibility of destroying the larvae with gamma rays. The idea with the microwave was then born. It was quickly observed that some cigars couldn't stand the ray treatment, regardless of its duration or degree. Heinrichs exposed the cigars by entire boxfuls for 3 minutes at a maximum setting of 350 watts. Of course, the cigars totally dried up. After being microwaved, the boxes are deep-frozen for 24 hours at a temperature of minus 20 degrees centigrade, and immediately thawed at room temperature. During this process, the cigars regain their moisture, as Heinrichs says, in contrast to the cigars being thawed in the refrigerator, where the moisture would be withdrawn from them. This method obviously functions, and can be used by the aficionado as well. The cigars should never be put into the microwave individually, but only together as whole boxes, then transferred immediately into the freezer - single cigars can be put into plastic bags as well - after that they should be thawed at room temperature and returned to the humidor. All cigars kept in the humidor must be checked individually for the tobacco beetle. Already infected cigars, recognizable by the small punctures in the wrapper leaf, should be disposed of immediately, and the others should also undergo the microwave process as a precaution, packing single cigars together in a box. Give the humidor a lukewarm wipe and definitely do not use any disinfection sprays.
[excerpted from the European Cigar Journal]