Help!!! Beetles!!!

[indysmoker]

just put your humidor in the freezer as well...why not?

[Shelby07]

just put your humidor in the freezer as well...why not?

I don't know what effect putting the humi in the freezer would have on the wood. I'd be leery of that. Temperature extremes like that might damage it.

The cedar lining repels the beetles. I would just wipe it down real good with distilled water and let it set for a few days then examine for beetle turds. From what I understand they will smear when you rub them as opposed to tobacco leaf flakes which will not.

[TampaSupremo]

The cedar lining repels the beetles. I would just wipe it down real good with distilled water and let it set for a few days then examine for beetle turds. From what I understand they will smear when you rub them as opposed to tobacco leaf flakes which will not.

Yeah, but then you've got smeared beetle turd in your box. That's kinda beat. As it turns out, The next day I was messing with the box and accidently dumped my The Puck beads into the box. I had to roll them around so much to get them out that leaf bits and whatever else might have been in there came out with them. I dumped them in a glass of distilled water to separate the debris from the beads. Then I blasted the box with some canned air. I think the box will probably be ok.

Gonna take my sticks out of the freezer this weekend. A day in the fridge to reduce some of the shock and then back in the box. From now on, I'm keeping all my sticks in cello.

TampaSupremo

[ReV]

question:

I just got a humidor not too long ago and this thread has me worried... about how common are beetles anyway? I live in a pretty tropical climate down here, but i keep my humi between 67-71% humidity and around 71 degreee temp.

[TampaSupremo]

I don't think they are all that common. Or rather, heavy infestations are not that common. The B&M I go to inspects every stick they put on the shelves because their insurance policy does not cover tobacco beetle infestations so they have a vested interest in making sure they don't place suspicious looking sticks on the shelf. Plus the manufacturers have their own controls in place (chemicals, freezing, etc). The important thing is to make sure that at the first sign of beetles, toss the infected sticks and freeze the others. It may not destroy the eggs but it will kill larvae.

I'm an expert on this by no means, but I've spoken to some knowledgeable folks and done a good bit of reading on the boards. This is the info I've gleaned on this situation. Hope this helps.

TampaSupremo

[aceswired]

I just got a humidor not too long ago and this thread has me worried... about how common are beetles anyway?

I've read that virtually every cigar has at least beetle eggs (even if they're no longer viable). It's a matter of those little bastards hatching that makes it a problem. But it is odd to know that you're smoking beetle eggs pretty much every time you light up.

[SMEG]

Sorry to relive anyones nightmare but this shit scares me almost to the point of only having a very small collection. How common are these things and what temp and humidity do they thrive at? I would hate for some of my cigars I've had for 6 monts or so to be wasted.

[badwhale]

Do a search. I posted a thread a month or so ago that had a poll. There were other discussions in there too.

Will

[ggiese]

Sorry to relive anyones nightmare but this shit scares me almost to the point of only having a very small collection. How common are these things and what temp and humidity do they thrive at? I would hate for some of my cigars I've had for 6 monts or so to be wasted.

There are some incredible pics floating around showing the kind of damage these little buggers make. I personally saw a brand new box from the manufacturer, won in a drawing, LOADED with larvae. The tops of the cigars looked perfectly fine - but when you flipped the cigars over there was little that hadn't been chewed into...

I'm not aware there's any secret formula for preventing it from happening. One manufacturer or region doesn't seem to be more or less susceptible. Freezing seems to help - I know my shop supposedly freezes everything coming in - but I've also heard of individuals that have been hit AFTER the cigars were frozen. Keeping the cigars cool (around 70 degrees) does seem to help. Letting the cigars get over 80 degrees for any kind of prolonged period seems to speed the process up.

Bottom line - It happens often enough to be concerned, but not enough to lose sleep over it...