Hey everyone,
I'm sorry if this is not in the right section and for the long post but I needed some assistance and want to share details. TL:DR version to start, more details for expanded context below.
TL:DR
I experienced a random and unexpected mold issue in my electric humidor. After clean through the affected boxes and areas, I noticed a few small bugs on the bottom of some cigar boxes and don't know what they are. I don't suspect they are beetles as there is no damage but I'm worried. Before proceeding with freezing large groups of cigars, I wanted some assistance to identify the insect along with any next steps (video below).
Context:
Recently, I was refilling my electric humidor (Raching CT48) with distilled water and noticed some mold on what I believe are the intake vents.
This is all very strange to me because my humidor has been consistent at 18-20c and 68-70% RH. (I've been using this setting as this is more of an aging humidor). I've had no issues of spiking humidity or temperature, so to see mold on the vents and boxes was weird but I've also come to realize that I need to change my water via pump my water out every 3 months or so which I haven't done in 2 years.
After some more investigation, I noticed that there were some cigars boxes (mostly papered cardboard ones) that had grown some mold on them. Noticing this, I took everything out and started to clean the vents with 70% ISP along with the exterior of affected boxes. I also decided to check all my cigars and noticed that in some instances some did have white mold on them but nothing horrible or colorful.
The Real Concern:
As I was taking out and inspecting some cigars and the boxes, I saw a tiny crawler. Immediately, I assumed it was a cigar beetles and started to isolate any suspected boxes and go through everything else. Over time, I found a number of boxes that had some tiny crawlers but no damage to any cigars, like holes, etc. When found, I would generally find 1 or 2 crawling at the bottom of the cigar box.
Hours later, I gathered about 14 boxes of cigars that I saw at least 1 of these crawlers in to begin the freezing protocol.
Talking to a number of people about the frustration, a few asked for a video so I sent them one. Each mentioned that they did not look like cigar beetles but could be booklice or woodmites. Given my recent issue with the mold, this could be true.
The Question:
Can anyone please give me their input on what this insect might be and any next steps?
PXL_20250722_131604678.mp4