Living nightmare...Beetles

[reg]

It seems like I have fallen victim. I am I panicking.

Was looking through my humi at what I want to smoke tomorrow and I turn over a cigar and see around 10 tiny little white crawlers. They almost look like you might imagine lice would look.

If they weren't freaky enough as is, the dread set in. Immediately got rid of the infected cigar. I don't even remember what it was.

I checked all the other cigars in the box and didn't see anything else. It was a single in a box of various other singles. All the cigars in that box came from sources I trust. There are some various NCs in the humidor from other sources, but not in that specific box and I didn't see a problem with those cigars.

I didn't see any bugs anywhere else, I didn't see any flying around either. Is there any chance that only that one cigar was infected? I'm assuming I need to freeze em anyway...

What causes the outbreaks? Some of the cigars had to have arrived to me with the beetles already inside, correct, at least in some stage of life? Can they lay dormant until there are proper conditions, high temperate for example? Wondering if I can figure anything out by knowing the timeline of when they might have arrived :/

[TripaLarga]

Hi Reg, I'm very sorry to hear that! While I have never suffered from an infestation myself, I do know the rules to follow. It sounds as if you caught them very early on, and if so you have been fortunate. The larvae will eat through cigars, making little holes, often visible on the wrapper.

You should check every single cigar carefully for holes and also tap them, foot down, to see if any dust falls out. If they are inside a cigar their excretion will be evident as dust which can be tapped from the foot.

If any other signs are seen the infected cigas will have to be put in the freezer before being slowly and carefully re-conditioned. Here is a good page that will tell you more about them and what to do:

http://www.cgarsltd.co.uk/document.php?id=tobaccobeetle.htm

All the best and I hope it works out fine!

[reg]

thanks for the info.

so far I've isolated each box I have into ziplock bags. I re-inspected cigars from each box and have found no furthers signs of damage or beetles. from what I've read, freezing doesn't harm the cigars, but I'm still hesitant to do it. I guess its worth it instead of risking losing the cigars :/

[LeafLover]

Feel for you. Good luck with that. Hopefully, if it doesn't work out, then those cigars weren't your pride and joys.

I've been really worried about beetle outbreaks the past couple months as I remember last summer where it got so hot that I was a nervous wreck watching my humi temp get hotter and hotter. That's why recently I went the wine fridge route to regulate the temp my habanos are in. This summer, if the temps get consistently over 100 F, and even a 110 on a couple days, like last summer, I'm feeling a bit more confident.

[TripaLarga]

Hmm, I do think that while you can freeze cigars and re-condition them to a satisfactory smoking quality, they surely will suffer to some degree. It will at least take a very long time to have them back to proper condition. I'm estimating six months to maybe even a year of proper storage after the initial recovery from being frozen to get the best flavour and smoking qualities out of them. This is my educated guess, nothing more. It will also depend on the size of the cigars, same as with ageing.

It's hard to say however, you'll have to decide on what you feel the safest course of action is. Keep us up to date anyhow.

[gfoster]

Many many many people disagree with you on your quality "educated guess". In fact, most cigar manufacturers freeze the cigars before they ever get to you (nearly all NC ones do and from what I understand nearly all CC ones do now too).

I have gotten in the habit of freezing most of my stock as soon as I get it in. Especially if I get custom rolled stuff. It absolutely doesn't take a year for them to recover.

-- Gary F.

[thechenman]

Seems strange that it woul take so long to recondition cigars after they have been frozen. I would imagine they would be redy to smoke within a much shorter time span. I haven't frozen cigars myself, but it is my undersanding that they freeze the cigars at he factories before shipping them out.

[Guest rob]

Just my two cents, gents - it's wise to be careful giving opinions that you concede are just guesses. Though discussion is great, it can be detrimental to new comers and novices who rely on information from forums such as these for their ongoing cigar hobby knowledge base.

As far as thie issue of freezing - It is widely known that cigars are often frozen to control beetles and the threat of them hatching. Many cigar companies freeze their cigars before they are released to distributors... And decades worth of collectors have decades worth of experience that support the claim that there are no obvious "side effects" if done correctly.

[reg]

well the freeze is on. I want to believe that only that one cigar was infected but maybe thats unlikely. I don't think it the cigar was anything I put in there recently so I don't know what to think.

what a pain lol

[dicko]

i had this happen last summer. only one cigar luckily got holes. i actually smoked it too and it was ok!

but yes i did freeze all others. I just used the old 30 day rule for readjustment after freezing. worked fine, they all smoked fine

[reg]

I'm reading and watching some stuff about beetles. I'm not sure what I saw looked like anything I'm seeing. What I had were very tiny, white looking insects, that didn't appear to be flying. Is this one of the earlier stages or what?

hmm, perhaps they are wood mites...

http://www.friendsofhabanos.com/forum/inde...&hl=beetles

http://www.friendsofhabanos.com/forum/inde...showtopic=86431

seems like they don't cause any damage which is good, but harder to get rid of. I wonder if there are still some left. still reading up on where they come from

[SandmanTR]

Check this site and video. Did they look like what was shown?

http://tobacconistuniversity.org/faq/faq-tobacco-beetle.asp

[reg]

Check this site and video. Did they look like what was shown?

http://tobacconistuniversity.org/faq/faq-tobacco-beetle.asp

Yeah thats one of the videos I watched. Pretty certain what I have are wood mites. I don't see any more but I'll let the cigars stay in the freezer for now and I'll replace the cedar thats in my coolidor.

[SandmanTR]

Ok. Good luck and let us know. Never really heard of mites in a humidor. Sorry to hear it.

[reg]

Ok. Good luck and let us know. Never really heard of mites in a humidor. Sorry to hear it.

appreciate it. seems like its less of a problem so I am a bit relieved.

does anyone know where/if these things hide? could they be in the cedar/boxes somewhere, or inside the cigars? I really didn't see any signs of them anywhere but the one cigar

[Hugomarink]

I had a tobacco beetle outbreak once and they weren't tiny white insects. Are there holes in your cigars where they've bored out from? Is there a dark powder substance in the bottom of the box holding the affected cigars? If not, it sounds like you've got something else. Still, it's no good to have bugs crawling on your cigars but I'm not sure you've got the type that are going to eat your cigars. When the tobacco beetles hatch they are born inside your cigar and eat their way out, so it's pretty unmistakable when you've got a tobacco beetle infestation. Either way, I wish you luck in getting this cleaned up. Sounds like you don't have actual tobacco beetles so it may be somewhat easier to deal with.

[Colt45]

Reg, it does sound like mites. They're attracted to moisture, and should do no harm to your cigars. Clean your humidor (some members have used

a vacuum with success), and check your humidification device(s), and you should be back in business.

[reg]

Reg, it does sound like mites. They're attracted to moisture, and should do no harm to your cigars. Clean your humidor (some members have used

a vacuum with success), and check your humidification device(s), and you should be back in business.

I'm sure you guys can imagine how much of a relief it is lol.

[BobLobLaw]

Glad to hear its not beetles Reg. Now I am thinking I need to do a full humi/cooler inspection cuz its starting to get warm around here.

[TripaLarga]

I've put one of my best Havanas in the deep freeze, on you gentlemen's advice. I will recover it carefully over 30 days and then do a direct comparison with the same cigar that I haven't frozen. I hope to find it smokes/tastes exactly the same. Should be interesting.

[El Presidente]

I've put one of my best Havanas in the deep freeze, on you gentlemen's advice. I will recover it carefully over 30 days and then do a direct comparison with the same cigar that I haven't frozen. I hope to find it smokes/tastes exactly the same. Should be interesting.

If your experiences mirror our tests on this exercise you will notice a sweeter note in aroma at cold but little if any difference to flavour.

When I last did it a few years ago we used two custom cigars rolled here by Yasmal to assess in order to control blend variation.

[BonVivant]

I've put one of my best Havanas in the deep freeze, on you gentlemen's advice. I will recover it carefully over 30 days and then do a direct comparison with the same cigar that I haven't frozen. I hope to find it smokes/tastes exactly the same. Should be interesting.

One month rest after freezing, tripple sealed, for 72 hours at -17 Centigrade and 24 hours in the fridge will have no effect and/or change of taste - guaranteed!

[TripaLarga]

If your experiences mirror our tests on this exercise you will notice a sweeter note in aroma at cold but little if any difference to flavour.

When I last did it a few years ago we used two custom cigars rolled here by Yasmal to assess in order to control blend variation.

Interesting, well I look foreward to experimenting for myself. It's one of those things I've never had any experience of, so I've always been skeptical, but I like to learn new things!

I'm using one of my MGT ENE 07 Punch RS#11's, bought on recommendation from your review. Really superb.

Cheers.