Beetle mania?!

[Deodato]

I am a little worried about beetles in my desktop humidor at home as the temperature often hovers a little over 70. I'm sure freezing is fine but I don't want to do it if I don't have to… so….

How long are beetle eggs viable for? Do they give up the ghost after a set period of time or do they just… endure… with plans to inherit the earth, munching twinkies with their buddies, the post-apocalyptic cockroaches?

Does anyone know??

[jayceskinner]

To be honest I have never even seen beetle holes or beetles for that matter in any of my cigar (all current production with nothing before 2010 box codes) and at one stage before I could afford to buy my wine cooler I was getting quite high temps. Maybe there is better quality control now or I am a very very lucky person. I'm sure there will be more experienced members who would have a lot more info on the subject.

[Fuzz]

Found a beetle hole in a Cohiba PE recently. Just because all stock is frozen in Cuba, doesn't mean that a hitchhiker won't jump onboard during transit.

Luckily, I've never had an outbreak at home.

[Troels]

I had some small bugs in my desktop once - dont know if it was tobacco beetles though - might have been something coming from outside the humidor. didnt see any holes in the cigars.

froze the whole thing, which I found affected the taste slightly.

[Smallclub]

Does anyone know??

There are several looooong threads on beetles with tons of infos, use the research engine.

[Deodato]

Hats off to you if you can find a thread that answers that question - I sure couldn't.

[PartagasIV]

Hats off to you if you can find a thread that answers that question - I sure couldn't.

It really couldn't get any easier--enter 'tobacco beetle' in the large search box in the upper right portion of the site--

i.e.

http://www.friendsofhabanos.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=112209&hl=+tobacco%20+beetle#entry338574

[Deodato]

Thanks. I am asking how long beetle eggs are viable for. I haven't seen that addressed In earlier threads.

[nikesupremedunk]

I would say 10 year old cigars should be safe..but freeze them!

[stargazer14]

In my experience beetles come from the non-cubans (in recent history)

and will of course infest your habanas if left to intermingle, so I recommend not keeping the two together.

70deg or a few higher is not a problem in itself for the most part.

"Adult beetles live 2 to 4 weeks. Adult females lay as many as 100 eggs singly on food materials. They typically hatch in conditions over 73deg F, with high humidity. The eggs are white and oval-shaped and hatch in 6 to 10 days. After hatching, the larvae tunnel through the food material, causing destruction of the grain and contamination. They become fully grown in 30 to 50 days and enter the pupal stage, which lasts 8 to 10 days or more, depending on the temperature. Pupae are covered by a silken cocoon and bits of their food material. The entire life cycle may take from 45 to 50 days. The developmental period from egg to adult is quite variable, but typically takes 6 to 8 weeks under favorable conditions."

I would imagine the eggs can last a while waiting for the right conditions.

http://www.tobacconi...acco-beetle.asp

[Deodato]

Thank you Stargazer! Learning the latin name for the beetle (Lasioderma serricorne) from your article helped me hunt down some journal articles. Most helpful was https://www.jstage.j...1_1_87/_article which includes the following nugget:

As the most susceptible stage, egg susceptibility to moderately low temperatures (16–20°C) was specifically examined. At 20°C, most eggs (>80%) normally hatched within 4 wk, but all eggs died within 6 wk at temperatures less than 18°C. This fact indicates that the reproductive cycle can be blocked at temperatures less than 18°C, and that tobacco stored in such conditions will never become infested, even if eggs are deposited by invading adults.

For me this is game changing information and will stop me freezing. I'll just cycle my home stash through my offsite storage for a couple of months where the temp is solid at 15°C.

[sepp]

This pdf download from Trevor's site has some very specific information on what temperatures for how long it takes to break the eggs.

http://www.cubancigarwebsite.com/cigar-pests.pdf

[Deodato]

Ah cool - the same paper

[mk05]

It really couldn't get any easier--enter 'tobacco beetle' in the large search box in the upper right portion of the site--

i.e.

http://www.friendsof...tle#entry338574

Thanks. I am asking how long beetle eggs are viable for. I haven't seen that addressed In earlier threads.

Thank you Stargazer! Learning the latin name for the beetle (Lasioderma serricorne) from your article helped me hunt down some journal articles. Most helpful was https://www.jstage.j...1_1_87/_article...For me this is game changing information and will stop me freezing.

Did you read that thread PartagasIV took time to link you? It had the research paper on the thread.

[1LegLance]

So for us in the USA....64F for at least 6wk killed ALL tobacco beetle eggs.

Nice.

[Random]

So for us in the USA....64F for at least 6wk killed ALL tobacco beetle eggs.

Nice.

This is not correct.

Original quote: "This fact indicates that the reproductive cycle can be blocked at temperatures less than 18°C, and that tobacco stored in such conditions will never become infested"

But this does not mean that if your cigar was already infested in Cuba, the eggs would never hatch. They normally would, if your storage temp goes over 70-73.

I had some RyJ MilleFleures last year in my humidor (the box came in July last year). Amazing batch, oily, dark wrappers, perfect draw. So I decided to leave couple of sticks for next year. And this winter I've noticed one of them had a hole. Perfect, round hole. I was lucky to catch bloody little sucker before it did any damage to the rest of my stash.

I also remember I read somewhere that cigars sold in Cuba are not frozen during transportation from the warehouses to the stores. But everything coming on export is frozen.