Beetle alert

[ag794516]

I insepected my boxes today, and in some I saw little white/yellow beetles. I thought tobacco beetles are brown but I took all that boxes to the freezer. Is -25C enough? I will kill them all these bastards.  Thank you for help!!

[A Huge Nerd]

I had a beetle problem a while back (not from FoH sticks).  Fortunately I was able to take care of it and only lost 18 cigars in the process.  Could have been a lot worse.  If you freeze, make the temperature changes in either direction gradual.  It minimizes stress on the wrapper, especially in non-cellophane sticks.  Good luck.  

[JamesKPolkEsq]

11 minutes ago, ag794516 said:

I insepected my boxes today, and in some I saw little white/yellow beetles. I thought tobacco beetles are brown but I took all that boxes to the freezer. Is -25C enough? I will kill them all these bastards.  Thank you for help!!

Temperatures are not the only story for beetle mortality, it's also a function of time.

Colder temperatures kill more quickly, so -25C will kill, but you need to leave them in the freezer a bit longer than at -60C.

Egg

-20°C (-4°F) Time to 100% mortality 1 hr

-15°C (5°F) Time to 100% mortality 4 hr

-10°C (14°F) Time to 100% mortality 12 hr

-5°C (23°F) Time to 100% mortality 48 hr

0°C (32°F) Time to 100% mortality 240 hr

5°C (41°F) Time to 100% mortality 336 hr

Larval

-20°C (-4°F) Time to 100% mortality 1 hr

-15°C (5°F) Time to 100% mortality 3 hr

-10°C (14°F) Time to 100% mortality 12 hr

-5°C (23°F) Time to 100% mortality 96 hr

0°C (32°F) Time to 100% mortality 288 hr

5°C (41°F) Time to 100% mortality 336 hr

 

[btort910]

At -25C for 24 hours is more than enough time to kill eggs, larvae and adult beetles!

[Smallclub]

Enjoy the weekly wood mite thread…

[ag794516]

Thank you so far for the answers. I will let them in the freezer for a week. That should be enough.

[AlohaStyle]

Read the post above yours... wood mites.  Do a wood mites search here and don't waste your time freezing.  

[Winchester21]

1 hour ago, JamesKPolkEsq said:

Temperatures are not the only story for beetle mortality, it's also a function of time.

Colder temperatures kill more quickly, so -25C will kill, but you need to leave them in the freezer a bit longer than at -60C.

Egg

-20°C (-4°F) Time to 100% mortality 1 hr

-15°C (5°F) Time to 100% mortality 4 hr

-10°C (14°F) Time to 100% mortality 12 hr

-5°C (23°F) Time to 100% mortality 48 hr

0°C (32°F) Time to 100% mortality 240 hr

5°C (41°F) Time to 100% mortality 336 hr

Larval

-20°C (-4°F) Time to 100% mortality 1 hr

-15°C (5°F) Time to 100% mortality 3 hr

-10°C (14°F) Time to 100% mortality 12 hr

-5°C (23°F) Time to 100% mortality 96 hr

0°C (32°F) Time to 100% mortality 288 hr

5°C (41°F) Time to 100% mortality 336 hr

 

Good info. I had a problem with these little bastards a while back. I pretty much followed your program and escaped with minimal damage

[TBird55]

 Does humidity have any effect on beetles hatching?

[Fugu]

27 minutes ago, TBird55 said:

 Does humidity have any effect on beetles hatching?

Yes it does, but - you won't want storing your sticks at conditions where beetle eggs won't hatch.

If you are referring to the wood mite (book lice) example of above - these are usually an indicator of an "upper-end" storage humidity.

[vintagerodshop]

I had a box i opened about a year ago just after opening i saw a wood mite scurry across the brown glistening tobacco leaf. I SCREAMED like a school girl. inspected every box i had with a magnifying glass.

[soutso]

4 hours ago, Fugu said:

Yes it does, but - you won't want storing your sticks at conditions where beetle eggs won't hatch.

If you are referring to the wood mite (book lice) example of above - these are usually an indicator of an "upper-end" storage humidity.

Out of interest Fugu, what do you do (or what would you do) in the event of wood mite?

I find that at least half the boxes I buy have it. IMO vendors overhumify their stock. I think this contributes to the problem. 

For the record, given that they don't damage te cigars, I leave them and just hope that they don't breed and simply die out lol

cheers

[gweilgi]

1 hour ago, soutso said:

Out of interest Fugu, what do you do (or what would you do) in the event of wood mite?

Invest in aluminium furniture?

Import a cane toad to eat all the wood mites (and hopefully any tobacco beetles)?

 

 

 

[canadianbeaver]

Is this like, beetle week?

I prefer Abbey Road, personally.

(Gonna come out now,
ha ha ha,
wow look out.)

She came in through the bathroom window
Protected by a silver spoon
But now she sucks her thumb and wanders
By the banks of her own lagoon

Didn't anybody tell her?
Didn't anybody see?
Sunday's on the phone to Monday
Tuesday's on the phone to me

She said she'd always been a dancer
She worked at 15 clubs a day
And though she thought I knew the answer
Well I knew what I could not say

And so I quit the police department
And got myself a steady job
And though she tried her best to help me
She could steal but she could not rob

Didn't anybody tell her?
Didn't anybody see?
Sunday's on the phone to Monday
Tuesday's on the phone to me
Oh yeah

[Fugu]

10 hours ago, soutso said:

Out of interest Fugu, what do you do (or what would you do) in the event of wood mite?

Simplest way is just brushing them off of sticks and vac clean the boxes (pref. outdoors). These critters only dwell on the surface. Once you get new boxes acclimated to your conditions they won't reappear.

[Luca]

After freezing them keep the cigars separate and just monitor them. Just another precaution to be safe. I had beetles hatch and come out of my cigars during the freezing process!