Mold and Insects - Please Help Identify the Insect and Next Steps

[BDSpiritual1]

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? 

[BDSpiritual1]

I've also searched across the forum but for some reason the pictures in the older posts I've come across aren't displaying for me. So, I've tried to confirm but can't. Apologies again.

[Fuzz]

Possibly book lice. 

[BDSpiritual1]

I'm hoping so. Sounds like I won't have to freeze all my cigars but should work through these boxes, bit by bit. 

Hearing this makes me feel more confident that it's not a tobacco beetle.

[CaptainQuintero]

If it was me I'd drop the humidity down to 62-65 as a first step.

What's your local climate/humidity? One thing to remember with active temp control is that if you're adding cool air into a system you're also adding water, if you don't have a system in place to remove that, you'll get mould at some point.

[BossHogg]

Do you have any grains stored? I had wheat berries that hatched some insects that looked like that.

[BDSpiritual1]

1 hour ago, CaptainQuintero said:

 If it was me I'd drop the humidity down to 62-65 as a first step.

 What's your local climate/humidity? One thing to remember with active temp control is that if you're adding cool air into a system you're also adding water, if you don't have a system in place to remove that, you'll get mould at some point.

Yeah, my humidor controls temp and humidity both ways and generally does a pretty good job removing moisture but recently, something happened and I don't know what. Unless, this was a built up problem of me never rotating my cigars/trays, etc. which was dumb of me which created pockets of moisture and air or changing the water over - lesson learned. 

I think you're right. I'll drop the humidity down once I put everything in there. I used to keep it at 65% but a lot of people kept telling me 69/70% is better for long term aging while 65% was better if you were going to smoke em within the next year or so. 

[BDSpiritual1]

9 minutes ago, BossHogg said:

Do you have any grains stored? I had wheat berries that hatched some insects that looked like that.

No grains stored nearby and it's a closed system. However, I guess anything can get in if it really tried or was attracted to it. Gives me something to think about though. 

[CaptainQuintero]

On 7/23/2025 at 6:13 AM, BDSpiritual1 said:

Yeah, my humidor controls temp and humidity both ways and generally does a pretty good job removing moisture but recently, something happened and I don't know what. Unless, this was a built up problem of me never rotating my cigars/trays, etc. which was dumb of me which created pockets of moisture and air or changing the water over - lesson learned. 

I think you're right. I'll drop the humidity down once I put everything in there. I used to keep it at 65% but a lot of people kept telling me 69/70% is better for long term aging while 65% was better if you were going to smoke em within the next year or so. 

 A lot of storage lore can be put down to, it's just what people used to do, as well. I can only say what's worked for me but I keep my stuff between 62-65, and I've been doing it for 19 years now and I've cigars from that time that are keeping just as great as when I got them. 

 I know @PigFish is a proponent of keeping your cigars at your preferred smoking rh too.

[SUP8333]

I used to think keeping it at 69 was ideal too, until I dropped it to 65 and everything feels fresher. Remember, there is also the possibility of it being a few degrees +/- so if you set it at 70, it could very well be 73 if never calibrated. 

With regards to the insects, just freeze all your cigars. Why risk? There is no disadvantage when done correctly. 

[BDSpiritual1]

8 hours ago, CaptainQuintero said:

 A lot of storage lore can be put down to, it's just what people used to do, as well. I can only say what's worked for me but I keep my stuff between 62-65, and I've been doing it for 19 years now and I've cigars from that time that are keeping just as great as when I got them. 

 I know @PigFish is a proponent of keeping your cigars at your preferred smoking rh too.

100% - I'm definitely going back to 65%. It makes a lot of sense and it is what my gut always told me. 

After spending 20+ hours going through my collection stored in this humidor, removing cigars from their boxes, vacuuming then out, isolating ones that had a crawler, etc. it definitely taught me some valuable lessons.

All in all, it seems like my issue was the mold accumulation and booklice so thank God it wasn't worse with tobacco beetles or having any ruined cigars. Also, that I caught it now rather than weeks or months down the line when it could have been far, far worse. 

[BDSpiritual1]

8 hours ago, SUP8333 said:

I used to think keeping it at 69 was ideal too, until I dropped it to 65 and everything feels fresher. Remember there is also the possibility of it being a few degrees +/- so if you set it at 70, it could very well be 73 if never calibrated. 

With regards to the insects, just freeze all your cigars. Why risk? There is no disadvantage when done correctly. 

Agreed. I'll probably go through phases of it. At least now anything associated with a box that I saw a crawler in, has been isolated for the time being. 

[painfreefishing]

I think you're right. I'll drop the humidity down once I put everything in there. I used to keep it at 65% but a lot of people kept telling me 69/70% is better for long term aging while 65% was better if you were going to smoke 'em within the next year or so. 

We are talking humidity here?

[BDSpiritual1]

6 hours ago, painfreefishing said:

I think you're right. I'll drop the humidity down once I put everything in there. I used to keep it at 65% but a lot of people kept telling me 69/70% is better for long term aging while 65% was better if you were going to smoke 'em within the next year or so. 

We are talking humidity here?

Yeah, the humidity in my humidor. I know temperature also plays a factor, but that is what we were discussing.