cigar beetles!!!

[txaggie9307]

Well,

I was going to pull a cigar out of my desktop tonight to smoke and low and behold I found a cigar bitten by beetles! Also what sucks about this is which cigar it was; a Por Larranaga Magnifico (which I won off of Brook's sight over a year and a half ago)!!! I am devastated... I had saved this cigar for when my first born will be born (God willing end of May or 1st of June). But what do I do now? If there are 2 holes in this cigar, is it still smokable? Do I need to freeze all cigars out of this humidor? I appreciate your input! I am bummed :lookaroun:lookaroun:lookaroun:crying:

 

[megladon8]

Oh damn dude, that sucks the big one. I'm sorry.

What was your hygrometer reading?

 

[gibbleguts]

This has very little to do with humidity. First things first pull every stick out and inspect them looking for more evidence of beetles. Next off depending on size of humidor I would probably freeze most if not all. Really need more info on size and quantity before deciding what to do. I would also look into temp controlled storage to protect against this ever happening again.

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[megladon8]

Yes, from what I understand beetles have more to do with temp than humidity.

I asked about the hygrometer reading because they always have temp displays, too. And since he apparently lives in Texas, the first thing on my mind was "they were too warm for an extended period of time".

 

[smokinbodybuilder]

This happened to me several months back! I ended up throwing away abou $50 in smokes. There's lots of good threads on how to handle this here but here's what I did:

I seperated all my cigars into zip locks of about 4 cigars each to try and quarantine the possible outbreak. Then I stuck them in the fridge for a day or so then moved them to the freezer for about 5 days. After that I moved them back to the fridge for a few days then let them sit at room temp for about 24hrs. Before returning them to your humi search each cigar like you're on an episode of CSI. Before putting them back in your humi you need to clean the humi. I was so pissed I said screw it and just got a new humidor.

You can still smoke the sticks but I opted to toss them cuz the thought of a bug in my cigar creeped me out.

 

[Thunder.Gerbil]

Freeze the rest of the cigars for 5-7 days, vacuum out the humidor, cover the holes in the damaged cigar with your finger and smoke away. If the thought of a bug existing at one time in your cigar (it's likely long since grown wings, moved out and died by now) bothers you, I recommend you not read up on what the US FDA considers permissible contamination in foods.

 

[SmokeProper]

Yes Freeze everything!
Is the humi small enough to fit in freezer too?

There is a great how to on the forum, I'd follow the instructions very closely.

 

[Alwayslit]

Freeze, then frig. Clean out the humi really well. Sucks when this happens.

 

[txaggie9307]

The other thing about this is that I had this stick in my other humidor about 4 weeks ago. Should I freeze both humidors worth?

 

[Mirrorlure7m]

Double bag your cigars, Make sure you get all the air out of the bags. Then stick them in the fridge for 12 hours then stick the bags in the freezer for 72 hours then put the bag back in the fridge for 6 to 12 hours. Then take out of fridge and let sit for 3 or 4 hours then stick your cigars back in your humidor. I also highly suggest cleaning the humidor out with alcohol. And keep it in the coolest area in your house.

P.S. I would freeze all your cigars to be safe and clean all humidors. Better safe then sorry.

 

[AlohaStyle]

Sorry bro, that sucks. That is one cigar on my wish list too...

 

[txaggie9307]

The only cigar that was damaged has two holes in it (which were coincidentally under both bands). Do you guys think I should still smoke this? It is a magnifico and I hate to throw it away..

 

[AlohaStyle]

Do you guys think I should still smoke this? It is a magnifico and I hate to throw it away..

Only you can answer that. Some people can't stand the thought of smoking a cigar that could possibly have a beetle (dead or not) in it, while some could care less. It would be hard for me to throw it away, but I don't know if I could get myself to smoke a cigar looking at the holes...

 

[Thunder.Gerbil]

The only cigar that was damaged has two holes in it (which were coincidentally under both bands). Do you guys think I should still smoke this? It is a magnifico and I hate to throw it away..

Are the holes through the bands or under them?

If the bands are intact and haven't moved from their original position, those holes happened at the factory and the bands were placed there to cover them and whatever caused the holes is long gone. If so, it's unlikely that you have anything to worry about.

As for smoking the cigar, that's up to you. I would, since it's not something that can be easily replaced.

 

[ssaka]

Bugs are a fact of life for all cigar smokers... natural product, very little pesticides, tropical climate = tobacco beetles. :<

It is something that every cigar factory continually battles because an infestation can be devastating. The tobacco beetle is more commonly known as the drugstore beetle and they infest all sorts of natural food products, ie. grains...

The advice regarding freezing is correct, I do subscribe however to adding the 1 day in the fridge before and one day in the fridge afterwards - it allows the process to be more gentle and will reduce your risk of cracking the wrappers. I subscribe to 72 hours at or below 0 degrees for the freezing time.

Vacuuming and wiping out the humidor is essential also. I suggest using witch hazel or rubbing alcohol and allowing the humidor to air dry open for a day. Be careful when wiping the inside, not too much alcohol as the wiping of any humidor with any moisture will result in the grain rising on any untreated wood such as spanish cedar. Pulling the grain up may not be an issue for you as it is really cosmetic... And if it really bugs (a pun!) you, you can lightly sand it - WARNING though - Spanish Cedar dust is a known carcinogen so be sure to give it a very good air brushing and vacuum afterwards.

I would also quarantine off all the cigars after freezing for at least 2 weeks to ensure you the problem is resolved before reintroducing them into your humidor.

As for smoking a cigar with bug damage... you can, there is no health issue - you can smoke the cigar with a live bug if you wish. Personally it creeps me out so I always toss bug damaged smokes. Also any cigar with a hole will not smoke properly unless you cover the hole with a tobacco patch or your finger.

Hope this helps,

STS
'they add protein'

 

[Hendy]

Can you say cryogenics?

Done it a few times myself. Better safe than sorry.

 

[dpricenator]

Just an FYI

the above info is correct. when you are looking for signs of bettles in other sticks, look for the dust. It looks like tiny dark ball bearings. like termite droppings, but way smaller. Easy to spot in cello i in the corner of a box, if you tip it a bit.