Tobacco beetle help!!!!

[YoungStogie]

So, the impossible happened this weekend. I opened my humi this weekend to enjoy a smoke and find a tobacco beetle in there it was just one and the little guy ruined about ten or fifteen smokes some of which were priceless and had been aging for a good two to three years.

I instantly remembered a video I had watched on the cigar aficionado website on this subject where one of the editors Gordon Mott had a tobacco beetle infestation that took out about 150 of his own sticks. In the video he says that you have to be aggressive in your response so I looked through my smokes threw out what I had to and froze the rest in my garage deep freezer.

In the video it calls for a freeze time of 7-8 days and then a slow defrost in a fridge. Is there anything else I should be doing? and is there any way to prevent this from happening again? Everywhere I look it seems to be just one of those things we have to live with but some sites do say that maintaining a constant temp of 70 degrees really helps.

any thoughts from the BOTL community to help out a newb?

 

[Lipher]

leave the cello on when possible.

 

[AlohaStyle]

Sorry to hear man. Yes, always keep a lower temp if at all possible. And 70 isn't the magic number, a lot of people including myself aim for 65 degrees or even lower. You live in Miami... I'm assuming you have A/C in your place? If so, make sure to keep the A/C no higher than 70. Find the coolest location in your place to store your humidor. If you don't have A/C or keep it turned up too high, consider getting a cooled wine fridge to keep it in the mid-60's.

Some people freeze everything they get to kill the larvae before even storing. Then you don't have to worry about the higher temps.

 

[Robertsndr68]

Beattles can and will eat through cello but it can help i suppose

 

[YoungStogie]

leave the cello on when possible.

I actually had the cello on most of them which did help. I took it off when I froze them so as to not create any condensation when I defrosted them.

 

[YoungStogie]

Sorry to hear man. Yes, always keep a lower temp if at all possible. And 70 isn't the magic number, a lot of people including myself aim for 65 degrees or even lower. You live in Miami... I'm assuming you have A/C in your place? If so, make sure to keep the A/C no higher than 70. Find the coolest location in your place to store your humidor. If you don't have A/C or keep it turned up too high, consider getting a cooled wine fridge to keep it in the mid-60's.

Some people freeze everything they get to kill the larvae before even storing. Then you don't have to worry about the higher temps.

I definitely have A/C but man my electric bill will go up to keep the house at 70!! Maybe I should invest in a wine cooler?

 

[Craig Mac]

I definitely have A/C but man my electric bill will go up to keep the house at 70!! Maybe I should invest in a wine cooler?

Considering you just lost 10-15 "priceless" smokes I would say that would be a good investment. You more than likely would save at least the cost of the winador the first summer you had it by not having to run the AC at the needed temp all season long.

 

[KoreanCowboy]

I keep my winedor at 64 and couldn't be happier with the results. I'm not sure it will keep beetles from hatching but I figured it was way easier than checking my 4 humidors every day. And freezing everything when you get them is not a bad idea. It will pretty much safeguard that this will not happen again. Sorry to hear this but lesson learned.

 

[YodisMatt]

I know the pain of FL as well brother. As soon as I can I will be making a wine cooler purchase, due to trying to keep your house cool enough in FL mean your unit will be running non stop... I currently keep my humis and cooler out of the reach of the sun and basically the center of of the house.

 

[YoungStogie]

I definitely have A/C but man my electric bill will go up to keep the house at 70!! Maybe I should invest in a wine cooler?

Considering you just lost 10-15 "priceless" smokes I would say that would be a good investment. You more than likely would save at least the cost of the winador the first summer you had it by not having to run the AC at the needed temp all season long.

Perhaps you misread my post.

I said "I lost 10-15 smokes some of which were priceless."

I agree with you that keeping my home at 70 degrees is just not practical a winador would like nice in the man cave and solve the a/c problem in one shot hopefully I can find one at a good price. Any recommendations?

 

[YoungStogie]

I know the pain of FL as well brother. As soon as I can I will be making a wine cooler purchase, due to trying to keep your house cool enough in FL mean your unit will be running non stop... I currently keep my humis and cooler out of the reach of the sun and basically the center of of the house.

Yeah bro Florida is unforgiving for a cigar even smoking one outside is tough with the humidity it causes burn issues etc...Hopefully I'll take that advice on the wine cooler if I can find one in a decent price range I will jump all over it but, it has to be priced right I can't break the bank for a winador being as I just bought the house I'm strapped right now!!

 

[SmokeAndMirrors]

That sucks brother...they seem to be popping up lately

 

[Chrisso]

Agreeing with what Robbie said. Cello does not mean your beetles will not touch that cigar, or even leave it. A quick Google search shows plenty of holes left by beetles in cello.

Sorry to hear of your loss. I also second the WineCooler idea.

-Chrisso

 

[YoungStogie]

That sucks brother...they seem to be popping up lately

too bad they popped up in my humidor!

 

[UpInSmoke]

Wine fridge ftw!

Sorry to hear of your troubles bro

 

[Koujo]

Sorry to hear about your troubles. I was freezing my boxes for a while when they came in but lately I have been lazy and every time I see a post like this I get worried. Now I have to go back and check my stash.

 

[YoungStogie]

Wine fridge ftw!

Sorry to hear of your troubles bro

wine fridge it is!

 

[YoungStogie]

Sorry to hear about your troubles. I was freezing my boxes for a while when they came in but lately I have been lazy and every time I see a post like this I get worried. Now I have to go back and check my stash.

I think I'm going to start doing the same thing I haven't ever frozen my cigars first but it seems like the best idea and a sure to prevent this

 

[Chrisso]

I think I'm going to start doing the same thing I haven't ever frozen my cigars first but it seems like the best idea and a sure to prevent this

There are plenty of threads out there about how to do so properly. And I would give them all a good read through. You dont want to do it incorrectly, and F' up the sticks.

I myself, will do (once they've reached room temp) 1 full day in the fridge, then do 1 full day in the freezer, then 3 full days in the deep freeze, and then reverse the order till they end up in my winedor.

I havent had a stick crack or anything. I also double zip-lock bag them up before dropping them in the arctic.

Good luck!
-Chrisso