Help Quickly, Need Advice!!!

[Fireman]

Opened my ISOM-DOR this evening to check things out and to my horror I discovered a small bug. The critter was about a 16th of an inch long and reddish-brown with a hard shell. Is it the dreaded tobacco beetle? I only found one on the side of a Cohiba Corona Especial. Upon careful inspection of every cigar in the box I found no pinholes or anything like that but there was "coffee grounds" beneath the particular cigar I found the bug on. I immediately double ziplocked the sticks and put them in the deep-freeze to kill any eggs or what-not. How long should they be left in the freezer? what precautionary steps should I take with the humidor? this is my first bout with bugs of any kind, any advice will be greatly apprieciated. :confused:

[AAlmeter]

I think there was a lengthy thread on here somewhere about this, but I may be mistaken...and who knows if you could still find it after the move.

I've never had this problem (knock on wood), but here are a few articles that may help:

http://www.cigaraficionado.com/Cigar/Aficionado/SpecialFeature/CigarBeetle/072000/beetle1.html

http://www.cigarsintl.com/html/cig101_7mob.asp

I seem to remember reading a more in depth article about tobacco beetles, but I can't find it. Hopefully these will help you out. Good luck.

[cigartexan]

Here's the link you want!

http://www.mycigarsite.com/beetle/beetle.htm

I had this problem not too long ago. I did not freeze all my stick, but rather inspected every one of them closely( I don't like to freeze unless it's a must) I did however freeze the one box that I found the intruder in. I would say with your humi, just blow it out real good with canned air and it should be fine, as long as there is no beatle damage to it. Most good Habanos retailers freeze, but you never can be sure. I inspect every box I have every two days. There is some debate on how well residential freezers deep or not work in killing TB's. Since you have aready put them in there, I would leave them for at least 72 hours. I would them transfer them to the refer and let them sit in there for 24 hours. Remove them and let them rest in a cool dark place while they remain in the double bags. After 12 hours or so put them in the humi at about 60% Rh, then slowly bring it up to 68% over a week or so. After a few weeks they should be ready to fire up. I hope this info and the above link help.
Good luck,
Jack

[Fireman]

Thanks for advice. I think I know the source of the problemb, acouple of weeks ago I recieved a couple of hand rolled customs from a buisness associate of my fathers and put them in the humi without taking any precautionary measures like freezing or isolating them. that will not be a mistake I make twice! The good news is, I'm pretty sure I've caught the outbreak in time and the cigars will be salvaged. I also put the humidor in the deep freeze to be extra careful, I will have to re-condition it when it comes out, but that's OK.

[Mayor]

Be sure to keep and eye on your temp. Most say the beetles hatch above 73 F. But I have heard of them hatching at 70 F. I currently keep my cabinet between 64-67 F.

J.

[hot4stogies]

I sure hope you get all those little SOB's, Fireman. Thanks for the safety reminder and all those links are pretty good. I had read two of them before and they seem to know what they are talking about.

I'm always concerned about this happening to me. I don't let the humidor get over 75 degrees and it usually hovers around 70-72 but you never know. Also, I don't usually buy from anyone but well known sources who claim to take the precautions for me before they ship but now I am doing cigarbid.com and I just wonder what the case is there (anyone?). If I get a gifted stick or a few from somewhere unfamiliar they go right to one of the little humi's.

I have a large humi with 1000+ sticks so this could be a disaster if it were to happen especially while I was on vacation or something. I had mold once and lost 25+ nice gars and I vowed to never let that happen again (I am at 67% RH now) but this one is a bit tougher as my humi has no internal temp control.

I'll have to remain vigilant and deep freeze any stick from a unknown source or quarantine it.

[Mayor]

but this one is a bit tougher as my humi has no internal temp control

yes temp controll can be a Bi***...I'm saving for the Climatech 2600. http://www.vigilantinc.com/cabinet.asp_Q_SID_E_BF476MINKM2HTVOV1AI8K41YRNDIVG VK8QXQU063801832926

J.

[Lamar]

Fireman

I feel your pain. I just went through that same ordeal myself. I used to freeze and never saw the critters and I now am returning to that discipline because I refuse to live in fear of my next outbreak.

I can't tell the difference between frozen stix and unfrozen stix after they have been in the humi for a couple of months.

Just my two cents.

[AAlmeter]

Good thing I looked up those articles. I went out yesterday to get stocked up on smokes for my lacrosse trip to New Orleans. I know some of the guys on the team like to bum cigars off me, and since I can't afford to give out anything decent, I like to make sure I have some "lesser" cigars around for them. When I get home, I notice that on one of the crap cigars, there are about 5 pin holes. Luckily, I had kept them separate from my other cigars the whole time and I had not yet put them in the humi. Man...that would have sucked if they were all ruined.