Quote Originally Posted by thechasm442 View Post
...I've spent the last 3 years blissfully ignorant thinking a temp of 67-70 and rh of 65 made my stash safe. I was wrong. Freeze brother, by all means, freeze!
Hi Kevin,

Sorry to hear about your problem, but you didn't cause or abet it, you inherited it.

Cigar manufacturers and wholesalers have more technology (than in the past) to eliminate these pests but even the most rigorous quality control can't eliminate them. These bugs are bad for business. As smokers, even if we optimally maintain our cigars, you can get them if the cigars you receive are infected. I'm concerned that several people mentioned problems with Gran Habano sticks, something to look out for and monitor.

Quote Originally Posted by johnnyflake View Post
You do not state if the beetles were alive or not. You say they were found ON the cigars. Were there any holes in the cigars they were on? Hold the cigars over a piece of paper, up right with the foot at the bottom and tap the cigars vigorously on the paper. If lots of dust comes out, onto the paper, they are/were alive and did penetrate the cigar and carved it up. If you do not see holes and no dust comes out, of the cigars, they probably were not penetrated. If they were not alive and did not penetrate the cigars, it may just be a fluke and they were dead and present when you got the cigars. If they were alive, you will have a bigger problem than you may think and it's hard to determine where they came from!

If they were alive and did penetrate any of your cigars, freezing everything is the only way to protect what you have from further out breaks and damage!
Holes and dust indicate activity but there may be eggs in a cigar that you can't see. Holes in the cello (box/bundle) or the individual cigars indicate activity.

In my stores there have been a few incidents. In one case, while unpacking an order, I noticed dust in the outer cello, so I removed the entire shipment from the store. Distance is important because they can fly.

Another time I found an affected box and, simply based on quantity, freezing wasn't an option so we'd open, isolate and quarantine. Any boxes found with dust or holes (inside or outside) were discarded and we quarantined all the others. We made some emergency orders. Only two boxes were tossed and none of the quarantined boxes ever had problems.

I'm not an expert on tobacco bugs but I believe that the larval stage is when they eat but perhaps the greater problem is their eggs. In our favor is that they don't live a long time, measures to control them usually mean that there are only a few offenders so that a widespread infestation would probably mean a lack of vigilance. As I mentioned, they can fly, but in my experience, and that of other tobacconists I know, the affected stock tends to be close together.

Don't panic, sorry for the lost sticks and you should be fine following John's excellent advice.