Cigar Beetles?

[eugenepark]

Have any of you regular cigar smokers had to deal with these? I've been a cyclical cigar smoker for probably 12+ years now and can't ever recall seeing one of my sticks ruined by bug holes. I've bought from all over, stored the cigars in cedar humidors, tupperdors, plastic bags, various temp ranges... never had any issues.

Probably 10 years back I remember reading how some people put their newly bought cigars into the freezer for 72 hours to kill off any beetle eggs before putting the sticks into a humidor. Supposedly it had zero impact on the cigar but I still find that hard to believe.

 

[ChuckMijo]

You can freeze your cigars, but The manufacturer do anyway . It causes no harm to the cigars. I never have frozen my cigars. I have never had bettles. If I got them 1 time I would freeze everything. Until then I will continue not freezing.

 

[Jwebb90]

Have any of you regular cigar smokers had to deal with these? I've been a cyclical cigar smoker for probably 12+ years now and can't ever recall seeing one of my sticks ruined by bug holes. I've bought from all over, stored the cigars in cedar humidors, tupperdors, plastic bags, various temp ranges... never had any issues.

Probably 10 years back I remember reading how some people put their newly bought cigars into the freezer for 72 hours to kill off any beetle eggs before putting the sticks into a humidor. Supposedly it had zero impact on the cigar but I still find that hard to believe.

When I worked at a B&M we would run into this issue. However, we would always get replacements from the distributor. I’ve also seen them show up in tubs of Daughters & Ryan.

 

[Country Bladesmith]

I’ve never had them, but I only recently got back into cigars. Years ago I would buy a few sticks at a time at a local B&M, and never had to store them, so I’d have never run into an issue. I have seen some bored out cigars in shops though.

 

[kwg116]

Almost every major manufacturer freezes their cigars. The only time you have to (slightly) be concerned about beetles are with Cubans. Make sure your humidor temps stay around 65-70° and you will be okay, in my opinion.

 

[skeeter456]

Knock on wood no one gets them! Got no time that!

 

[wordheavy]

I found some in a few Drew Estate Dirts I ordered months back. They never made it into my humidor, I always inspect closely before transfer. Loose tobacco at the foot of the cigars got my attention, almost bulging out. After that I looked real close and found the holes. Sucks, but retailer refunded quickly after the return.

 

[pantsBoots]

Almost every major manufacturer freezes their cigars. The only time you have to (slightly) be concerned about beetles are with Cubans. Make sure your humidor temps stay around 65-70° and you will be okay, in my opinion.

The Cubans freeze cigars these days. They also have draw-testing machines that they use to test construction, hence why the overly-tight sticks of yesteryear have largely fallen by the wayside (at least compared to the early 00s).

Personally, since I buy boxes with the intent of aging them, I freeze them all. This is doubly important for custom-rolled cigars. Basically, it's a small insurance policy against issues down the road.

 

[Misanthrope]

Shit, I missed the memo, there’s free protein included with cigars now?

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Had one box of Cuban Diplomaticos with Beetles. Thankfully, I caught them before they spread. I was sitting them in a larger 150 coolerdor in the box. I never froze cigars and never will. I've probably bought 20,000 cigars in my life. You're talking about a .1% problem.

 

[jerseysam]

Over 20 years and thousands of cigars purchased....8 years with a walk-in humidor for aging.....I've encountered beetles twice. Once with Cubans a decade ago, once with a boutique, limited order from Nicaragua.

Everybody for sure should groove to what makes them happy, but I think beetles from most professional tobacco houses are a very rare occurrence. I've long had a smaller cabinet humidor where I'll lay new sticks/boxes for two weeks to acclimate and settle before moving to an aging humidor......but I've never froze cigars and doubt I ever will.

 

[beefeater33]

 

[eugenepark]

View attachment 49686

Someone went to great lengths to make a very specific (obscure?) cartoon! lol!

 

[RodneyPierce]

The Cubans freeze cigars these days. They also have draw-testing machines that they use to test construction, hence why the overly-tight sticks of yesteryear have largely fallen by the wayside (at least compared to the early 00s).

Personally, since I buy boxes with the intent of aging them, I freeze them all. This is doubly important for custom-rolled cigars. Basically, it's a small insurance policy against issues down the road.

eh, that would be the first I've heard of them freezing cigars. Also, they better get a better "draw test machine" if thats also true, because cubans are still a 50/50 crap shoot between good draw and plugged.

 

[Chasing Embers]

At least with pipe tobacco, tobacco spiders aren't as harmful.

 

[jvnshr]

I have never seen one in my 10+ years smoking experience. A guy from my local LCDH told me that they were freezing cigars right after receiving them. So the Cubans I smoke are safe. As far as I know, most of the non-Cuban manufacturers freeze their cigars before shipping them, so my non-Cubans are also safe.

 

[pantsBoots]

eh, that would be the first I've heard of them freezing cigars. Also, they better get a better "draw test machine" if thats also true, because cubans are still a 50/50 crap shoot between good draw and plugged.

They've been freezing since 2006 and have since built additional facilities:

Havana Corner: Freezing in Havana | Cigar Aficionado

Cuban-cigar merchants are declaring death of the tobacco weevil following a visit to a new, massive storage and quality control center in Guanabacoa, a suburb of Havana. I visited the complex last week with English cigar merchants Jemma Freeman, head of Cuban cigar importers Hunters & Frankau...

www.cigaraficionado.com

I've been smoking Havanas for well over 10 years and rarely get a plugged cigar. They are rolled tighter and weigh more per cigar than a non-cuban, however. If one is used to the loose draw of a NC, Havanas will seem tight, but after this time, it's the NC that seem loose to me, rather than the CC seeming tight. A good tight roll ensures an even, slow burn.

The problem with information regarding Cuban cigars is much of the widely-held opinions (poor construction, beetles, overwhelming strength) are based upon QC issues from the early 00s. Since 2007 (when I began smoking them) or pre-98 cigars shatter the myths.

 

[pantsBoots]

And as for "NC manufacturers freeze all of their cigars":


I have frozen everything to no ill effect for years. I'm not even using an expensive appliance - just my upright fridge/freezer combo. Again, since I'm only inspecting my aging stock once or twice a year, it's a small insurance policy against finding devastation during my next inspection, or when I'm removing a box from the vault to lay out in a desktop humidor for consumption.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Last year, I had one cooler full of my homegrown Virginia get infested. It was under my bed, and I woke up feeling like I was covered in bees. They had eaten up the tobacco to dust, and were crawling through my bed... bitey little fuckers.

I had no idea that I could freeze them to death. I had worried about them getting into the other coolers. But, so far that was the one and only batch to get infected. My humidor was in the room as well as a couple of plastic tubs full of homegrown tobaccos.

But, so far, they only ate up that one batch of reds. So, I guess they had survived the intensive heat of color curing, and only wanted that one type. I keep my Virginias sorted by color and variety, and the rest by variety.

Vacuuming them up and changing the bed was all it took to get rid of them completely... as far as I have seen.

 

[blues4goose]

I managed a cigar shop in Tempe, AZ for a few years, and our AC wasn't the best. We dealt with that problem pretty frequently. Higher temps bring them out of dormancy, and it can take a few months for the egg to fully develop into the beetle and make the hole in the cigar. So if the AC would go out in August, we knew we'd have a problem in September/October.
The biggest offenders were the Padron Family Reserves and the Leaf by Oscar. Would occasionally find them in boxes of La Gloria Cubana, some Tatuaje, and some Liga Privada. I found a few in my personal humidors throughout the years, but if I'm bringing home a rare cigar that I intend to age I'll freeze it. I've never found them in Cubans, but I don't buy those too often.
Edit: Here's a chart on the mortality rate of each stage of the life cycle at specific temperatures. It takes a long time to reach 100% mortality, but some is better than none: