Flor de Oliva Corojo. I find these not up to the usual lines, but you get what you pay for.
What Cigar Are You Smoking? 2025
- Thread starter TheIronMonkey
- Start date
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Two cigar day - Now smoking Rocky Patel 15th Anniversary and in the morning I smoked a Crowned Heads Juarez
My cigars got together and voted this one most likely to have beetle eggs so it's getting smoked
Last Call Maduro Chiquita. I threw away 5 of these a couple days ago. It's actually a pretty good cheap smoke with 6 months box time. Nice initial cocoa-chocolate notes. Much less "gritty PA Broadleaf" flavor as compared to fresh
What I've learned from bug experience:
1) eggs are probably in your cigars
2) temps above 70°F are risky. Above 75°F for any appreciable amount of time and you are kinda asking for it
3) some (most?) factories freeze their cigars at some point. Here is Nick Perdomo showing off his big freezer
4) some people freeze their cigars right away upon arrival. The thinking is- maybe you don't trust that someone else already did this, or that they did it properly. Or maybe eggs were introduced after the maker froze them initially...
So basically, you can always maintain reasonable temps and hope this never happens. My understanding is that eggs can hatch below 70°F, but the probability is low. Or you can freeze to be sure. Whatever you do, best to keep an eye on things. And maybe factor that into the calculus- how often do I plan on actually looking at this box/these sticks?
I guess I would also add- bugs doesn't seem to happen much. But... how much time, rarity, and $$ is in that humidor?
Last Call Maduro Chiquita. I threw away 5 of these a couple days ago. It's actually a pretty good cheap smoke with 6 months box time. Nice initial cocoa-chocolate notes. Much less "gritty PA Broadleaf" flavor as compared to fresh
What I've learned from bug experience:
1) eggs are probably in your cigars
2) temps above 70°F are risky. Above 75°F for any appreciable amount of time and you are kinda asking for it
3) some (most?) factories freeze their cigars at some point. Here is Nick Perdomo showing off his big freezer
4) some people freeze their cigars right away upon arrival. The thinking is- maybe you don't trust that someone else already did this, or that they did it properly. Or maybe eggs were introduced after the maker froze them initially...
So basically, you can always maintain reasonable temps and hope this never happens. My understanding is that eggs can hatch below 70°F, but the probability is low. Or you can freeze to be sure. Whatever you do, best to keep an eye on things. And maybe factor that into the calculus- how often do I plan on actually looking at this box/these sticks?
I guess I would also add- bugs doesn't seem to happen much. But... how much time, rarity, and $$ is in that humidor?
Solid advice. My brother and I were talking about this very thing a couple weeks ago. Knock on the humidor, I’ve yet to have an experience with them.
I hope you never do. I was holding my breath as I dug through the contents of that humidor. Hmmm yep some Opus X, Bandolero, bunch of Garmirian, Casdagli...
I have stuff in the humi that's been there about 20 yrs and never yet have had to deal with beetles. Knock on humi wood. My cousin had a small desktop that had an outbreak from a box of Rocky Sungrowns back in the day, tho. We snap, crackle and popped our way through a couple of those when i went over to see the carnage. It was like smoking a trumpet. Needed all 10 fingers to get a puff. Was a comical smoking experience. Everything else got froze and re-stashed.
@BenMN : Hope you got em all!
@BenMN : Hope you got em all!
I've not had the beetle hatch yet. Occasional mold on one or two is bad enough. I hate it but losses happen. I deep dive every spring when our natural humidity levels are higher which is now. I'm going to set aside a few hours this week unfortunately your post was a good reminder.
There is some good data online of temperature in freezer vs amount of time needed to ensure you've killed beetles/their eggs. If you're using your kitchen freezer, plan on 2-4 weeks of freeze time, if memory serves. If you have a chest freezer, the temp is usually much colder and so the time needed decreases. If you are concerned about humidity loss due to the dry environment, you can vacuum seal the boxes/cigars before freezing.
I am well out of practice with freezing incoming cigars; it has been 6 or 7 years since I was regularly buying Cuban custom and farm rolls, which received zero freezing before landing on my doorstep.
Good luck. I have been very fortunate in almost 20 years of cigar smoking, having only seen a few minor beetle holes in that time. I had always reasoned that the beetles had probably hatched and started munching in between boxing and freezing. The cold stopped them in their tracks.
Obligatory gore pic from the internet:
Another good point. I empty out the cooler once per year and open every box to ensure no beetles have been active.
Another two cigar day : San Lotano Requiem Habano after lunch and Bellas Artes after dinner
Oliva Serie O Robusto this evening.
Thank you all for the support, well wishes, advice, and shared experience. Much appreciated
Good ole Exquisito for the ride home.
Obnoxiously windy so no backyard time or dog walk smoke, but we did walk
Good ole Exquisito for the ride home.
Obnoxiously windy so no backyard time or dog walk smoke, but we did walk
Thank you, I was hoping you'd weigh in.
When/if you found a single or perhaps 2 cigars with single holes- what would you do?
Of course, I split the box that yielded bugs into 2 humidors (before I knew there were bugs)- a 75 count that now lives in the cool basement, and the 50 count "smoke soon" that lives on the main floor where it still gets up to 74°.
The 75 count had 2 sticks with single holes. I threw these away and inspected all others. While doing this, and reading up on freezing, I considered the fact that I don't plan on being in this humidor much till late summer. So I froze them all
The 50 count- I'm in every day. Sometimes multiple times
This humidor had 2 sticks with a single or a couple small holes, and 1 stick that was devoured. These were of course thrown away, and 2 were dissected. I never did find a bug. So far no immediate plans to freeze the other contents but I could be easily persuadedFor those interested, here are 2 of the more useful threads I studied on freezing:
Bugs and temp
Freezing in general
Arturo Fuentes Rothchild Maduro, this morning, watching wife put second coat of paint on new screen porch floor, she didn’t want to use a roller, old school, said it coats better with a brush, asked if I could help, she said just get out of my way. 
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I believe I smoked them, though I can't remember the specifics. If it was a cheapo, could be worth tossing out if you don't want to smoke bugs at all. If the cigar is dear to me, I probably would have smoked it if the damage wasn't extensive.
The tropical environment most cigars are rolled and boxed in is often warm and moist, so ample time for the beetles to hatch. The holes I've seen were undeniably beetle holes, but had not progressed far - it appeared they had gone active and then gotten frozen, their progress left to the annals of time. If left unchecked, they eat through a cigar and jump to the next, ruining an entire box in shirt order.
Since we're on the subject, every cigar smoker should also learn about wood mites, as those are a far more common occurrence than beetles and are NOT dangerous to the cigars at all. They are very small, white bugs you may see crawling on a cigar or your hygrometer. They eat the paper in the bands and typically show up during high humidity conditions. I brush them off (if I notice them) and light up without a second thought.
AVO XO on the way to town this morning.
One of the blessings of old age: farsightedness. Not having to worry about seeing these little buggers anymore.
BTW: we need more zoom lense on that evidence pic you provided. I was reminded of looking at the pics of alleged alien structures on the moon years ago when i tried to make it out.
One of the blessings of old age: farsightedness. Not having to worry about seeing these little buggers anymore.
BTW: we need more zoom lense on that evidence pic you provided. I was reminded of looking at the pics of alleged alien structures on the moon years ago when i tried to make it out.
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Earlier I smoked an Arturo Fuente Hemingway after lunch