I'm not thankful for the beetle

[derek]

So what I thought was going to be a stress less Thanksgiving has gotten kind of stressful. The fiance and I had turkey lunch with only us. Then our friends and family are coming over for dessert. I figured before they get here would be a great time to get a smoke in.

I went to the coolidor and grabbed a Rocky Patel, Vintage 1990. Light it up and began to smoke. I'm not a fan of keeping my cigars bands on my cigars while I smoke. So I took it the first one off as soon as I could. As I turned the cigar over I could see where some beetle had its Thanksgiving meal. At least I think it was a beetle. There were two "insects" that were white with what looked like fuzz on them eating my cigar. Reminded me of an inchworm. I'm assuming they are larve. So I smoked it a little further down till the heat seemed to force them out. Then I killed them and my cigar. Couldn't finish it knowing they were in it.

This RP I just bought two weeks ago with 2 others. So I debanned the rest of my cigars that were in the same container as the other one. Found nothing. Now I'm nervous I'm going to have a beetle out break. Being winter the temp in my humidor will stay around 60 with a humidity of 65%. I guess we will see what happens.

[caudio51]

Just keep an eye on that container and of course the rest of the stash. Take any out that seem questionable and quarantine them.


Oh, and take your torch and burn that bastard! :tazerblas

[Wasch_24]

So it was larvae?

[derek]

As far as I can tell it was Larve, I opened some of my books and compared what I saw to what was in my cigar. Now I will keep a watchful eye on my stash

[Wasch_24]

That could actually be a good thing though...better odds that the issue is isolated in that one cigar.

[derek]

That is what I'm hoping. I have no room in my freeze to freeze my cigars. If it comes down to it, I will have to do it at my parents house. Trying to explains why there are about 150 cigars in their freezer will be interesting.

[Wasch_24]

I don't know man. I would just segregate the cigars that were bought with the infested one as long as there are no exit holes in those smokes.

Don't forget to look for holes in the feet too.

[cvm4]

You might be seeing a cigar glue mite, which lives off the glue and around the band of the cigar. The mite is barely visible with the human eye so its difficult to see it unless you have a magnifying glass, or pay close attention to the surface. It is white or opaque in appearance. These mites are not harmful however, depending on the number present, the best thing to do is to lightly brush them off.

Also, were the larvae coming out of the beetle hole or not? Sorry for the stressful day on Thanksgiving

[derek]

The larvae were inbedded in the hole. Once the heat started to get down to them they then started to move. One section of the cigar(under the band) had a quarter inch long section eaten away tho.

[cvm4]

Ouch...I'd take the necessary precautions noted above then :thumbsup:

[Jwrussell]

Yeppers, sounds like you gots beetles. Sorry about that man. Keep us posted.

[derek]

Well it’s been a week or so and all looks okay. I will keep checking to see if things change.

I was at the retailer where I bought those earlier this week. I made mention of it and they said "yeah we know about that, we found larva in a few other RP's that were in the same box. We took them out and threw them away and left what looked okay” My jaw hit the floor in surprise. I had no further comment, just turned and left.

[caudio51]

Wow, I am suprised they didn't thow the whole box out. Not to mention give you some free cigars.

[cvm4]

They should have atleast thrown out the box and refunded you the money! :hammersma

[Wasch_24]

Unbelievable.

[derek]

I have been going to this retailer for over 3 years now. Recently I have noticed the quality of thier product and atmosphere going down hill. I don't think I will be going back there any time soon.

(Thanks, that works much better now)

[caudio51]

swith your board style to BOTL - Blue