Some people will disagree with the temperature being the cause of the outbreak.. some parts of the world (ie OZ for example) have steadily temperatures over 80-90 for most part of the year.. and that is in the cool part of the house... based on this.. we should have lots of beetles... and we don't... in fact.. I have only this year installed an aircon in the room where the cigars are.. and not really for lowering the temp but for sucking out the humidity from the air.... before this aircon was installed.. the temperature was often in the 100+....Sheik Ur Bootie said:Temp is the key for avoiding beetles. My humidor temp was a 67 degrees at the time of the outbreak, after reading the Cigar Advisor (MRN on Mo's site) I lowered the temp to 60 degrees. Humidity is more difficult to regulate, but no chance of beetles at 60 degrees. Mites love humidity over 70%. Mites do no harm to the tobacco and are also destroyed by freezing.
I have thought long and hard about this (why no beetles here considering all the talk about beetles and temp on forums) and have formulated a very unscientific theory.. maybe it isn't the temperature.. maybe it is the atmospheric pressure?? The people I have managed to talk to that has had an outbreak (the ones who knows their stock well enough to confirm this) have all stated that they had a sudden change in weather.. a thunderstorm for instance... so maybe it isn't the temperature itself as such.. when the weather gets hotter.. the pressure is also lower..... that doesn't mean that it is the same all over the world.. in one area 80f might have the same atmospheric pressure as 65f would have in other areas.... not that I have any proof of this but it is a thought.......