Bugs

[no_substitute]

I came home from work last week, let the dog out as usual, went to give him a treat, and noticed that his treat jar was empty. Wife says "the treats had bugs"

I look three feet to the right, at one of my humis, and instantly jump to the worst case scenario. I start digging thru the humi, and of course find one cigar with a few beetle holes in it.

The cigar is one that an employee gave me that she picked up on vacation to one of the tobacco growing states about a month ago. Temp in my house doesn't get over low 70's, but it probably sat in the heat in her car while on vacation, etc. I should have known better than to put that cigar in there, but got home late that night and was lazy.

Luckily, that humi doesn't have the really good stuff in it. I keep about 60-80 gars in it - quick grab smokes for me, and some dog rockets for visitors who don't know better, etc.

Anyway, none of the other sticks show signs of beetles, but I put them in the freezer for a week anyway. They're thawing out now.

Can someone please point me to a reliable resource on how to treat the humi, so I can put the sticks back in? Not much on that part of it.

Kinda strange that they made their way to the treats. Makes me wonder if the two are related. Similar holes on the treats, and timing, make me think so. Sorry my close up photo taking abilities suck.

 

[cvm4]

Just try to keep the humidor in a cool place and make sure the humidity is kept at 65-67%. I'm failing to see how bugs in the goodie jar relate to bugs in the humidor. I think it's just a wierd occurence that you had it happen at the same time.

 

[xrundog]

The bugs that like dog treats are different from the ones that like cigars. You're okay.

 

[no_substitute]

The bugs that like dog treats are different from the ones that like cigars. You're okay.

Ah, but I recall reading on CA.com and at least one other place that the little bastards will go after other foodstuffs, including dried pet food.

Also, just inspected the bag of cigars that was in the freezer and found a few dead ones in there.

I cleaned out the humi. None of the cigars are going back in. I'll smoke the few choice ones over the next few days, take the other 60-70 sticks downtown and have a cigar party with random tourists, homeless, street musicians, etc, and figure out how to fumigate/bake/whatever that humi so I feel confident I can put cigars back in it someday.

Edit, here it is:

http://www.cigaraficionado.com/Cigar/CA_Features/CA_Feature_Basic_Template/0,2344,231,00.html

"Tobacco beetles infest stored products, both edible and inedible, including spices (such as paprika and coriander), rice, dry pet food, seeds, pharmaceuticals, books, leather, coffee beans, furniture, upholstery, peanuts and yeast."

Similar info here and lots of other places:

http://www.ct.gov/caes/cwp/view.asp?a=2815&q=376686

 

[Greg]

"Tobacco beetles infest stored products, both edible and inedible, including spices (such as paprika and coriander), rice, dry pet food, seeds, pharmaceuticals, books, leather, coffee beans, furniture, upholstery, peanuts and yeast."

Well, count yourself lucky that undergarments are not on that list.

 

[dpricenator]

Nothing better than the happiness you can bring by donating a smoke to the homeless. I was in San Fran and bought a huge RyJ to walk with. My wife and I were resting, in Union Square< and I was about an hour and a halfinto this stick and the head was getting pretty gross with saliva and tooth damage ( I've been known to chew a little). I had a cool old homeless guy start waving my smoke at his face and chanting... "this is the good stuff" over and over. I was almost done with it, but there was about 3 inch left and asked if he wanted it. His eyes lit up like Christmas lights and a smile went ear to ear " are you serious?" He bit into that thing like I was ging to change my mind or something. I can't imagine ever touching another man's smoke that had the kind of mileage this thing had, but he wa stoked. My wife's only words were " That's Gross" I had to agree.

 

[docb]

Wouldn't wiping the humi down with distilled water be enough, making sure you were thorough?

 

[CWS]

The below is a reprint from Smokeshop 1998 concerning an outbreak in a walkin. Obviously you cant go to cold storage but the rest is good info. Most old freezers will not go tp 20 below. Newer ones will. Good luck
Interesting that it says they thrive on dog food.

Beetle Outbreak
First, recognize that all cigars are suspect and you might have Lasioderma in your waklin as we speak - it's a fact of the business. Bugs will be bugs - an infested cigar can lead to others, whether in one box or others, but only if cigars stay in your humidor long enough to hatch an adult, which can lay eggs in other cigars. So, don't panic if you see a hole here or there.


But, assume a serious infestation hits your walk-in. Quick - what are your options? Call the guy in the Toyota pickup with the termite on top with springy antennae? Don't bother. With the EPA and OSHA overseeing the use of pesticides, hydrocyanic gas or carbon disulfide are no longer permitted in this country. Plus, the pest technician may or may not know what to use on this particular species. Insecticides based on pyrethrum (from chrysanthemum flowers) must be fogged, which leaves a sickeningly sweet smell on your inventory and cedar walls; pheromone traps - the other popular remedy - only gets the flying adult. So, neither work. What's more, the USDA notes that Lasioderma not only thrives on tobacco, spices, rice, dog food, and the paste that binds books, but it also savors - ready for this? - pyrethrum! That's right, it eats insecticide base. If Hollywood wants a new, unstoppable sci-fi monster, why not the tobacco beetle!

Immediately take every tobacco product in your humidor, if not in your entire store, to your local cold-storage company. But first, consolidate them into manageable-sized bundles and wrap them in vapor-barrier freezer wrap; the metallized mylar kind that is absolutely air- and moisture-tight. Regular plastic won't cut it. Use a similar vapor-proof tape to seal them.

Remember, it's a Sahara in a freezer, as all the humidity is frozen on the walls or has run off into drain pans. With any leaks whatsoever, your cigars will dry out. Tell the freezer man to take the packages to -20 deg. F, and keep them there for at least 24 hours. Next, leave them at 0 deg. F for two or three days. Then slo-o-owly bring cigars up to room temperature over a period of two days, to prevent cracking the wrappers from thermal shock. Be careful to remove the mylar vapor seal from the cigars only when the humidity of the environment is low, so moisture from the atmosphere doesn't collect on their wrappers, which can mottle or pucker them. It can also warp the covers on the cigar boxes. Follow this procedure at your own risk, although a beetle beachhead calls for immediate, radical action.

While the cigars are vacationing in the cold storage facility, thoroughly scrub down your walk-in. The beetle breeds in tobacco dust and its own refuse, so you need to sweep and dust the place out meticulously. Next, wipe every surface with a strong ammonia/water mixture, and let it get into the cracks under baseboards and everywhere else it might hang out. Ammonia not only does a job on the little brute - and your sinuses - but it leaves no smell to affect your cigars. When you have thawed the cigars and are ready to restock them, inspect them as best you can - sometimes made difficult by the cellophane on the sticks - and toss out any that show evidence of infestation, like holes in the wrappers

 

[cvm4]

I still fail to see how 2 closed containers relate to eachother. I think you just had 2 seperate outbreaks occur.

 

[CWS]

I still fail to see how 2 closed containers relate to eachother. I think you just had 2 seperate outbreaks occur.

Could be but thats the first I ever heard about them liking dog food. Note to self: keep cigars and dog dish in separate rooms.

 

[no_substitute]

I still fail to see how 2 closed containers relate to eachother. I think you just had 2 seperate outbreaks occur.

Well, "closed" is a relative term. I've never been one to completely air proof my humis, and the dog treats were in an open top glass container (a fishbowl, actually) that is just as likely to be covered as uncovered.

I don't think it's much of a stretch that beetles could travel three feet. I'd say that two unrelated outbreaks (my first ever) three feet apart at the same time would be far more unlikely.

Ammonia/water it is...thanks much CWS

 

[Wasch_24]

Those beetles in the close up look a little large to be tobacco beetles. Hard to get proper scale though. :dunno:

 

[cvm4]

Well, "closed" is a relative term. I've never been one to completely air proof my humis, and the dog treats were in an open top glass container (a fishbowl, actually) that is just as likely to be covered as uncovered.

I don't think it's much of a stretch that beetles could travel three feet. I'd say that two unrelated outbreaks (my first ever) three feet apart at the same time would be far more unlikely.

Ammonia/water it is...thanks much CWS

You must've had the doggie treat in the same hand when you went and grabbed for a cigar :dunno: Better luck next time.

 

[jwintosh]

The below is a reprint from Smokeshop 1998 concerning an outbreak in a walkin. Obviously you cant go to cold storage but the rest is good info. Most old freezers will not go tp 20 below. Newer ones will. Good luck
Interesting that it says they thrive on dog food.

Beetle Outbreak
First, recognize that all cigars are suspect and you might have Lasioderma in your waklin as we speak - it's a fact of the business. Bugs will be bugs - an infested cigar can lead to others, whether in one box or others, but only if cigars stay in your humidor long enough to hatch an adult, which can lay eggs in other cigars. So, don't panic if you see a hole here or there.


But, assume a serious infestation hits your walk-in. Quick - what are your options? Call the guy in the Toyota pickup with the termite on top with springy antennae? Don't bother. With the EPA and OSHA overseeing the use of pesticides, hydrocyanic gas or carbon disulfide are no longer permitted in this country. Plus, the pest technician may or may not know what to use on this particular species. Insecticides based on pyrethrum (from chrysanthemum flowers) must be fogged, which leaves a sickeningly sweet smell on your inventory and cedar walls; pheromone traps - the other popular remedy - only gets the flying adult. So, neither work. What's more, the USDA notes that Lasioderma not only thrives on tobacco, spices, rice, dog food, and the paste that binds books, but it also savors - ready for this? - pyrethrum! That's right, it eats insecticide base. If Hollywood wants a new, unstoppable sci-fi monster, why not the tobacco beetle!

Immediately take every tobacco product in your humidor, if not in your entire store, to your local cold-storage company. But first, consolidate them into manageable-sized bundles and wrap them in vapor-barrier freezer wrap; the metallized mylar kind that is absolutely air- and moisture-tight. Regular plastic won't cut it. Use a similar vapor-proof tape to seal them.

Remember, it's a Sahara in a freezer, as all the humidity is frozen on the walls or has run off into drain pans. With any leaks whatsoever, your cigars will dry out. Tell the freezer man to take the packages to -20 deg. F, and keep them there for at least 24 hours. Next, leave them at 0 deg. F for two or three days. Then slo-o-owly bring cigars up to room temperature over a period of two days, to prevent cracking the wrappers from thermal shock. Be careful to remove the mylar vapor seal from the cigars only when the humidity of the environment is low, so moisture from the atmosphere doesn't collect on their wrappers, which can mottle or pucker them. It can also warp the covers on the cigar boxes. Follow this procedure at your own risk, although a beetle beachhead calls for immediate, radical action.

While the cigars are vacationing in the cold storage facility, thoroughly scrub down your walk-in. The beetle breeds in tobacco dust and its own refuse, so you need to sweep and dust the place out meticulously. Next, wipe every surface with a strong ammonia/water mixture, and let it get into the cracks under baseboards and everywhere else it might hang out. Ammonia not only does a job on the little brute - and your sinuses - but it leaves no smell to affect your cigars. When you have thawed the cigars and are ready to restock them, inspect them as best you can - sometimes made difficult by the cellophane on the sticks - and toss out any that show evidence of infestation, like holes in the wrappers

good read! thanks Chuck!!

 

[no_substitute]

Those beetles in the close up look a little large to be tobacco beetles. Hard to get proper scale though. :dunno:

they're small treats...about 1"

 

[Irritech]

EEEEOOOWWWW!! That's not good. Those things just look nasty. :disappoin

 

[Headbanger]

Better the dog treats being eaten then our treats eh! They do look too large to me also, hard to tell.