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Tobacco beetles

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Have any of you ever had tobacco beetles?

In 15 years I have never frozen any Cigars and have never had tobacco beetles.

Just curious how many people have had them since I know that a lot of people freeze all their new arrivals

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Nacho Daddy

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generally you only need to freeze anything direct from Cuba.
 

Rupe

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Here is an article in CA from 2006 that talks about the measures that Cuba put in place to prevent beetles. Havana Corner: Freezing in Havana | Cigar Aficionado

As @Nacho Daddy said, the conventional wisdom is if it is something that was exported you should be OK. If it was something that was acquired directly in Cuba (Farm roll or otherwise) you need to be careful and freeze them because only exported cigars are frozen.

I have never had beetle issues either. I think there is still a lot of lingering paranoia in the hobby though because of personal stories and serious incidents that happened before it was common practice for manufacturers to freeze them.
 
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Here is an article in CA from 2006 that talks about the measures that Cuba put in place to prevent beetles. Havana Corner: Freezing in Havana | Cigar Aficionado

As @Nacho Daddy said, the conventional wisdom is if it is something that was exported you should be OK. If it was something that was acquired directly in Cuba (Farm roll or otherwise) you need to be careful and freeze them because only exported cigars are frozen.

I have never had beetle issues either. I think there is still a lot of lingering paranoia in the hobby though because of personal stories and serious incidents that happened before it was common practice for manufacturers to freeze them.
Great post
Thanks

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Remember the more hands on the cigars the better the chance of getting something you don't want, Inspect anything you get from other smokers before putting them in your humi. Tiny holes, really dry or damp cigars, a bit of "plume" treat and store separately
 
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Yes, I have. About five years ago, NC.
What you have to keep in mind, no matter where they are from or how they have been treated previously is that they are shipped in containers with thousands of other cigars that may or may not have been treated, then the get to sit in customs for a while before being shipped to another warehouse where they get to sit some more, again with thousands of other cigars this might happen a few times until they finally reach a retailer. Each one of these transition points is a possible infection site. Better safe than sorry!
 

Thebutcher

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So then how many of you still freeze incoming CC's?? its an easy precaution but is it necessary ?

I have never frozen NC's but did for my CC's



Edit: @Rupe Intresting article Thanks
 
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I had them about 7 years ago. It was horrible. Managed to isolate the offending sticks and get rid of them. My temps got too high in the humi by accident and I saw some holes…lol
 
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I've had tobacco beetles in all my favorite sticks.

I assume them buggers are connoisseurs when it comes to the leaf. Every stick I smoked that had holes were delish :cigar:
 
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I freeze everything. It's an easy and simple step that is a habit for me. Do I have to...probably not. Have I ever seen evidence of beetles in sticks I have bought....absolutly. Do I sleep better knowing that there will never be a live beetle or beetle egg in my humi.... yup.
 
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I freeze everything. It's an easy and simple step that is a habit for me. Do I have to...probably not. Have I ever seen evidence of beetles in sticks I have bought....absolutly. Do I sleep better knowing that there will never be a live beetle or beetle egg in my humi.... yup.
I certainly understand.
I have been extremely fortunate it seems as I have never even seen evidence of beetles in any of my Cigars in 15 years.

Seems to be more common than I realized based on the responses here.

I certainly don't blame anyone who freezes their cigars for sure.

Probably a habit I should get into, as eventually I would think my luck will run out

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I have a few threads on here about my outbreak the past two years
it sucked
I freeze everything coming in for about 3days now.
There are just so many variables from manufacturing to me that an allow for these guys to infiltrate
 

StogieNinja

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A few years ago I got beetles in a box of sticks from the My Father factory, which were a brand new release and so not likely to have come from the small B&M I bought them from.

If you can get them from the My Father factory, you can get them anywhere.

I’ve seen evidence in multiple other boxes from various factories and sources.

I freeze everything.
 
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Very surprised at the number of people who have had beetles in all the forums I posted this on.

Amazing that in 15 years I have never had them.

Definitely making me consider freezing new ones, but I share a refrigerator and freezer with 7 other people so there really isn't room for more than a handful at most

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Just as an aside: I've read (somewhere) that freezing in regular freezer just kills the ones that are crawling around. The eggs need to be @ sub zero for a few days to be killed off.

I'd post some photos of my infestation but it's too traumatic. I was stuck in the US during the pandemic and not able to get home. I had someone at my place taking care of the humidors while I was away. But no one can ever really give the right care, especially if they are only there a few times a month. Temperature got too hot, not enough windows open and bam.

Lost a lot
 
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Just as an aside: I've read (somewhere) that freezing in regular freezer just kills the ones that are crawling around. The eggs need to be @ sub zero for a few days to be killed off.

I'd post some photos of my infestation but it's too traumatic. I was stuck in the US during the pandemic and not able to get home. I had someone at my place taking care of the humidors while I was away. But no one can ever really give the right care, especially if they are only there a few times a month. Temperature got too hot, not enough windows open and bam.

Lost a lot
Bummer, hate to here that. Definitely agree about the time and temp, I freeze for 96hrs at 0 f
 

StogieNinja

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According to "the chart" (I forget from where, but there was a scientific study done on using cold temp instead of fumigation to kill tobacco beetles), 6-7 hours at 5*F will kill even acclimated tobacco beetle larvae. So, you just need enough time to get down to temp, stay there for at least six hours, and then you can bring it back up.

At 0*F, which is what most people's ordinary freezers are, it's something like 2-3hrs for total lethality for acclimated larvae.

So, yeah, a normal freezer should work fine. My 72hr method essentially allows 65hrs to get down to the freezer's temp, then 7 hrs to stay there. That's probably overkill, as it likely gets to temp within a few hours.
 
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