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Q: Like many cigar smokers, I live in perpetual fear of a tobacco beetle outbreak. Are there preventive measures I can take? If I do discover an infestation, then what?
A: A properly maintained humidor keeps beetles from infesting in the first place. But once they've hatched, your freezer is your weapon.
It's every cigar smoker's nightmare--a close encounter with tobacco beetles. These pinhead-sized insects can turn a humidor full of precious cigars into an unsmokable mess. Few things are as dangerous or annoying to the cigar connoisseur.
Your treasured smokes are both home and feast to the beetles, which exist in larvae form in tobacco leaves. Every reputable factory takes aggressive measures to keep beetles out of your smokes, but some survive the fumigation. When humidors get too warm and moist, they appear.
We've heard horror stories of smokers opening their humidors and seeing beetles crawling over their cigar collections, but such a dramatic outbreak is rare. Cigar smokers usually see only the damage, not the beetles themselves. Typically a cigar smoker will open the lid of a humidor, or crack open a new box of cigars, and notice one cigar with a neat, circular pinhole. That's evidence of beetle infestation.
If you have one cigar with beetle damage, you're likely to have others. Beetle larvae hatch at temperatures above 72 degrees and a humidity level above 72 percent, one of the primary reasons you should keep your humidor close to the proper level of 70 percent humidity and 70 degrees Fahrenheit. When rising humidity makes your smokes too damp, beetle larvae will hatch and tunnel out of a cigar, leaving holes in their wake. Left unchecked, the critters run rampant. In 48 hours a full-fledged beetle infestation can destroy every cigar in an average-sized desktop humidor.
Most beetle outbreaks can be stopped without too much hassle. If you see signs of damage, take immediate action. Put all the cigars from an infected humidor in a zipped plastic bag and place them in your freezer for three days. If the cigars are still in their box, put the whole box into the freezer. Treat all of your cigars, because if you have one damaged cigar, you have to assume they're all at risk.
Cold kills beetles and their larvae. After three days in the deep freeze, move the cigars into your refrigerator to avoid shocking the smokes from the temperature change, which could split their wrappers. In the meantime, wipe your empty humidor clean with a damp cloth. Don't use any type of cleaner or disinfectant--it will ruin the wood and leave an odor that will taint your cigars. After one day in the refrigerator, put the cigars back in the humidor. Include some strips of cedar to absorb the excess moisture being released.
Now it's time to address the problem that caused the beetles to hatch. Your humidor was probably too moist or too hot. Use a digital hygrometer/thermometer to get an accurate reading, and consider whether the room that houses your humidor isn't subject to temperature extremes when you're not around. Make sure it's not in direct sunlight, and check your humidification system. If you're using a homemade system, or have a cheap, ineffective product, invest in a high-quality device, such as a Credo or a Diamond Crown. Your cigars are worth it.
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