Beetle Outbreak!

[Savor the Stick]

Originally Posted by akumushi

If you've seen termite poop, imagine that only much smaller and finer, like a fine, dark brown dirt, and you have beetle poop. If you suspect beetles are working on a cigar, tap it foot down on a piece of white paper. If that fine black powder comes sprinkling out, then you've got a big problem. The holes look like someone went at your cigar with a dentists' drill.

@ Moses, yes the first thing I noticed was the tell-tale beetle $hit at the bottom of my humi last week when I was putting some recent acquisitions at the bottom. I tried to dismiss it as paranoia, but then the other day I was looking for some smokes to pack up for our 4th of July weekend trip and I found a couples sticks with several holes in them. That was enough for me to give them all the freeze treatment.

As far as conditions go, the humidity is fine, I have a brand new, recently calibrated hygro and HCM beads so the humidor stays pegged at 65%. Temperature is another story. Summers in Southern California are hot and most houses on the coast don't have central air, so as long as I'm too broke for a vinotemp, the temperature is out of my control, and it isn't pretty. The coolest room in the house is at 75* and by the heat of summer it will be in the low 80's inside my humi. I've used the same humidor for almost 3 years and this is my first outbreak, so I guess I'm actually lucky. Been doing a lot of trading lately, so I guess the little buggers hitched a ride in a flat rate box

I have always avoided freezing cause I'm lazy, impatient and I was worried about ruining my cigars, but now that I've had to do my whole collection, it'll be a no brainer to do a quick freeze on all future purchases and trades.

Ouch! Sorry you got hit.
Feel for you buddy, sorry this happened to you.

Temp killed you. I went through a summer in Temecula, CA (Desert) and even with air conditioner going I would still edge into the low 80's inside. I never got Beetles!--Here is what I did--I put everything into the Big Igloo coolers---several layers of towels, I don't want the moisture on the cigars, ice (blue gel) packs on top of the towels-I changed the towels and the cold packs every morning and evening....what a pain...but no buggies munching on my stuff.
maybe you can work something out like that for 3 1/2 months of the summer. It worked for me.

---You do have to be careful and watch for mold---too much moisture...but I would rather have mold then beetles. Oh I never got mold on anything that summer.

Best of luck!