Tobacco Beetles and Baggies?

I received some cigars today and I was thinking about just double baggie-ing them in gallon sized baggies and putting them in my humidor. The cigars are cello wrapped so my question is if there are beetles could they eat through the cello, through the first baggie, and the through the second baggie infesting my humidor?

I don't really want to freeze these but I will if the baggie thing doesn't work.

[Skywalker]

This one could, possibly!

Haha that would could swallow all of these cigars as these are smaller ones. I need to add though that I am going to take them out of the cello wrap (they are a bundle) as some have gotten smooshed in transit. I think that if I take them out they will eventually regain their shape. I hope atleast. Actually does anyone know if this will work?

[T.G]

Originally Posted by Wallbright

I received some cigars today and I was thinking about just double baggie-ing them in gallon sized baggies and putting them in my humidor. The cigars are cello wrapped so my question is if there are beetles could they eat through the cello, through the first baggie, and the through the second baggie infesting my humidor?

I don't really want to freeze these but I will if the baggie thing doesn't work.

Cello: yes - it won't even slow down the larvae.
Plastic bag - not totally sure here, don't think so though. At least not heavy duty bags. Saw a ziplock freezer bag full of beetle ridden sticks over the weekend, they didn't seem to be able to get out of the ziplock. Although if you were to open the ziplock bag, then any mature beetles that have developed wings could fly out of the bag, and since they don't just eat tobacco, any number of other things in your house are now at risk. Paper and certain foodstuffs in particular.

If you are that worried about possible beetle problems, you're probably just better off freezing the cigars for 4-5 days and that way you don't have to worry about it.

[massphatness]

If you're going to put them in freezer bags anyway, I vote for taking the next step and just freezing them. I don't like the aesthetic of zip-locs in the humi. YMMV.

If there are beetles, they aren't likely to burrow through double bagged cigars in the short term, so if you're planning to smoke these in the near future, I guess the answer to your question is you're safe.

[T.G]

Originally Posted by Wallbright

Haha that would could swallow all of these cigars as these are smaller ones. I need to add though that I am going to take them out of the cello wrap (they are a bundle) as some have gotten smooshed in transit. I think that if I take them out they will eventually regain their shape. I hope atleast. Actually does anyone know if this will work?

They will spring back a little, but depending on how much they have been "smooshed", they might not rebound completely to their original shape.

[Blak Smyth]

This one deffinitley could!
Edit: It might not be a beetle now that I look closer.
Skywalker, that one makes me cringe!



I really should start freezing my new sticks, it's kinda like extending a warranty on a T.V.

[massphatness]

Originally Posted by Wallbright

some have gotten smooshed in transit. I think that if I take them out they will eventually regain their shape.

Unless the wrappers are damaged, smooshed cigars smoke just fine as many who have smoked a Culebra vitola will attest.

[jesseboston81]

Originally Posted by massphatness

If you're going to put them in freezer bags anyway, I vote for taking the next step and just freezing them.

What do you have against freezing them and taking care of any possible beetle issues all at once?

[T.G]

Originally Posted by massphatness

Unless the wrappers are damaged, smooshed cigars smoke just fine as many who have smoked a Culebra vitola will attest.

Good point Vin. I was speaking solely of aesthetics with my previous answer to this issue.

[WittyUserName]

Originally Posted by Wallbright

I received some cigars today and I was thinking about just double baggie-ing them in gallon sized baggies and putting them in my humidor. The cigars are cello wrapped so my question is if there are beetles could they eat through the cello, through the first baggie, and the through the second baggie infesting my humidor?

I don't really want to freeze these but I will if the baggie thing doesn't work.

Are you worried about these smokes and beetles for a particular reason? or do you always take steps when you get a new batch of sticks?

Thanks fellas. I suppose I will just go ahead and freeze them since I am already putting them in double baggies.

The box got pretty beat the hell up. I should have gone with a 5x5 instead but had heard the bundles were older. Box code says April 2010 but my 5x5 from this past month says August 2010 so I guess it is better to go with 5x5 as they don't get beat up. Some of these look like they are triangle pressed lol.

Originally Posted by jesseboston81

What do you have against freezing them and taking care of any possible beetle issues all at once?

Originally Posted by WittyUserName

Are you worried about these smokes and beetles for a particular reason? or do you always take steps when you get a new batch of sticks?

Didn't see these posts before. Recently I have been freezing all of my new cigars. I just had heard, key word heard as this is a huge debate that I wish we not get into really haha, that freezing can take away some of the original flavors. I can't find any firm evidence that proves or disproves this so I was going to try not freezing and compare to the ones I did freeze. But when it comes down to it if I have a choice between the slight possibility of losing a small amount of flavor from these and the possibility of losing my whole collection due to beetles. I will choose to freeze because the small loss of flavor, if there even is a loss, is so minimal that I have not even been able to tell with any of my cigars.

[DPD6030]

I freeze everything

Cello on or off Tyler

[NCRadioMan]

Originally Posted by Wallbright

I just had heard, key word heard as this is a huge debate that I wish we not get into really haha, that freezing can take away some of the original flavors.

Poppycock! If it did that, the manufacturers wouldn't freeze and it's pretty much an industry standard.

Haha Chutney that is what I thought too but just for the sake of curiosity, and slight paranoia, I was going to try to not freeze these.

Anyways, here is a picture of the most beat up and abused stick. He needs some loving. He is cracked, bent, and triangle pressed lol.

[WittyUserName]

Originally Posted by NCRadioMan

Poppycock! If it did that, the manufacturers wouldn't freeze and it's pretty much an industry standard.

So here we go. If the manufacture freezes, which kills the eggs, why are you then freezing again?

[massphatness]

Originally Posted by WittyUserName

So here we go. If the manufacture freezes, which kills the eggs, why are you then freezing again?

Because you cannot account for beetle infestation post-freeze at the manufacturing site.

[Blak Smyth]

Not as bad as I pictured, thanks for the pic Wallbright.

[T.G]

Originally Posted by WittyUserName

So here we go. If the manufacture freezes, which kills the eggs, why are you then freezing again?

Simple. After leaving the manufacturer's blast freezers they spend a lot of time in various common warehouse humidors and transit where the potential for re-exposure exists.