Beetles Marathon

Mephisto

What do you think....am I smoking bugs? I opened my aging humi up last night and noticed this:



I smoked it last night and it was tunneled through at least to that hole. I've pulled everything out of the humi and put the sticks in small bundles of 2-5 in baggies with humi pillows. These are some of my nicest cigars so I don't want to freeze them if I don't have to. There aren't any other wrapper holes anywhere. But a few seem like they could possibly have holes in the foot, so I'm smoking those today to see what's up.

I started with a Graycliff Professionale. I didn't think to take a shot of this one before lighting it. It had the ugliest wrapper I think I've ever seen. There was a fairly large green splotch and the wrapper has light colored polka dots. I've had this one since July 21, 2010 and it was beat up during shipping. The wrapper was split in a few places and the foot was dinged. The suspicious hole turns out to be the result of its rough handling. For the most part, it smoked nicely, but the flavors were subdued. I just put it down at the two thirds mark as it was getting bitter.

Time to check the bug bag for another specimen.

Shaun.Harrison87

A buddy of mine on the banter had beetles and this is their mark exactly, sorry to hear the news brother...hopefully they are salvageable!

kingjk729

That is for sure a beetle hole ....... Time to package them sticks and put them in the freezer for about 12 hours .......

docbp87

Yep. Beetle. Also, not the first time I've heard of beetle problems with Graycliffs.

Mephisto

Unfortunately, there weren't just Graycliffs in that box. I guess I have to decide which to smoke right away and which to freeze. How can I minimize the damage of freezing them? I've read to put them in the fridge for 24 hrs after the freezer, but don't they still suffer from the experience?

docbp87

Mephisto:

Unfortunately, there weren't just Graycliffs in that box. I guess I have to decide which to smoke right away and which to freeze. How can I minimize the damage of freezing them? I've read to put them in the fridge for 24 hrs after the freezer, but don't they still suffer from the experience?

Actually ease them into it by putting them in the fridge first, then freezer, then back to the fridge.

jlmarta

Mephisto:

Unfortunately, there weren't just Graycliffs in that box. I guess I have to decide which to smoke right away and which to freeze. How can I minimize the damage of freezing them? I've read to put them in the fridge for 24 hrs after the freezer, but don't they still suffer from the experience?

I think it was Kuzi who told me about the dry ice trick where you put dry ice in the bottom of a cooler chest with racks above it to hold the cigars. Put the lid back on but place a small stick or a skewer on the rim so that air can escape as the dry ice melts. Beetles can't breathe carbon dioxide so the little bastiges will croak. I don't remember how long to leave the sticks in there but a couple days out of the humi shouldn't hurt them, I wouldn't think.

Rhamlin

Definately looks like beetle hole. Though I've only read about them I've done a lot of investigating. The dry ice trick is a new one but sounds good. Everything else I've read says 3 days in a freezer followed by 2 days in a fridge, or vacum seal them, they can't survive in a vacum and it supposedly destroys the eggs.

kaspera79

Surprisingly, the only beetle stick I ever had was one that was "forgotten" in my car in a Zip-lock bag. I was cleaning out the vehicle and came acrosss a stick that was all chewed up. Maybe the heat woke them up, but good thing it was away from the rest. I had taken the label off so I don't remember what it was.

skweekz

kaspera79:

Surprisingly, the only beetle stick I ever had was one that was "forgotten" in my car in a Zip-lock bag. I was cleaning out the vehicle and came acrosss a stick that was all chewed up. Maybe the heat woke them up, but good thing it was away from the rest. I had taken the label off so I don't remember what it was.

This brings a question to mind. Are there eggs in every cigar? As in, given high enough temps and humidity levels, would every cigar eventually end up with beetles hatching?

Lasabar

skweekz:

kaspera79:

Surprisingly, the only beetle stick I ever had was one that was "forgotten" in my car in a Zip-lock bag. I was cleaning out the vehicle and came acrosss a stick that was all chewed up. Maybe the heat woke them up, but good thing it was away from the rest. I had taken the label off so I don't remember what it was.

This brings a question to mind. Are there eggs in every cigar? As in, given high enough temps and humidity levels, would every cigar eventually end up with beetles hatching?

Not every cigar...
Most leaves have eggs on them, but some companies fumigate, some freeze etc... So there may be sticks that never will get beetles without outside influences, but when you smoke cigars, you smoke beetle eggs!

skweekz

Lasabar:

skweekz:

kaspera79:

Surprisingly, the only beetle stick I ever had was one that was "forgotten" in my car in a Zip-lock bag. I was cleaning out the vehicle and came acrosss a stick that was all chewed up. Maybe the heat woke them up, but good thing it was away from the rest. I had taken the label off so I don't remember what it was.

This brings a question to mind. Are there eggs in every cigar? As in, given high enough temps and humidity levels, would every cigar eventually end up with beetles hatching?

Not every cigar...
Most leaves have eggs on them, but some companies fumigate, some freeze etc... So there may be sticks that never will get beetles without outside influences, but when you smoke cigars, you smoke beetle eggs!

Kinda what I figured. Thanks for the intel...

jr_p951

Oh man! That doesn't look good! Hope the rest are doing ok!

fla-gypsy

Smoke it quick and freeze the rest if you value your sticks

laker1963

Was there any dust from the beetles being present as well Mephisto?

THat hole doesn't look perfectly round like beetle holes usually do. If there was no tobacco dust or if there is not a sort of hollow spot within the cigar where the beetles have been feeding then I'm leaning towards this being a punctured wrapper.
ONly you can really look at the stick the way you need to to determine the problem. I would be tempted to cut the cigar a half an inch or so behind the hole and do a disection on it. There is only one hole? If there is only one hole and no other damage or evidence of bettles chowing down on your sticks then I would not be too worried myself. Keep those sticks seperate from the rest of your stock for a while to be safe but I don't think it looks too bad, really.

rwheelwright

What you can do to check the rest is shake them with the foot of the cigar by your hand. If stuff starts to come out (like a fine dust) then they have been eaten! I know from experience.

Mephisto

The cigar with the hole had a tunnel running through it. I cut it back a bit to see. It smoked ok, but there were some bad moments...maybe that's what worms taste like. I've smoked 5 cigars, working on number 6, from that humi and none of these others have had any problems. There's not any dust in the humi either. To be on the safe side I packaged the cigars up and put them in the fridge for 24 hours and then moved them to the freezer. I'll move them back to the fridge for a 24 hour rest on Friday. I've read to clean the humi with an ammonia/water solution...has anyone done this before? How strong do you mix it? and, does it affect the smell of the humi for long?

Marker

I don't like their music really. I know that is tragic. Sorry to not participate in your beetle marathon.

A friend of mine had some beetles and ended up freezing his stash. He sent me a few cigars that had beetles in them (froze them first). They still smoke great. Maybe I like the taste of vaporized, cooked, beetle crap.

jlmarta

I smoked a Punch Deluxe Chateau L one time that had a beetle or two in it. I know, because I used the tip of my pocketknife blade to pick them off the cigar as they crawled out through the punch-hole. If there were any others in there, they were incinerated as I smoked on.

By the way, not all beetle holes are perfectly round. I posted some photos a while back showing holes that were ragged-looking right along with some round ones. Ya can't tell by the shape of the hole.

kaspera79

I don't know, if beetles started crawling out of one of my cigars, that would be the end of the stick for me.

Rhamlin

kaspera79:

I don't know, if beetles started crawling out of one of my cigars, that would be the end of the stick for me.

Lol, I'm pretty hard core about smoking anything I lite up as long as I can stand it no matter how bad it is but I think I'd have to draw the line when them critters started crawling out of my punch hole. Yucky!

laker1963

Rhamlin:

kaspera79:

I don't know, if beetles started crawling out of one of my cigars, that would be the end of the stick for me.

Lol, I'm pretty hard core about smoking anything I lite up as long as I can stand it no matter how bad it is but I think I'd have to draw the line when them critters started crawling out of my punch hole. Yucky!

NO SHITE !!!!!!

CvilleE

laker1963:

Rhamlin:

kaspera79:

I don't know, if beetles started crawling out of one of my cigars, that would be the end of the stick for me.

Lol, I'm pretty hard core about smoking anything I lite up as long as I can stand it no matter how bad it is but I think I'd have to draw the line when them critters started crawling out of my punch hole. Yucky!

NO SHITE !!!!!!

lol..just like The Kid said here a while back..."I love the smell of roasting beetles in the morning!!!!. Ever hear a pop when your smoking a cigar I always imagine thats the beetles head exploding...hmmmm beetlejuice" 9/29/2011. I know that was a joke, but gotta say my cigars haven't popped yet, and nothing has ever crawled out alive...I don't know what I'd do if either were to happen...

jlmarta

Well, come on, guys. They're only bugs (and tiny, at that). I mean, it's not like they were poisonous snakes or something.

Rhamlin

jlmarta:

Well, come on, guys. They're only bugs (and tiny, at that). I mean, it's not like they were poisonous snakes or something.

Lol , I really needed a good chuckle. This has been one of the worst days of my life. I'm at a loss as to what to do or who I can trust now. I may wind up going home and loading my 357. My wife is already loaded up.Ain't gonna play when it comes to the protection of my family.

jlmarta

Rhamlin:

jlmarta:

Well, come on, guys. They're only bugs (and tiny, at that). I mean, it's not like they were poisonous snakes or something.

Lol , I really needed a good chuckle. This has been one of the worst days of my life. I'm at a loss as to what to do or who I can trust now. I may wind up going home and loading my 357. My wife is already loaded up.Ain't gonna play when it comes to the protection of my family.

Whoa! Did I miss something? What is it that's threatening your family? Anything anyone can do to help?

Rhamlin

Oh it's f'd up , I wouldn't have believed it if it wasn't happening to us. No threats but a twisted a$$ phone call to my wife by someone that obviously knows me or us. Phone company won't give out the number yet where the call came from and it takes 3 before we can get a subpoena so 1 more and I can force them to give us the #. Then the law better get to him before I do.

jlmarta

Wow! That sucks. Be thankful, though, that it's only phone calls and not personal contact. I'm assuming you've clued-in the police on the matter. I'll hold good thoughts for you and your wife, my friend. Wish I could do more.