Battling Tobacco Beetles

To ensure a long and splendid life for your cigars, you should know what to do in the event that tobacco beetles become present in your humidor, and why they are there.

Have you bought an organic head of lettuce and found a bug in it? It’s almost the same concept.

There are no chemicals used in Cuban tobacco during the growing or manufacturing process. Normally, the tobacco beetles don’t survive the extensive fermentation or curing process.
If they are in your cigar at all, the beetles are dormant and harmless to your cigars unless the temperature inside your humidor gets too hot (72+ degrees Fahrenheit).

However, don’t be alarmed if you should spot the signs of tobacco beetles. If you see small, very perfect holes in your cigars, or see a fine black powder anywhere in the bottom of your humidor, remove all your cigars immediately.

Follow the instructions below exactly:

• Place them in a zip-lock bag and put them in your fridge for one day.
• After one day, take them directly from your refrigerator & stick them in your freezer for 2 days.
• After two days has passed, place the cigars (still in the zip-lock bag) back in your fridge for one day.
• This will cure your tobacco beetle problem & make your cigars ready for the humidor once again.
• Please remember that the wrapper on your fine cigars is very thin and fragile, and it cannot stand a transition from the humidor to the freezer. It is too harsh of a change in environment for them.

What are these white bugs crawling all over my cigars? Those are wood mites — small, white insects that are often the result of opening a fresh wooden box of cigars. The good news is that these mites won’t harm the cigars, and they don’t live long enough to seriously damage your humidor.