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You are not alone in loving your cigars. You have competition from a small creature who gladly feasts on your precious sticks. It is yet another reason why you must know how to store cigars properly. The tobacco beetle is one of the biggest enemies for your cigars. The tobacco beetle loves your cigars as much as you do. The beetles are every cigar smoker’s nightmare. You will usually only see the damage, not the tobacco beetles themselves. When the day comes, you will notice one cigar with a small, circular pinhole. That’s an indication of beetles feasting on your cigars. Unfortunately, usually there is not only one cigar but several cigars with beetle damage. Beetle larvae incubate at temperatures above 74F (23.5 C) and at humidity above 72 percent. That gives another reason to keep track on humidity and temperature when storing cigars. There is a way to defeat this enemy. Put the cigars in the freezer 1) Empty your humidor and place each cigar in zipped plastic bags. 2) Seal each bag and place them in your freezer. The cold kills the tobacco beetles and their larvae. 3) After three days, move the bags (with your cigars) into the fridge. With this you avoid shocking the cigars from the temperature change. 4) After 24 hours in the fridge, move the cigars back to your humidor. During this process, clean the humidor from any remaining beetles or eggs. The humidor was probably too moist or too warm. Make sure it’s not in direct sunlight on your humidor, and control your humidification system. Tobacco beetles do not always mean that it is you who have done wrong. The problem may have existed already at the cigar store. It is important that you buy your cigars from a reputable store. Freezing is not only good when the problem shows up, but it can also be used preventively. A good way to avoid problems with the tobacco beetles, besides knowing how to store cigars, is to do the freezing process (steps 1-4) before you put new cigars in your humidor. It minimizes the risk of tobacco beetles feasting on your cigars. Freezing does not affect the flavors of the cigar in a bad way. Habanos S.A. (the Cuban company that is distributing all the Cuban cigars) freezes cigars before shipping them out. IMPORTANT! - The freezer is not made for storing cigars, unless you unplug it and make a Fridgeador with it. To learn more about storing cigars, visit HowToStoreCigars.info where you find this article and much more, including How To Store Cigars Without a Humidor.
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