Creepy Crawlies

Mephisto

I'm in Germany at the moment and even though I've been given a nice place to stay there's no a/c. So I opened my herf a dors yesterday to find my new stash (as in just bought almost all the sticks the day before) infested by creepy crawlies. I've put the cigars in the freezer (lucky enough to have access to one at the moment) and the herf a dor too, but I'm worried that there are eggs in the foam now and that they will just hatch promptly after restoring the humidity. Is there anything I can do to preserve the herf a dors, bug free, or should I just toss it out? I was using a humi pillows as humidification...what about them?

mmccartneydc

Ahhh, that sucks! I have no idea if they would have time to lay eggs into the foam in just a day, but to my recollection, if you freeze them, you kill them. So, there may be eggs but they won't hatch! Just what I remember reading from someone. Hopefully the good professor will see this soon. Hope your trip is going good!

Lasabar

Freezer kills eggs. Essentially a TON of cigars are technically "Infested" with eggs and they all lie in wait for the perfect time to hatch. Some manufacturers or some people who buy them to smoke will freeze the cigars and thus breaking open/killing the eggs.
So while you may have eggs in your foam, if you freeze the herfador for as long as possible on your trip (a few days) then you won't have any issues with a new hatching

scarlin

I would take the foam out of the herfador and freeze them outside of it for as long as you have access to that freezer. Can't hurt the foam if frozen a few extra days right?

rwheelwright

Freeze the whole herfador.

Mephisto

Thanks guys. The herfador's in the freezer. Hope that does the trick

Russ55

Fire. Purge with fire! The herfador may not survive, but it's soul will be redeemed in the hereafter.

blurr

I just had an issue last week with my first encounter of beetles. Larva stage I believe as I caught it early in only 1 stick and froze them all, but still sucks. i'm hearing a lot of encounters so far this summer. Must be the excessive heat wave. Be vigilant and check your sticks.

WaterDemon

blurr:

I just had an issue last week with my first encounter of beetles. Larva stage I believe as I caught it early in only 1 stick and froze them all, but still sucks. i'm hearing a lot of encounters so far this summer. Must be the excessive heat wave. Be vigilant and check your sticks.

I've had my AC on thru it, my home stays a cool 70 degrees and so do my humidors. I still check them though, real quick when I'm deciding on a smoke, and about every 3 days each humidor.

The3Stogies

That really sucks. Haven't had that problem yet, hopefully never.

blurr

Yeah I leave my AC on and also store all my humis in my basement. Its semi underground and regardless of time of day or temp outside or AC on or off it sits 65-68 year round. If you are receiving packages in this summer heat wave thats how it happened to me. I am freezing all bombs/orders that spend more than a day or so in the heat.

rwheelwright

Me too! I even turned my Monolith down pretty low because rH was rising in there. Plus I for the first time in my 2 1/2 years living in my house put an AC on the first floor to combat rising temps. Hopefully this new attic fan I got will help too!

Mephisto

I'm starting to think I bought them infested. None of the sticks I've smoked have been damaged at all, and it was rather sudden. Everything was fine and then the day after I bought a bunch of sticks they were crawling. Check your new purchases carefully!

nickiam

I dont have air conditioning either and have had a very hard time keeping my temps down. Some days when i check my temp its around 77 degrees but most of the time it sits between 72-75. At what temps have you guys noticed them because i have been very worried since i have no way to keep them cool.

Also, is there any particular brand/type of cigar that seems to have a higher chance/percentage of beetles.

chemforever

nickiam:

I dont have air conditioning either and have had a very hard time keeping my temps down. Some days when i check my temp its around 77 degrees but most of the time it sits between 72-75. At what temps have you guys noticed them because i have been very worried since i have no way to keep them cool.

Also, is there any particular brand/type of cigar that seems to have a higher chance/percentage of beetles.

I would be concerned at 80F and over 70% RH. In these summer months I freeze all I get, and if your stash is small now I would just freeze what you have to be safe.

scarlin

At least my cabinet has a good temperature problem..It is between 59-61 degrees and I keep the rH at a nice 70-75%.