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Found a beetle hole

PAtoNHPAtoNH Posts: 429 ✭
in Cigar 101
While transferring cigars from my various smaller humidors and coolerdor into my newly seasoned big-azz footlocker I found a single stick with a single, pin head sized, perfectly round beetle hole bored into it. I did a visual inspection of all the other sticks in that humi (about 20 cigars) and found no other evidence. Even so, I've sequestered all those sticks into the cold environment of my unheated/uninsulated mud room (it was 0ºF last night) in a tuppador. I'll keep an eye on the sticks and smoke them up as time permits this winter. I have to admit I was a little surprised as it is my first encounter in almost 20 years of cigar smoking. I had left the suspect humi upstairs this summer to use it as my "ready to go" box and temps were quite warm. I'm very glad I caught this early and thought I'd post this as a warning to others to be on guard.

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    Bob_LukenBob_Luken Posts: 10,024 ✭✭✭✭✭
    PAtoNH:
    While transferring cigars from my various smaller humidors and coolerdor into my newly seasoned big-azz footlocker I found a single stick with a single, pin head sized, perfectly round beetle hole bored into it. I did a visual inspection of all the other sticks in that humi (about 20 cigars) and found no other evidence. Even so, I've sequestered all those sticks into the cold environment of my unheated/uninsulated mud room (it was 0ºF last night) in a tuppador. I'll keep an eye on the sticks and smoke them up as time permits this winter. I have to admit I was a little surprised as it is my first encounter in almost 20 years of cigar smoking. I had left the suspect humi upstairs this summer to use it as my "ready to go" box and temps were quite warm. I'm very glad I caught this early and thought I'd post this as a warning to others to be on guard.
    I've had much less experience with cigars than you but unfortunately I feel like an expert where beetles are concerned.

    Did a lot of dust (beetle dung) com out of the one suspect cigar? There should always be dust. It's dark and reddish like dried blood. Have you meticulously autopsied the cigar? You should. If you're lucky it might be a case of a perfectly round hole that was poked into your cigar wrapper. Please keep me posted. I'll offer any help I can give. I've been through three beetle scares myself. Two were real. One was just a false alarm but was a learning experience just the same as the real ones.
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    PAtoNHPAtoNH Posts: 429 ✭
    Bob, no dust came out of the cigar when I tapped it just now but the hole is just like the ones I've seen posted on the net. It's not an expensive cigar (LPH Oro) so I could cut it open but I thought I'd just smoke it and pay attention to the burn as I get to the area of infestation, lol! Sounds delicious, eh? (I actually love these cigars after resting them for a few months and this is the tail end of a bundle of 20 picked up last year). Since I've recently moved everything into a new humi I'll be able to monitor for dust and other clues… would love this to be a false alarm!
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    Bob_LukenBob_Luken Posts: 10,024 ✭✭✭✭✭
    PAtoNH:
    Bob, no dust came out of the cigar when I tapped it just now but the hole is just like the ones I've seen posted on the net. It's not an expensive cigar (LPH Oro) so I could cut it open but I thought I'd just smoke it and pay attention to the burn as I get to the area of infestation, lol! Sounds delicious, eh? (I actually love these cigars after resting them for a few months and this is the tail end of a bundle of 20 picked up last year). Since I've recently moved everything into a new humi I'll be able to monitor for dust and other clues… would love this to be a false alarm!
    Well, IMHO the only way to know for sure is to gut it from head to foot and examine every leaf. But it's a good sign that it may be a false hole because there's no dust. I've thought of something else you might try. It's another test. Put your lips on it and plant a good kiss around that hole and suck some air through it. (Yes, I did this myself before.) You may get a mouth full of dust. Have a glass of water handy to rinse just in case. If no dust, that's another good result. But it is one more way to test it even if you don't cut it open. If it were me I'd gut it. That way you'd know more than if you just smoke it.

    And speaking of the hole. In my personal experience half of the holes I found were not round. Half of my bugs had a sideways appetite. LOL
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    PAtoNHPAtoNH Posts: 429 ✭
    Bob, the hole in my "suspect" cigar angled in at ~60º, looked like somebody went into it with a dremel tool. I used the past tense "looked" because today I smoked the sucker… it was tasty, with hints of leather and larvae, lol! I think my best course of action is to keep the cigars separate and monitor all my cigars like a hawk. Since the temps outside rose to a balmy 30ºF, I was able to get a couple of them knocked out.
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    bwcarter54bwcarter54 Posts: 142
    "Leather and larvae." Now thats funny! Never heard of that flavor.
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    Bob_LukenBob_Luken Posts: 10,024 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I've heard folks say that first they pop and then they sizzle. LOL
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