Expert: Bill Finck Jr. - 4/30/2007

Question
Hello
I own a Humidor closet 100/64/54cm with 7 drawers.
Today after years of using it I discovered cigars with holes from worms.
My questions are:
1.   What can I do to save the rest of the cigars that were not damaged? I have about 700 hundred single cigars in the humidor and 12 boxes made of wood and carton.
2.   What can I do to make sure that there will not be any worms in the humidor in the future and how can I make sure there are no eggs left in it.
3.   What should I do in order to prevent new cigars I buy in the future infecting the humidor with worms?
I appreciate your help and would love to have the answers as detailed as possible.
Sincerely
Elkana Jacobson


Answer
Hi Elkana,

Unfortunately, you have a serious problem on your hands. There is no perfect way to solve it, but here is what I would do. First. put all of your cigars in a freezer. You'll have to decide if you want to put just the infected cigars in or all of them, but the safest thing is to freeze them all. If you have any full boxes that have no signs of tobacco bug holes in them, you might get away with not freezing them. If a box has even one cigar with a hole in it, put that entire box in the freezer. Once you have everything in the freezer that you think might be infected, clean out the humidor thoroughly. Remove any remaining cigars and wipe out all of the dust and tobacco particles in it. Then replace any unaffected cigars and check them every day to make sure no more bugs hatch. As for the cigars in the freezer, the only way to kill the larvae is to freeze the cigars to around 20 degrees below 0 Fahrenheit. You can't do that with a residential freezer, but you can probably get them down close to 0 degrees, and that will kill any live bugs and larvae that is in the process of hatching. Leave the cigars in the freezer 4 - 5 days, then slowly thaw them out. The best way you can do this is to place them in zip-lock type bags with a humidifier and place them in the refrigerator. Let them sit there several days, then take them out, discard any damaged cigars and put the rest of them back in your humidor. The freezing/thawing process may cause some cigars to wrinkle or possibly even crack, but it is the only safe method to kill the bugs.

As for preventing this in the future, it is impossible to guarantee that you will never receive cigars with tobacco bug larvae in them. However, if you only buy cigars made by reputable manufacturers and buy them from reputable dealers, your chances of having a problem are decreased. Typically bug problems originate in smaller factories with less quality control.

Lastly, with your investment in cigars, you should keep tobacco bug traps in your humidor at all times. These traps only attract the male bugs, so they won't cure an existing problem, but they will alert you immediately if you do have a problem so that you can treat it before the bugs breed and multiply. We sell the bug traps and can help you get them if you cannot find them locally. They are made specifically for tobacco bugs - let me know if you need more information.

Good Luck!
Bill