What is a cigar beetle and how bad are they?
Have you ever seen a weevil? Cigar beetles look just like them. Tiny, dark brown cigar eating machines. When you get them, you’ll know you have them by the holes they leave in your cigars. They will hatch in and eat their way out of a cigar before you even know you have one. And where there’s one, there will be more. Luckily they only live about a month, but they can leave a lot of eggs in that time, which will repeat the cycle. Cigar beetles are much more prevalent in Cuban cigars than in cigars from the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua or Honduras. Beetles can easily hatch when the temperature climbs up to about 80°F and is sustained for even a few days. The key to controlling an infestation is isolation. If you must attempt to save those cigars, your best recourse is to put them in a vapor-locked bag and then in the freezer. Note that the live bugs and pupae will die within 24-48 hours of freezing, but to kill the eggs would require months at those temperatures.
