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Keeping Your Cigars
Safe.
If you smoke cigars and keep them in a humidor, you probably feel
that they are pretty safe. You adjust the humidity, rotate your
cigars regularly, and add additional fluids when needed. However,
there are times when many cigar aficionados and have been shocked,
amazed, and even repulsed when they find that there are Lasioderma
Serricorne or also known as tobacco beetles that have infested
their prized cigars. Inside the humidor and everything, the
beetles do not care if they are dollar cigars from a drugstore or
two hundred dollar cigars that have been imported. They will feast
on either.
If you have not heard of tobacco beetles before and where they
come from, they are beetles that are found in any and every
country where tobacco is grown and produced. Tobacco beetles
actually feed on any type of tobacco plant and they can infest
their leaves before they are even processed. These tobacco beetles
actually do much better in hot climates and in the warmer
countries such as the Caribbean which is also where most of the
world’s tobacco is produced. These tobacco beetles lay their
larvas that are small, white, and around 4 mm long in the leaves.
Then when these larva hatch, they produce moths that are very
hungry and proceed to eat all the way through the tobacco leaves.
Unfortunately, the tobacco beetle can survive the process of
fermentation and the production that the tobacco leaves all go
through prior to becoming cigars. The tobacco beetle is also
highly resistant to pest sprays and gases used on most crops, so
even though all countries that grown and produce tobacco have
tried to rid their crops of these pests, the beetles are resistant
and nothing seems to prove fatal.
Then if the tobacco beetles have survived through the entire
process and have made their way into the finished product, someone
opening a box of their cigars may find that their cigars have been
completely eaten through. You can tell if your box of cigars has
been infected by the very small presence of puncture holes all
over the wrapper. Your cigars themselves will look like swiss
cheese when the tobacco beetles are done with them.
Now, if you do find out that your cigars are infested with tobacco
beetles there has been some research that has shown that
microwaving your cigars may be the best way to get rid of the
tobacco beetles larva. However, the cigars that already have holes
in them just get rid of. There is no saving them now, so do not
microwave those, dispose of them. With the remaining cigars,
microwave them together, not individually, for about three
minutes. Now that they are warmed up, immediately place them in
the freezer for no less than 24 hours. After 24 hours remove them
and let them thaw to remove temperature, then once thawed place
them in your humidor. Utilizing this treatment has proven
effective in removing the presence of tobacco beetles. You will
still want to examine your cigars before smoking them to make sure
there are no holes, if there are none than you know for sure that
it is safe to smoke.
Article Source:
http://www.cigarmaven.com |
