The scientific name for the tobacco beetle is Lasioderma serricorne, but it’s earned names like tobacco beetle and cigar beetle for reasons beyond easier pronunciation. These pesky little critters can infest all manner of dry goods, but are known as a scourge of tobacco fields. Worse yet, they can make their way from the fields into your cigars and cigarettes. But fear not, Best Cigar Prices is here to help you identify these pests and take the necessary steps to protect your humidor.

Identifying Tobacco Beetles

If you are picturing a big horned beetle popping out of your cigar like that creature in Alien, allow us to put your mind at ease. These beetles are small, measuring only two or three millimeters in length. That being said, they can still do plenty of damage, so if you see this tiny brown insect anywhere in your humidor you need to act fast.

Saving Cigars from Tobacco Beetles

It is important to remember that tobacco beetles are a tropical species. Their larvae won’t even hatch at temperatures below 59 degrees Fahrenheit. Of course, that doesn’t mean cigar smokers living in colder climates are off the hook. If you are keeping your cigars in an ideal climate for maintaining freshness (70 degrees Fahrenheit with 70% humidity), you are also cultivating the ideal climate for these beetles. It doesn’t matter if you happen to live in Florida or Alaska.

However, this need for warmth is also the tobacco beetle’s weakness. If you’re sure you’ve found a tobacco beetle among your cigar collection, take the following steps immediately:

• Empty your humidor, placing each cigar in its own plastic bag that zips closed (no sandwich bags).
• After ensuring each bag it tightly closed, place all of the bags in your freezer.
• Clean out your humidor carefully, making sure there are no beetles, eggs, or larvae.
• After the cigars have been in the freezer for 72 hours, move all of the bags to your fridge.
• After another 24 hours, the cigars can be moved from the fridge back to your humidor.

A Note on Freezing Cigars

Reading our above solution to eliminating tobacco beetles may have caused some connoisseurs to recoil. We know that freezing cigars, especially valuable ones, isn’t something most people want to do. To be clear: we don’t recommend storing your cigars in a freezer in most instances. In this one, however, the freezer is the lesser of two evils.