Tobacco beetles, also known as cigar or cigarette beetles, are a tiny but tough enemy for cigar collectors. The first sign of trouble may be a tiny pin hole in the outer leaf of one of your prized cigars, but by the time the beetle has bored through to the outside, he has lived his entire life cycle. Along the way, he and his hundreds of siblings have done hidden damage throughout your humidor, and probably prepared the next generation to do even more damage.

Vigilant, the cigar-storage experts, wants you to know how these infestations start, how to control them, and how to prevent future outbreaks in your humidor.

The Short, Destructive Life of a Tobacco Beetle

Cigars damaged by tobacco beetles

These beetles (Latin name Lasioderma serricorne) in their adult stage are less than one-tenth of an inch long. A reddish brown color, they appear hairy and hunch-backed, with a large head tucked down into the abdomen. One little beetle can’t do a lot of damage, but these little guys travel in the hundreds and reproduce large numbers of tiny but destructive offspring.

Female beetles, once inside the humidor, invade the cigar through open ends or yes, right through cellophane wrappers. They lay eggs inside the finest cigars – they are very good at knowing which are the best in your collection – and then burrow out to the outer layers, creating tiny pinholes as they emerge. The eggs are not visible without a magnifying glass, but the most destructive stage begins when the eggs hatch. The voracious larvae eat all the tobacco they can find before entering a comfy cocoon for two weeks or so, the only time the creature is not destructive. Adults emerge and the burrowing begins again. The entire life cycle is a mere ten weeks.

You may not know your humidor has been invaded, but a damaged cigar will have a sticky draw and a musty taste. The beetles often leave a reddish dust on the insides of the humidor, but the real telltale sign is pin holes in the outer leaves.

How to Rid Your Cigar Humidor of Tobacco Beetles

There is some disagreement among experts about how to kick the pests out without damaging the humidor. Saving the cigars that have not been infested is tricky, too. Most experts agree that the freezer is the safest place to restore the undamaged cigars. The cold temperatures will kill all stages of the beetles’ life cycle, if you follow specific instructions. Some say it takes six days to be sure; others contend that three days in the freezer is time enough and won’t hurt the cigars.

Inspect the cigars for damage, including misshapen or “beat-up” looking cigars, those with holes in the outer wrappers, or ones that have live beetles visible in the folds or ends. Destroy those, removing them completely from the house. Do not discard them anywhere near the kitchen. Tobacco beetles have been known to camp out in flour and spice containers, and in paprika they are not even visible!

Once the damaged stock is out, take the rest of the cigars and put them in groups of 3 or 4 into plastic freezer bags. Put them into the freezer at the coldest setting. After two days, it’s safe to increase the freezer temperature one setting, but keep the cigars there for another two days to be sure all eggs are destroyed. Don’t thaw them at room temperature, but place them in the refrigerator for 24 hours before putting them back in the humidor.

Meanwhile, the humidor will have to be treated. Thoroughly dust the inside with a dusting cloth, then wipe all the interior surfaces with a weak solution of ammonia and water. Do not use a pesticide; it will taint the cigars. Ammonia doesn’t seem to affect the cigars, and will kill any beetles that may have escaped notice. Inspect it closely with a flashlight before replacing your prized cigars back into the humidor.

Preventing Outbreaks in Your Humidor

Tobacco beetles hate the cold. They cannot survive at temperatures below 70 degrees F. The reason the bugs hatched in your humidor is simple: It got too warm and cozy in there. Tobacco beetle eggs will not hatch at lower temperatures.

Prevention of beetle outbreaks is fairly easy if you live in colder climes. Store the humidor in a cool place and keep a watch on the temperature inside the cabinet or box. In warmer environments, it may be necessary to invest in a temperature-controlled cabinet. If both humidity and temperature are controlled consistently, the cigars will be safe from these little red monsters and the damage they inflict. You’ll have worry-free cigar storage, and these pests won’t bug you anymore.

Wineries are trading the romance of the “pop” for more practical screw caps

Wineries in Spain are forbidden by law to close their bottles with anything but natural cork. Elsewhere, wineries from New Zealand to California are debating the relative merits of plastic corks, natural corks and screw caps. As specialists in long-term wine storage, we at Vigilant Wine Cellars wanted to explore the implications of giving up on cork.

What’s Wrong with a Cork?
For hundreds of years or more, corks have been used to seal wine bottles. It’s a tradition. But it is estimated that from 5 to 7% of stored wines are spoiled because of a type of mold that grows on cork. More specifically, the wine is spoiled by a dank, musty-smelling chemical called TCA that is a by-product of the mold. TCA simply spoils the taste of the wine. This condition is called “cork taint,” and the bottle is considered “corked.”

TCA is an extremely potent chemical, and tiny amounts can ruin a bottle of wine. Some say that 10 billion bottles of wine could be ruined by just one ounce of TCA. As the compound forms, it first takes away the aroma and flavor of the wine, then imparts its own unpleasant properties to the bottle. Experienced wine tasters can detect TCA in concentrations of 1-2 parts per trillion. At 10 parts per trillion, all wine drinkers will notice that the wine smells like a wet dog wearing moldy newspapers. It will taste even worse.

Another potential problem with corks is that they occasionally “fail” and let too much air into the bottle over time. For short-term storage, this is not a disaster, and may even impart a pleasant flavor to the wine. In long term storage, this air in the bottle can create vinegar if there is a certain type of bacteria present. It takes many months of exposure to air before the wine actually tastes like vinegar, but the presence of acetic acid does indicate that the wine is spoiled. Find a more complete explanation here: http://bythetun.blogspot.com/2011/06/what-really-makes-wine-turn-into.html

So why do wineries still use cork? With such a high percentage of spoilage, it would seem that an alternate form of closure is needed. But corking wine is a very old tradition, and that may be what keeps corks in wine bottles. Also in its favor, cork is a renewable and biodegradable material, unlike plastic or metal.

One other factor may be in play: the romance of the cork. Who doesn’t love the pop of the wine cork? The perception has been that fine wines are corked and inexpensive wines use synthetic corks or screw tops. This may be changing.

Plastic Wine Corks
In order to alleviate the problem of cork taint, synthetic cork closures were adopted by some bottlers. The new “plastic” corks are still used by some vintners, but they are not the perfect solution. In fact, they are so sticky, removal from the bottle is difficult and removal from standard corkscrews almost impossible. Wine spoilage is also a problem with plastic corks because they lose elasticity over time, and let in too much air. This causes oxidation of the wine, and often results in formation of acetic acid as described above. In general, the plastic corks decrease the shelf life and may spoil wines that are meant to age longer. The plastic alternative has been a disappointment.

Changing Tradition: Wineries Go to Screw Tops
A 30-month study conducted by Hogue Cellars, a winery in the Columbia Valley region of Washington State, compared synthetic cork, natural cork and a type of screw top called a “Stelvin” cap. Their findings suggest that the screw caps are superior closures to either of the alternatives. Granted, Hogue Cellars is fanatical about the merits of screw caps.

Their research spans nearly ten years and involves two different studies. The latest, conducted from 2004-2010, compared wine closures for three different types of wine and concluded that certain screw caps were as good as or better than natural cork in preserving and aging wine. If these closures are as good as cork, and do not run the risk of cork taint, it seems clear that screw caps should be the preferred method of bottling wine. Read more about their study here.

Hogue Cellars completed the conversion of their entire wine production to a special type of plastic-lined screw cap in 2009. New Zealand wineries are converting to screw caps, and many wineries in Australia have already converted. Some U.S. wineries are joining the movement to screw caps as well. Bonny Doon, a California winery, gave up on cork starting in 2002 and now uses strictly screw cap closures. Benton-Lane winery in Willamette Valley, Oregon, issued this statement as part of “screw cap education” on their website:

“In short, inserting a piece of tree bark into the neck of the bottle is simply no longer the best option available to Benton-Lane, or the wine industry in general, for sealing wines.”

The Future of Wine Closure
The industry as a whole has not been quick to adopt the screw cap, and some winemakers still insist that cork is best for long-term storage because of the aging properties imparted to the wine through the cork. Some adamantly believe that only genuine cork lets wines breathe and age properly inside the bottle.

At Vigilant Wine Cellars, we design and build custom wine storage solutions for wine connoisseurs. Our wine storage products have not changed despite a slow change over to screw capped bottles. This is because screw capped bottles can be stored in any position. The most important factors for long term storage are light and temperature, with humidity also playing a role if the bottle is corked. We believe the change to screw caps will be slow, and in the case of some wineries, may never happen. After all, tradition – and romance – are part of the wine culture, and many wine drinkers are not ready to give up the “pop.”

W. Curtis Draper, third oldest tobacconist in the U.S., made the best of a bad situation when they had to move out of the DC location where they had done business for 20 years. Their new location, next to the White House gift shop, is twice as spacious as the old store, and features Vigilant Woodworks’ custom-designed mahogany millwork and cigar display cases – along with a walk-in cigar humidor.

Superior expertise in fine cabinetry and cigar storage made Vigilant Woodworks a natural choice to manufacture the new store’s interior displays, counters, and cigar storage solutions. Vigilant’s designers worked with owner Matt Krimm and D.C.-based project designer and architect, Elizabeth Hafner from Collective Architecture, to create an impressive entrance and shopping space designed to be both inviting and comfortable.

Wood-and-glass display cabinets, constructed of Moabi mahogany, give the shop a “gentleman’s store” appearance. Spanish cedar shelving displays the desktop humidors and other premium cigar and pipe products. The cabinets are humidified with custom Guardian electronic humidification systems, and there is a walk-in humidor for storage of the extensive fine cigar collection. Stylish seating areas were added to accommodate up to ten shoppers, a luxury they couldn’t have in the smaller store.

Vigilant’s custom cabinetry and Spanish cedar shelving make an attractive corner display.

W. Curtis Draper Tobacconist was founded in 1887 by William Curtis Draper. It is the oldest full service tobacconist in the District of Columbia and the third oldest in the United States. Draper offers a full array of cigars, pipes, pipe tobacco, and smoking accessories to a national clientele.

The new Draper’s store has a “gentleman’s store” ambience.

In the eastern Pennsylvania town of Bethlehem, Vigilant Woodworks created this picture-perfect custom wine cellar in a sprawling, western-ranch style home. The wood and stone accents used throughout the house were integrated into the spacious wine cellar, including a slightly vaulted wooden ceiling and custom stonework on the walls and columns.

Stemware storage and single-bottle displays are featured in these racks constructed against a rustic brick wall.

The wine cellar has a capacity of 2600 bottles in a variety of racks and displays, including individual bottle storage for different bottle sizes, high reveal and vertical bottle displays, diamond bins and hanging stemware storage. Custom radius crown and floor moldings complete the picture.  There is a full-height ladder system for easy access to the higher storage areas. Because this unique wine cellar has viewing windows on three sides, some of the angled bottle displays were designed to show labels to the inside and outside of the wine room. The mahogany French-style entrance doors feature two 30” sidelights.

French-style entrance doors with 30” sidelights let daylight into the interior. This wine cellar has viewing windows on three sides.

The centerpiece of this wine cellar is a 32” highly distressed solid mahogany and glass Tuscan table with stemware storage. The table and all the other wooden racks and displays were finished in Vigilant’s Shaker Maple stain, giving the room a warm, rich glow. The result is an impressive showcase for the homeowners’ admitted passions: wine and the West.

The mahogany and glass Tuscan table has built-in stemware storage. The table and racks are finished in Vigilant’s Shaker Maple stain.

A full-height ladder system allows access to the taller racks and displays.

(Designed and manufactured in the USA by Vigilant Woodworks; installed by Gallagher Custom Wine Cellars.)

Here are the refrigerated wine cabinets from last week’s post installed in their new home in Florida! Thanks again to Bill Parks of Best Cellar Wine Designs in Florida for sending along this photo.