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April 21, 2009
Nasty, Rotten, Cigar Killing Creatures!
No, this has nothing to do with the lying political class discussed in the last post. Some parallels can be made with the topic of today, but I’ll let you make those connections.
It’s April 21 in northeast Wisconsin and we have an inch of snow on the ground. The threat of a late snow chased me down to Ft. Myers two weeks ago for a brief reprieve. I should have stayed longer. Hindsight is always 20/20.
As I was packing to escape the nine months of winter here in Wisconsin, there were only a couple items of necessity: good reading material and good cigars. Everything else I could buy or borrow upon arrival.
Let’s see, gone for ten days, two sticks a day, twenty cigars…no, make that 25. The book, Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. The book is about a bunch of government parasites known as the “looters” who seek to consume the hard-earned wealth of the “producers”. The “looters” zero in on their prizes and begin to munch away at the bounty of the productive class. I know, a preposterous premise for a novel.
Strolling the sunny beaches of Sanibel Island on day one could not have been better. What’s there not to like about 80 degrees and sunny skies, especially when Green Bay is being hit with their eighty-sixth snow storm of the winter! Day two was much of the same with the addition of a few single barrel beverages courtesy of my host.
On day three, after a wonderful breakfast of eggs, grits, smoked ham, and fresh picked fruit, I decided to light up early. I opened up my travel humidor and selected my smoke. Something was wrong.
I saw a white dot on the side of the cigar I had selected, and inside the wrapper. I thought it moved. I touched it, it slithered away. Huh? Holes in my cigar? How did some worm get into my stash? I understand the worm wanting a free meal at my expense, but where did it come from? Were the rest of my cigars infected with these little “looters”?
Off to the computer to do some research. Tobacco Beetles! Pernicious munching critters attacking my investment in leisure time. I spent ten bucks for that cigar and didn’t appreciate the idea of puffing smoldering worm goo. So, what’s the skinny on these intrusive creatures?
Seems I am not alone in my experience. I searched the web for “cigar beetles” and got 299,000 results. Typed in “tobacco beetles” and got 1,250,000 results in .25 seconds. Now I was really curious. I’ve been smoking cigars for a decade and never seen one of these bugs. Why now.
Cigar Aficionado says a cigar beetle “eats like a pig, breeds like a bunny, lives fast and dies young. It worships tobacco and heat. It's cosmopolitan. It's Lasioderma serricorne, better known as the tobacco beetle, and it loves nothing more than to hatch in your humidor and feast on your cigars.” Apparently a scourge to manufacturers worldwide, these bugs can gobble up a sizable investment in the warehouse or your humidor.
So what to do about them? Buy from a reputable source. This cigar was picked up on a recommendation from friend. Brand and store to remain nameless. Tobacconists of care will freeze any at-risk stock entering their store. This kills any eggs that may have found their way onto rolled leaf and puts an instant end to the looters of tobacco leaf.
So what about my current stock at home? Same remedy works well. Put the cigars into an airtight zip-lock bag and freeze them for a few days. Then to the fridge for a few days, then back to the humidor. Problem solved, minus the previously munched cigars.
Interested in knowing more, do a quick search like I did. There’s a lot out there.
And pick up a copy of Atlas Shrugged. It was written in the 1950’s and rings true today. The parallels are ominous.
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