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Did I just acquire a new pet?

theorangeman

theorangeman

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 5, 2005
Messages
3,002
I just received a box of Padron Londres today from one of the retailers that advertises on the board. I opened up the box, took the cellophane off and noticed one cigar which had a couple of very interesting markings. The first is a hole which immediately got me thinking about the possibility of beetles. The other is towards the foot of the cigar. I'm not sure what it is. Since I've never encountered a case of beetles before, I'm not sure if what I have is a case of these nasty bastards, but it certainly looks awfully suspicious.

Here are some pictures so you guys can wager in on what this might be. Fortunately I checked these cigars before putting in my humi so none of my other cigars have been exposed to them. Right now, I have them quarantined.


londres1.jpg




londres2.jpg




londres3.jpg
 
Did I just get acquire
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Your thread title has me a little confused there orange... :whistling:

Sure looks like a beetle hole to me. If I were you, I'd return the box and ask for another one. However, if you plan on smoking these fairly soon, you may not want to bother. I would not suggest putting this box or any of the cigars in this box in any or your humidors.
 
Ouch, yep not sure what else that hole could be.

Did you quarantine the whole box, or just that one? I'd seperate that one smoke from the rest of that box, then seperate the rest of that box from your main stockage as well.

That way you can watch the rest and see if they show signs over the next few weeks.

Maybe it's just that one and maybe you caught it on the first 'gar.

But the provider still has some questions to answer.
 
It might be the pic but this looks almost too circular to be a bug hole, more like a puncture. JMO though so I'd go with what the Cat said and put them aside and fire 'em up.
 
I've decided that it doesn't make sense for me to take a chance on these and I will just return them even though I agree with AVB in that it sort of looks like it might just be a puncture hole. It just isn't worth taking the risk! The vendor that I bought them from seems to have a good track record so I doubt there will be any issue.

The smokes have been quarantined (the whole box), so none of my other smokes have been put at risk, which is a relief! I'm glad that I've gotten into a habit of inspecting each and every cigar before it goes into my humi. That way I can prevent a potential problem from occuring.
 
Brickhouse said:
Did you do the Ginseng patented "Turd Tap"? Any results?
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I assume the "Turd Tap" is just tapping the cigar to see what comes out of the whole? If that's Ginseng's patented techniqe, then I just tried it. Take a look at what came out of the hole (are those black specs beetle shit?):



londres4.jpg
 
theorangeman said:
Brickhouse said:
Did you do the Ginseng patented "Turd Tap"? Any results?
Click to expand...


I assume the "Turd Tap" is just tapping the cigar to see what comes out of the whole? If that's Ginseng's patented techniqe, then I just tried it. Take a look at what came out of the hole (are those black specs beetle shit?):



londres4.jpg
Click to expand...

The whole WHAT? The whole hole, the whole foot? ???

Looks like beetle droppings to me, wherever they came from.

Nice photos. How are you able to get such clear, close-up shots?
 
Cat, I've got a grate cameera that takees wundurful picteres cloze up. ;)

Seriously though, I have a macro mode that enables me to take terrific quality close-ups. It does a great job, as long as there is enough light. I actually took these pictures outside because they get a little fuzzy when there isn't a good bit of light.
 
Those are some nice pictures...
I believe that you took a right decision... For the money you are paying you expect these to be without a zoo in 'em
 
theorangeman said:
Cat, I've got a grate cameera that takees wundurful picteres cloze up. ;)

Seriously though, I have a macro mode that enables me to take terrific quality close-ups. It does a great job, as long as there is enough light. I actually took these pictures outside because they get a little fuzzy when there isn't a good bit of light.
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LMFAO! :laugh:

What kind of camera is it and do you have any idea what a comparable camera like that costs these days?
 
Beetles.

The slightly elongated grains are beetle crap the rest would most likely be tobacco powder from peripheral damage. FWIF, the few beetle holes I've seen are nice and circular.

The Canon A430 has a nice super-macro (1X) mode and only costs about $175.

Wilkey
 
WOW! Thanks Wilkey! :thumbs: Prices on digital cameras sure are nice these days! I was looking at them a couple of years ago and it seemed that anything that was a "decent" camera cost well over $400.00. Maybe it's time for me to get a good one. I have a cheapie that I got through some internet special a couple of years ago for something like $75.00 that is barely worth using. :(
 
coventrycat86 said:
WOW! Thanks Wilkey! :thumbs: Prices on digital cameras sure are nice these days! I was looking at them a couple of years ago and it seemed that anything that was a "decent" camera cost well over $400.00. Maybe it's time for me to get a good one. I have a cheapie that I got through some internet special a couple of years ago for something like $75.00 that is barely worth using. :(
Click to expand...

My pleasure. BTW, here's a shot I took of a Bolivar band. I could get it to focus within one inch of the band. It is unretouched aside from resizing for the web.

BoliBandUpClose01.jpg


Wilkey
 
Hey Cat - my camera is a Nikon Coolpix 4200. I bought it about a year and a half a ago so they obviously have new models now. However, it's crazy how quickly the prices come down after you buy these electronic devices. You can find a Coolpix 4200 now for about $130 whereas my wife and I spent (I believe) about $300 for it and that was after a good rebate.

On another note, good to know that I was taking pictures and sifting through beetle crap today. Now I'm off to enjoy a Don Pepin Blue Label Torpedo while watching a great boxing match on HBO tonight. :thumbs:

Ginseng... you damn show off! :whistling:
 
Oh, and for comparison, here's a scan of the same area of the same band done with an Epson 3490 at 3,200 dpi. The two techniques sort of compliment each other.

BoliBandUpClose02.jpg


Wilkey
 
I have a Canon PowerShot A80. I think it won many tests in magazines over here, and for good reason. Great deal and takes nice closeups. Pics I've taken of cigars I've taken so that I hold the camera in one hand and the cigar in the other, so getting them steady is kind of hard :p I haven't bothered to develop a steadier technique. Do you guys have any easy tricks for getting good steady pics up close? When I succeed the pictures are really clear.
 
My wife got one of those fancy Canon Digital Rebels two years ago, over a grand once we bought external flash, case, extra mamory etc. etc. I don't think it will focus at an inch though but it does take great pics and most importantly.....she's happy with it. :thumbs:
 
For taking steady pics, I use two techniques.

1. Tripod
2. hold the item in your fingers and let the back of your holding thumb make contact with the body of the lens, thus physically linking them. That's how I took the Boli pic above.

I finally read the Canon manual and it will focus as close as 1 cm in supermacro mode.

Wilkey
 
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