Weeeee found a pin hole.

[Wurm]

I noticed smoke coming out of a hole in the side of a cigar I lit up. Was it there when I received the cigar last week? No idea. But I'm not taking any chances.

Maybe you should smoke both those cigars I sent you as soon as you get them Loren, better safe than sorry. In fact it was in the RP 1990 Corona you sent me so you might want to check your humidor as well.

3 days should do the trick, don't you guys think? I already wiped my humidor down.

BTW temp was 69°f and RH was 65%

 

[Mr Peat]

Like I said in PM. I go through my cigars once a week just to look at them. Some RP cigars have natural holes in the wrapper. He doesnt make them, General does. And their quality control is absolutely jack crap. They pass anything through. :laugh: I hadnt put anything new in my humidor till last friday. Its been over 2 months lapse since a new stick in this humidor so you know.

I've had those cigars since Sept 10th in my humidor and havent had a single problem whatsoever. A tobacco beetle will drill a perfect circle into the wrap. I've seen them in cigar shops and a cigar we had special ordered back in 2000, the Puros Indios "The Chief." My friend never got to smoke his because the first 2 had tobacco beetles and the owner of the shop on the third attempt said just to pick something out of the store of equal value at the time.

 

[Wurm]

I didn't find any beetles, and it could very well be due to crappy QC, but its the first hole in a cigar I've ever had (or at the least the first one I've noticed) in 20 years of smoking... so call me Paranoid lol

 

[Mr Peat]

Ok..Paranoid then. I've had plenty of cigars with natural wholes in the wrapper. In my near 10 years of smoking, never had a beetle myself. yes, all tobacco has them and only hatch if the conditions is right. Just did a play by play inspection of my cigars and they are fine. That was alot of sticks to look at. :laugh:

But I know the ones you sent me are not going.

Good thing I didnt sent you a Puro then. :thumbs:

 

[Wurm]

Good thing I didnt sent you a Puro then. :thumbs:

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Yeah yeah I know the proper use of the word Puro lol. And my wife was WTF are you doing while I was making room in the freezer. Good thing I had some really big Ziplock freezer bags left

 

[Mr Peat]

Like I said..You should have taken a sewing needle first to see if it was an actual hole. Rocky Patel's have a nasty habit of having comsetic flaws. I've smoked a ton of the Vintages and have seen many errors in them but not because of him, but General Cigars pumping out an average 500+ cigars per roller a day.

Really to be honest...You should have PM'ed me first if it was in fact the cigar i sent you before posting such a thread. Instead, you post and it comes across being pretty much a blast at me.

http://www.cgarsltd.co.uk/document.aspx?id=tobaccobeetle.htm

They show a nice picture of this very thing and wrote a nice article about it as well. I hope that link is acceptable.

 

[Ginseng]

I've had cigars that have leaked smoke before. Quite sure that it has been due to natural or processing flaws in the wrapper. After all, it's a leaf, not a highly-engineered composite material (like the synthetic wrappers on El Productos ) Anyway, no traces of beetles or mites in my smokes.

Wilkey

 

[Mr Peat]

I know Ginseng. Over half of the RP Vintage 1990 Petit Coronas I have have some flaw or another. One of them has a natural looking cap on it. I'm keeping that one since I have no idea how it passed the inspection. I gave one to a friend that had the cap on it half arsed today and you can see the gum/glue stuff they use on the cigar. i had a 1990 Vintage Robusto last night that I touched the cap and it fell off.

They are a great smoke, just the lack of quality control allows alot of flawed sticks. Most of these should be Seconds and now I am down to just 5 left of them. I will miss them and I dont see me buying another box like these again. :laugh:

 

[Wurm]

In no way was that a slam against you. It was nothing but a heads up from one CPer to another.

 

[Jeffro600]

Its nothing to freak out over...just yet. If your finding black, sand like substance in your cellephane or in the bottom of your humidor....or more that one hole, then its time to start worrying...

On that note though...i now ALWAYS freeze incomings for at least 3 days after the last beatle outbreak i had about a month or so ago. Some say it doesnt do anything...but im not taking any more chances(after suffering almost 300 dollars loss in high end smokes). My humidor that had nothing but previously frozen cigars was not affected by beatles...the super premium humidor on the other hand that were not frozen...

 

[Wurm]

I'm going to freeze all incoming smokes from now on as well...

too much money invested even in a modest selection like mine to do otherwise.

 

[dvickery]

before 2002 i had seen beetle damage on at least a few cigars every time i returned from cuba.since 2002 i have seen none apon returning home .

i freeze everything soon after i get home anyways.had a beetle outbreak in '01...lost 6 boli cg's(3 i made into robustos and 3 were write off's) , a monty#4 and a fonseca cosaco...i believe it was a cheap lesson...now i freeze.

derrek

 

[Mr Peat]

I tried that once with freezing some sticks. They turned out horribly wrong. I ordered a 50 pack of Punch Rothchild Maduro/Maduro and had one with what I thought was a weevil. So we froze them. It turned out it was nothing but a little flaw in the wrapper. But the cigars didnt taste the same after. :laugh:

Still no cigars showing up yet. Maybe today. :whistling:

 

[Wurm]

How did you freeze them? All cigars from the major companies (CI, JR, ect.) are frozen after arrival. So if you made sure no freezer moisture got into the cigars it shouldn't have effected the taste at all. Me, I triple bagged them in Freezer-bags before putting them in the freezer.

 

[Jeffro600]

But the cigars didnt taste the same after. :laugh:

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You did some terrably wrong then. You need to seal, real seal and seal them again in a ziploc or some other air tight container. I put mine into small tupper ware containers and then stick them inside foodsaver bags and vaccuum seal them. Pop them in the fridge overnight, then into the freezer for 3 days, back into the fridge overnight then stabilize them at room temp for at least 12 hours before opening the package and putting them back to rest in the humidor.

Never had taste affected by using that method.

 

[Ginseng]

I find that plastic does not offer enough protection. I use two layers of plastic and two layers of foil and a plastic bag on top of that.

1 day in veggie crisper
3-4 days in freezer
1 day in veggie crisper
1 day out on the table top but still wrapped up

Sticks have never suffered any taste damage. The point is to use an absolute vapor barrier like heavy foil.

Wilkey

 

[indyrob]

I don't know what could alter the taste of a cigar so much after it's been in a freezer. Try sticking in a box of Arm & Hammer in the freezer. Keep one in there from now on too...you wouldn't want a repeat of that Punch fiasco.

I stick all my sticks in the freezer that arrive by ground. If it's been overnighted, I am a little bit more at ease.


You have no idea what kind of temp. zones those sticks have hit in the 3-14 days it took to get to your door.

 

[Pyre]

I may have to start freezing my new arrivals also. You all make good points.

 

[Wurm]

I don't know what could alter the taste of a cigar so much after it's been in a freezer. Try sticking in a box of Arm & Hammer in the freezer. Keep one in there from now on too...you wouldn't want a repeat of that Punch fiasco.

I stick all my sticks in the freezer that arrive by ground. If it's been overnighted, I am a little bit more at ease.


You have no idea what kind of temp. zones those sticks have hit in the 3-14 days it took to get to your door.

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Arm & Hammer Baby! :thumbs: Been using it since I was a kid... works great to brush your teeth with too.