It’s about ideal conditions. How warm is too warm? I’m glad you asked — you will be, too. Tobacco beetles are born to eat, and when they’re born they eat….wait for it…winner, winner, tobacco dinner. They eat other things, too, but our concern for here and now is the devastation they can wreak on expensive tobaccos. The likelihood of the presence of microscopic eggs in your cigars or pipe tobaccos is relatively high. These eggs tend to hatch in humid conditions (strike one) where the temperature is at 73℉ or higher (strike two). Given the opportunity to hatch, they start eating within 6-10 days and will continue to do so for 5-10 weeks (strike three) — and you’re out. You’re out however much money you have invested in feeding your new beetle pets.
The best approach to preventing these pests is to be proactive. NEVER let your humidor reach 73℉ or higher. If it does, you may still have time to prevent eminent damage. You can seal you cigars or tobacco in airtight bags and place them in a freezer for 72 hours. This causes any unhatched eggs to crack and kills both the hatched and unhatched larvae before they can do any damage. After removing your cigars from the freezer, place them in a refrigerator for 24 hours to slow/reduce the temperature shock to your tobaccos, then you can safely return them to your humidor, which, I’m sure by now you will have been vigilant to maintain at 70…
While some people go so far as to freeze every new cigar they purchase as a measure of prevention, I have not personally ever done this — and I have never yet turned any of my tobaccos into beetle food. And to be honest, speaking as a relative expert on the cellular structure of wood and plants and the trauma they undergo in freezing conditions, I prefer instead to be hyper-vigilant about my humidor temperature. Stay cool, y’all. :)
—Danny Jackson