What a terrible waste

[hababa]

On my way back from Buenos Aires after a quick biz trip, and despite the outrageous taxes I was looking to potentially pick up some hard to find boxes.  

After some research I went to the top spot in the city and found treasures like Cohiba Millennium Jars, SLR DCs, Partagas E1 books, etc. I was already talking myself into grabbing a few of these. But after closer examination I had to pass. 

The clerk shows me a beautiful cab of SLR DCs - with beetle holes, Partagas E1 books with mold (no, not plume!)  Didn't take too many pics, but here are a few.

Despite the approx $475 cost, I almost picked up a couple boxes of LGC2s, but didn't have the time to examine every stick.

My God Man, with these treasures you'd think someone can take better care! 

 

 

 

[99call]

I wonder sometimes......do you thick poorly kept shop humidors fail, because the people that run them, don't actually smoke cigars?

To me, if I were working in a store, I couldn't resist going over the open stock to care for it, but to also potentially buy myself.

I can only assume poorly kept stocks are the negligence, of people how don't enjoy a good cigar.

I agree, such a waste. 

[btort910]

If it's true that all cigars exported outside of Cuba are frozen first, why would there be a beetle infestation?

[prodigy]

So the laborers from harvest to final product that touch the leaves and cigars all the way through the production process, most of which probably don't practice sanitary cleanliness on the same level as the rest of the world, is ok. But a clerk working in the store at the point of sale, causes you disgust by examining the boxes? Interesting point of view.

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[JohnS]

18 minutes ago, btort910 said:

If it's true that all cigars exported outside of Cuba are frozen first, why would there be a beetle infestation?

The beetle holes can occur prior to the freezing process, which subsequently kills any infestation. See below...

 

[prodigy]

See John's post below. Freezing kills unwanted germs, bacteria, and hitchhiker's.

Guess I'm going to have to start freezing my smokes before I put them in the humidor.

Freezing kills larvae and beetles, not germs, viruses and bacteria.

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[JohnS]

11 minutes ago, Weaponiz'd1 said:

See John's post below. Freezing kills unwanted germs, bacteria, and hitchhiker's.

Guess I'm going to have to start freezing my smokes before I put them in the humidor.

 

4 minutes ago, prodigy said:

Freezing kills larvae and beetles, not germs, viruses and bacteria.

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@Weaponiz'd1 I believe has taken my quote in jest, as the context of my post was not meant to mean any type of infestation, just beetles, of course. However, humour is a wonderful human quality, even if it is at my expense!   

[JR Kipling]

Here's a very old CA article where they warn about possible beetle damage above 72RH and 72F. I had heard the temperature danger came above 75F.  Anybody know what the current consensus is on this in terms of RH and temp ?

http://www.cigaraficionado.com/webfeatures/show?id=1246

 

[prodigy]

Haha so true. Back to the original post. It is a shame when such fine cigars are neglected past the point of no return. There's a series of YouTube videos about a "humidor disaster" that I've seen pop up on my recommended watch list, that I haven't actually watched yet. Looks like a guys entire collection fell victim to both mold and beetles. It's so cringe worthy just by the photo I can't bring myself to watch the videos!

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[Fugu]

Actually, I can't spot any terrible neglect from the pics. The Trini seems to have a flaw in the wrapper (sun spot) - not the fault of the shop.

[PigFish]

1 hour ago, JR Kipling said:

Here's a very old CA article where they warn about possible beetle damage above 72RH and 72F. I had heard the temperature danger came above 75F.  Anybody know what the current consensus is on this in terms of RH and temp ?

http://www.cigaraficionado.com/webfeatures/show?id=1246

 

You can find a scholarly article on Trevor's site I believe. I have had it, lost it... gotten it back... I know he has it, but I will look.

-R

[PigFish]

Here you go!

cigar-pests.pdf

[JR Kipling]

2 minutes ago, PigFish said:

Here you go!

cigar-pests.pdf

Thanks Ray !  I greatly appreciate it

[PigFish]

4 hours ago, 99call said:

I wonder sometimes......do you thick poorly kept shop humidors fail, because the people that run them, don't actually smoke cigars?

To me, if I were working in a store, I couldn't resist going over the open stock to care for it, but to also potentially buy myself.

I can only assume poorly kept stocks are the negligence, of people how don't enjoy a good cigar.

I agree, such a waste. 

... and you know, why let a cigar that is beat up just sit! Smoke it, or have a grab bag of some of these cigars to give to customers that buy a box.

Short of our host, I have found such a general lack of understanding of marketing in the tobacco business. The shop that attracts those who wish to smoke and fraternize at the shop seem to be the most successful. Shop owners getting to know people, those run by a truer tobacconist are the best equipped to survive.

Of course with the margins at high rental space markets and of course the 'authorities' coming down on smoking a cigar on site, I feel the death of the brick and mortar store is written on the wall.

Too bad! -Piggy

[99call]

2 minutes ago, PigFish said:

... and you know, why let a cigar that is beat up just sit! Smoke it, or have a grab bag of some of these cigars to give to customers that buy a box.

Short of our host, I have found such a general lack of understanding of marketing in the tobacco business. The shop that attracts those who wish to smoke and fraternize at the shop seem to be the most successful. Shop owners getting to know people, those run by a truer tobacconist are the best equipped to survive.

Of course with the margins at high rental space markets and of course the 'authorities' coming down on smoking a cigar on site, I feel the death of the brick and mortar store is written on the wall.

Too bad! -Piggy

Jackie Bonvin in Geneva is quite interesting. I like the fact he keeps his web presence lo-fi, and pushes the statement "before anything, we are a store". That said, slick web operators are also fab 

I agree, broken foot cigars, slight mould, take them out, turn the source boxes into singles boxes, and put all the effected stuff in seconds area's.

[hababa]

4 hours ago, Fugu said:

Actually, I can't spot any terrible neglect from the pics. The Trini seems to have a flaw in the wrapper (sun spot) - not the fault of the shop.

The pics posted were not taken to highlight the neglect, just took some pics of what I would have considered rare. 

An employee insisted (shop policy) on handling all the cigars, I wasn't comfortable taking pictures highlighting their neglect - hence no beetle damage pic.  

[OZCUBAN]

Hi all been into Cuban cigars for about 15 years or so ,never seen a beetle or evidence of them ever and summertime here definitely gets hot enough for the critters to make their presence known ,maybe it gets to hot ?But that aside I don't have any NC's in my collection maybe  that is a factor just saying ?

[Fugu]

14 hours ago, hababa said:

The pics posted were not taken to highlight the neglect, just took some pics of what I would have considered rare. 

An employee insisted (shop policy) on handling all the cigars, I wasn't comfortable taking pictures highlighting their neglect - hence no beetle damage pic.  

Well, that's fine Hababa, and their storage may justify criticism, but under that headline - at least a bit misleading. Terrible waste? I think that has to be put in perspective. I don't find it appropriate/fair to call out publicly a particular Buenos Aires shop based on those pics. Granted, the Party book isn't manifest to TLC with that flashing of spotty mould. But that said, didn't we just recently see and discuss similar from a well-respected (...) London merchant? There are examples from other shops, I won't drop names, but even a famous and esteemed Swiss merchant states in his publications that they would routinely go through their long-term stash to frequently "brush off" sticks. To what avail would one want to brush off sticks in a closed 50-cab on a regular basis, I ask....? Plume anyone?

So, while your example is certainly not desirable and not a sign of perfect storage, such happens. The pics presented are not at all too uncommon for almost any shop out there. An active beetle infestation remains as yet unproven, and it even is debatable whether that mould on the E1 is a problem of the shop's-storage (alone), I'd venture to say. Since those lacquered humidor casings are pretty airtight and as such can behave quite similar to tubos, being capable of retaining (a lot of) water when packaged at high humidity and developing mould when subsequently left untouched at the destination after shipping (which is what most shops do). I am the last to defend improper storage in shops but your claim appears a bit over the top to me.

As we are at it - if mouldy, then I'd way prefer the "honest" box where I can assess the quality and the extent of any potential mould appearance by myself to be able to make an educated purchasing decision, over the box that has been permanently stored too humid but regularly glossed over by shop's-staff. At the end of the day I buy from shops that practise neither of both and store sticks at proper conditions in the first place.

Just my two cts.