Need another reason to give up smoking? Disgusting moment a man finds a MAGGOT inside his newly purchased packet of cigarettes
- A smoker was shocked to find a maggot-like creature in his brand new cigarettes
- There were holes in the cigarette filters that the critter had eaten through
- The insect is the larvae of a cigarette beetle, which is a common tobacco pest
A smoker was shocked to find a maggot-like creature squirming around inside a brand new packet of cigarettes he had just purchased.
Matt Jennings said he found the critter and three small black holes in the cigarette filters when he opened the sealed packet.
‘I s*** you not, man. I opened a fresh pack and not one hole in the pack and not one hole in the plastic and directly centre, as round as a pencil lead, there were holes inside the filters. And these grubs are crawling out of it,’ Mr Jennings said.
Smoker Matt Jennings was surprised to find three tiny black holes in his cigarettes that had been carved out by a cigarette beetle
He returned to the convenience store where he showed the owner who allowed him to return it for another packet, the New Zealand Herald reported.
Store owner Ranjit Singh said none of the other cigarette packets he sold were returned.
‘I’m just shocked. I’ve never seen it in the last five years. No customer has brought me back smokes,’ he said.
He was concerned about how the pest got into the packet and reached out to British American Tobacco to find out.
Store owner Ranjit Singh poses for a photo with the contaminated packet of cigarettes that was returned to his store. ‘I’m just shocked. I’ve never seen it in the last five years. No customer has brought me back smokes,’ he said
The bug was the larvae of a cigarette beetle, a common insect found in New Zealand and internationally.
Cigarette beetles are pests to tobacco, fruit and cereals and are also called tobacco beetles as well as cigar beetles.
Female beetles can lay up to 100 eggs which they inject into tobacco leaves.
Once the larvae hatch they eat through the product, leaving tiny holes in their path.
British American Tobacco New Zealand (BATNZ) has confirmed that it knew about the beetle incident.
‘Although it appears to be an isolated case, we are taking this very seriously,’ a BATNZ spokesperson said.
‘We apologise to this consumer who bought a product that isn’t of the high quality they would usually expect.’
The larvae of a cigarette beetle, a common insect found in New Zealand and internationally. Female beetles can lay up to 100 eggs which they inject into tobacco leaves. Once the larvae hatch they eat through the product, leaving tiny holes in their path.