LGA security confiscates cigar humidor after confusing it for a pipe bomb

By David Meyer

November 9, 2020 | 4:40pm

Airport security agents at LaGuardia Airport confiscated a Dutchess County man’s homemade cigar humidor on Sunday because it “gave the impression that it could be a pipe bomb,” TSA officals said.

Agents found the nine-inch PVC pipe and two torch-style lighters in the man’s carry-on luggage. Inside the pipe was a half-smoked cigar.

Despite the ostensibly harmless nature of the item, the security agents made the man surrender it because it “could too easily be perceived by the flight crew and other passengers as a pipe bomb,” the agency said.

Replica weapons of any kind are prohibited by TSA rules.

“Our TSA officers are vigilant about looking for explosive devices, and this certainly gave the impression that it could be a pipe bomb that someone was attempting to carry onto an aircraft,” LaGuardia TSA director Robert Duffy said in a statement.

“Had he pulled it out during his flight, it could have caused a panic.”