Lasioderma serricorne (F.) (Coleoptera: Anobiidae) is the most serious pest in stored tobacco on the Cape Verde islands. The development of appropriate sampling plans is needed for cost-effective control of stored-product insect pests. Sequential sampling plans for classifying pest status help the manager to decide whether or not to implement control measures, with a minimum risk of error using few sampling units. From September 1998 to February 2001, a sampling plan, using sex pheromone traps, was implemented in the cigarette factory in Cape Verde, to assist management decision-making based on an empirical threshold of 10 insects/week/trap and to make inferences about the pest population, such as its density and spatial pattern. From the results obtained a sequential sampling plan was developed for classifying the pest status of L. serricorne based on complete counts from insects caught in the pheromone traps. Two sequential sampling techniques were used: the sequential probability ratio test (SPRT), as the adult population followed the binomial negative distribution, and Iwao's confidence interval method. It was shown that, using SPRT or Iwao's methods, managers can make decisions using six and 13 traps, respectively, with a minimum risk of incorrect assessment.