Freezing

[gettysburgfreak]

With my first box purchasing arriving in the next week, I thought this would be a good time to discuss the freezing of cigars. The freezing of cigars is designed to eliminate those pesky tobacco beetles which can decimate entire cigar collections. Since I have only done this once, I would like those with more experience to comment. What I did was put my cigars in two zip lock bags, make sure most of the air was out and put in the freezer for three days. I then took out the cigars, let them sit out at room temperature for a few hours and then put back into my humidor.

Wise choice.

Freezing is like insurance. You hope you never need it, but you shouldn't be without it.

I would never freeze my cigars, ever. Just my

[dunng]

1 Day in the Fridge
3 Days in the Freezer
1 Day in the Fridge
2 Days in Humi (Still Sealed)
Open in Humi...

[BroncoHorvath]

Originally Posted by dunng

1 Day in the Fridge
3 Days in the Freezer
1 Day in the Fridge
2 Days in Humi (Still Sealed)
Open in Humi...

That's exactly what I do, and I've never had issues...since 1996

[groogs]

Originally Posted by dunng

1 Day in the Fridge
3 Days in the Freezer
1 Day in the Fridge
2 Days in Humi (Still Sealed)
Open in Humi...

That is the way I do it, better safe then sorry.

[MTB996]

I do not freeze my stash, but I found this in my non-Vino desktop humidor a few weeks back.





I keep my boxes in the vinotemp at 68F, so my real risk is just my desktops with singles.

[acruce]

Originally Posted by dunng

1 Day in the Fridge
3 Days in the Freezer
1 Day in the Fridge
2 Days in Humi (Still Sealed)
Open in Humi...

what if you don't have room in humi to leave sealed?? will it hurt to just open and put them in the humi?

[dunng]

Originally Posted by acruce

what if you don't have room in humi to leave sealed?? will it hurt to just open and put them in the humi?

I've done that as well in the past, you should be good...

[jechelman]

Originally Posted by mrreindeer

I would never freeze my cigars, ever. Just my

To each his own but here is what can happen if you don't freeze.

[dunng]

All credit goes to Moki for the pics...

[white_s2k]

I hate seeing those pics!

I have decided not to freeze my cigars, since im constantly looking through my humidor.

[mash]

Originally Posted by dunng

All credit goes to Moki for the pics...

That middle picture, that's ganja right? That must make the beetles even hungrier.
I'm with the group that don't freeze, did it once with half my sticks and they tasted flat, never came back.

Wow, that beetle looks amazingly a lot like these little beetles that my parents had a problem with proliferating in their cereals. They were very persistent and would do crazy things like chew neat little holes right through aluminized plastic pouches! Similar to the cigar treatment, freezing does kill them (they threw out the infested food though).


Not to hijack this thread, but I've been having a persistent problem with what I don't think are beetles... unless they are *extremely* young beetles, and it's related to the topic of freezing. I have a little box of Davidoff cigarillos that I noticed had very tiny white bugs crawling in it one day. Not very many, just a few in one corner over a couple of the sticks. This followed a problem I had with over-humidifying them temporarily. I froze the box for almost a week, and now a few weeks later I find them again.

Both times I checked to see if they had spread outside that box to anywhere else, and they hadn't. For lack of a better idea I put the box back in the freezer a few days ago, where it is right now.

I might do a few freeze/thaw cycles and see if that kills them, but does anyone know what these critters are and how to kill them? They are almost microscopic in size, like little white/cream coloured grains of fine sand or salt that move. I can't even make out what shape they are, they're so small, and I haven't seen any larger ones or even holes in the cigars.

Does wiping it down with alcohol (like cheap vodka) kill insect eggs?

After having an outbreak of those dreaded little creatures that took out some nice sticks a couple years ago, I freeze all of my smokes. Knock on wood, haven't had an outbreak since.

[Don Fernando]

I can put all the cigars on my balcony now to freeze them, brrrrrr, it's cold outside.

I personally will not freeze my cigars unless I receive an order from a retailor I have not done business with before ( haven't done that in years ) and for the most part I do my business with about 4 different places and all very reputable and never had a problem. I do buy cigars when the wife and I travel but I will smoke them before the week is done so if there are beetles or larvae inside of them they go up in smoke.

Having seen some of the pics and the devastation makes my head spin. I did have this problem about 7 years ago when I bought cigars outside of the USA and brought them home and put them into my humi,,,and lo and behold I started seeing the holes in my cigars. Total panic because I had some great sticks,,,was able to save them but I never wanted to go thru that experience again.

[RGD.]

Just a few notes for thought -

Freezing cigars is just insurance - sometimes you need it, sometimes you don't.

The actual time in the freezer depends on how cold your freezer actual gets. So just sticking them in a freezer for three days does not guarantee anything. You might need 7 days or you might only need 2.

The time in the refrigerator: it's a leaf - once it's cold it's cold - being in the frig for 24 hours does not make it any colder than after 6. In addition - what exactly is the purpose? To slowly bring the temp down? It's not like they are going to flash freeze once placed in the freezer.

Just because you froze your cigars does not mean you won't get beetles in those same smokes - they are certainly susceptible to infestation again, just not from eggs laid in them.

You don't want your cigars frozen? Too bad and too late. Even money says they were already frozen either at the factory or in storage. Sorry.

You don't want to freeze because you can taste a difference? Hold on - have to stop laughing so I can finish typing. Okay - I will send three cigars to anyone and dare that person to tell me which ones were frozen. I have done this before and no one could tell with certainty. In addition - see the note before this one - so yeah, too late.

And while I'm thinking about it - two zip lock bags? Why? Nothing is trying to get in nor out. Your enemy during freezing is the air-moisture condensation. And you can't get all the air out using a zip lock bag anyway. Best deal is to use a food sealer to suck out as much air as possible without crushing them. Do you think when they are frozen at the factory or storage facility that they double bag them?

Don't freeze cigars that you got from someone you know - or your local B&M? Really - those people and/or business don't have any more of a clue than you do if those smokes have beetles in them. Basing what to freeze and what not to freeze on "trusted" sources is bad practice. You either freeze everything or you don't. Half and half and then placing the smokes in the same humidor is just a waste of time. Again - previously frozen cigars can and will become lunch for beetles - they don't care cause they can't taste the difference.


Anyway - In over 40 years of smoking I have never had any beetles. Do I freeze? Use to. Use to freeze every single thing. Don't anymore as I have a freezer that I added a Johnson Controller on - and that's my humidor. Can keep it as cold as I like - normally set at 60 degrees.

So - just some food for thought -


Ron

[Coz77]

....I like Ron

[Cigarcop]

Originally Posted by Coz77

....I like Ron

I just wish he would say whats on his mind!!!