Freezing Cigars

CAcigarguy007

I was reading about a beetle episode in some GH Vintage 2002 on another thread and it got me to thinking about freezing cigars. I have never done this and luckily never had a problem with beetles. It just seems to me that water (condensation) and cigars don't mix and may lead to mold issues. Then it occurred to me that dry ice would be a better bet (theoretically). Was thinking that getting a 5-gallon bucket with a lid and sticking some dry ice inside (with cigars of course) then piercing a small vent hold would be ideal. What are the other BOTL doing? Would this work? Is it necessary? Do you freeze? Just looking for some feedback to see what the community as a whole feels about the freezing issue.

CAcigarguy007

Upon further consideration I also wounder about oil evaporation rate and also effective temperature zone to ensure a full kill of said beetles and consequently, drying vs. freezing. I'd imagine I could use vegetable oil on cinnamon sticks and try conventional fridge-to-freezer vs. dry ice and then weigh the samples digitally to see degradation of oil composition. I'd imagine that drying out the beetles would also dry out the oil vs. flash freezing (agian dry ice) which theoretically would freeze the oil as well allowing it to return it's pre-frozen state with less burn-off (degradation)???

marineatbn03

I freeze cigars that are shipped to me here in Afghanistan regularly because of the shipping time. Put them in a zip-loc and freeze them and then moisture is not an issue.

blurr

You are Way over thinking it. Definitely don't pierce a vent hole. Just use 2 ziploc bags and suck all the air out with a straw. Seal them tight and toss in your home fridge for about 12 hrs, then freezer for 3 to 5 days, then back in fridge for 12 hours, then out of the fridge for a few hours, then in your humi. I do this with all cubans after an outbreak this summer. Just take them out of the box and freeze. I had a few split once in the box. They are held nice and tight by the ziploc if you take them out of the box and use a straw to suck all the air out before sealing. I have not had any issues doing that and no bugs since then even summer shipment cubans that sit on trucks for a few weeks.

Lee.mcglynn

Don't flash freeze unless you want your sticks to explode!!! If you use 2 bags as stated put in the fridge for a day then to the freezer for 3 days and back to the fridge for another full day. To dry the oils out you pretty much have to freeze them in just the cellos

CAcigarguy007

Found this read interesting. Seems to suggest that home freezing for a day or two is more a mental piece of mind than anything: http://www.cigarsinternational.com/html/cig101_14ymt.asp

jj20030

007, HELLO, BEEN AWHILE

CAcigarguy007

jj20030:

007, HELLO, BEEN AWHILE

/////Hey JJ, still around, usually on banter though. Mostly just read on this forum.

blurr

Guess I should clarify. I've been collecting and aging and smoking NCs for 5 years, never froze and never had a single outbreak. Our smokes are well taken care of and the NC market as far as I'm concerned has this issues fully under control. I don't freeze them because in my humble opinion its a waste of time when they could be acclimating to your rh. Cubans are a different story, they do NOT have the tobacco beetle under control. Lets not turn this into a defensive debate on Cubans but in my experience I always do this freeze method with them and its worked 100 percent of the time since my 1st order of Hoyos came in and developed holes and bugs after a week. I freeze all habanos and will continue until they solve the issue. Maybe its not them and it involves the long travels those boxes take but I would a rather be safe than sorry.

CAcigarguy007

blurr:

Guess I should clarify. I've been collecting and aging and smoking NCs for 5 years, never froze and never had a single outbreak. Our smokes are well taken care of and the NC market as far as I'm concerned has this issues fully under control. I don't freeze them because in my humble opinion its a waste of time when they could be acclimating to your rh. Cubans are a different story, they do NOT have the tobacco beetle under control. Lets not turn this into a defensive debate on Cubans but in my experience I always do this freeze method with them and its worked 100 percent of the time since my 1st order of Hoyos came in and developed holes and bugs after a week. I freeze all habanos and will continue until they solve the issue. Maybe its not them and it involves the long travels those boxes take but I would a rather be safe than sorry.

I concur with your assessment of NC cigars. I too do not freeze and have never had a problem with thousands of cigars collected. IMO freezing would be more a risk due to mold potential (condensation). I know a lot of BOTL do it. I was more looking for the best solution (results optimization and thoroughness) from a scientific standpoint. That and I love cigar experiments:)

Rhamlin

I've read that freezing doesn't actually kill the eggs it It kills the Beatles but not the eggs. what does work they say is to put your cigars in a vacuum bag and suck the air out that away and that supposedly will destroy the eggs.but that's just what I've read, I've never tried it.

rwheelwright

From an article:

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

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lasioderma_serricorne

As someone who had beetle problems twice with NCs, I freeze everything. According to these 2 articles, freezing will indeed kill beetles and the larvae. Since I have so many cigars from before I started freezing, I turned my monolith down to 41F (5C) which is the coldest it will get. I kept it there for a week or more and then raised the temp about 5 degrees every 3 - 4 days so that the cigars would come back up gradually. I now keep them between 63 and 65 degrees with humidity being higher at the bottom of the monolith and lower at the top. Nothing I can do about that but usually the top is around 67% and the bottom is closer to 74%. I do open it periodically and put a dehumidifier in front of it to bring it down but it takes a lot of time to get it back down so it can stabilize. I'm getting there though.

oilburner

Sorry, not buying that the nc's have this under control. I've had them before in cigars, and found some this weekend. I went to the CI Superstore, picked up a surrogates tramp stamp and noticed a beetle hole. Found at least three more in that box with beetle holes. I freeze everything, cause I don't want to find out the hard way later.