Freezing Cigars

[Boro62]

So I've been reading around some forums and there are some people who swear by freezing their cigars to kill off the tobacco beetle larvae. Apparently theres a huge debate on if it really works with the process that people are doing at home, if the cigar remains the same after it is frozen etc. etc. I know manufacturers actually freeze them now before they are shipped out, some claim that the process that people use at home isnt the same as the manufacturers...etc. etc. the debate goes on and on.

Anyhow, I was just wondering, is there anyone here who deliberately freezes their cigars? Also is there anyone here that have had to deal with a beetle outbreak from too high of a temp of their cigar storage devices.

 

[Argonaut]

No and no for me. I have heard all the same arguments for years though.

 

[The Count of Merkur Cristo]

Boris:
I heard about that

years ago. Just the same, I sure wouldn't want to risk my cigars to find out either dude.

"Gentlemen, you may smoke." King Edward VII of England

 

[Commander Quan]

I've done it. Hell I forgot about a bundle once, and they were in the deep freeze for over a month. After resting in the humidor they have all been perfectly fine.

 

[showcattle]

I did it to some of mine including a FFP ratzilla and some LP 9s all the undercrowns and muwats from the batch tasted the same haven't smoked the others yet. I just like to look at them for now.

 

[Bk124tt]

Never have, never would.

 

[Commander Quan]

I've only had one cigar to ever have a beetle problem. It was a glass tubed Candela wrapped cigar that had probably sat in the B&M for years. I bought the last 5 or 6 the store had, so it probably already had the holes in it when I bought it. I never opened the tube, I just set it aside to see how bad it would get. I lost track of the cigar at some point so I don't know if ever got any more than 4 holes.

Moki has some impressively sad pictures on his website. http://gartrader.com/index.php?/gallery/category/5-cigar-pictures/

 

[GA Gator]

In the nearly 20 years of enjoying cigars, I have only had one cigar that had a beetle problem. That was back in the late nineties.

 

[Bk124tt]

About 20 or so years ago Rolondo Reyes (Cuba Alaiados line) had a shop in union city NJ. Many of the open cigars had beetles and beetle holes. I would go out on a limb to say the store was infested...
The Cuba Aliados and Puros Indios lines are great economical cigars though!

 

[BigKev77]

I got a shipment of cigars infested with beetles several years ago. I started freezing at that point. I noticed no difference in quality. At the time I had a pretty significant collection and it would have been a very substantial loss to have an infestation. Going through the process of freezing and reconditioning seemed like a small price to pay. Now, if i only had a 50ct humi I was stocking I might not worry about it but risking 1000+ cigars was too big of a deal.

 

[Boro62]

I got a shipment of cigars infested with beetles several years ago. I started freezing at that point. I noticed no difference in quality. At the time I had a pretty significant collection and it would have been a very substantial loss to have an infestation. Going through the process of freezing and reconditioning seemed like a small price to pay. Now, if i only had a 50ct humi I was stocking I might not worry about it but risking 1000+ cigars was too big of a deal.

I think this is my biggest worry also, I currently don't freeze anything, but I am only stocking a 75 ct humidor right now. But once I get my wineador up and running, the chance of beetle infestation scares me, since I can see my self expanding to 500 ct pretty quickly. But it also seems like beetle infestations seem pretty rare if kept in the right conditions. hmm...choices and dilemmas.

For those of you who don't freeze and haven't had any run in with these little bugs, how big are your collections? And how closely to you monitor your temp?

 

[DeusVult]

According to what I read around the net, the eggs/larvae can survive only a few days at 0 deg C, the freezing point of water. At deep freeze temperatures (-20 C), it seems they would be killed off even more quickly. One thought I had reading this thread: The danger of freezing anything is moisture loss due to sublimation. Basically, freezer burn. The more dry the product, tobacco for instance, the quicker this would happen. I suspect one could package his cigars in a vacuum-type bag and then freeze with no danger of damaging the product.

 

[Nasty Canasta]

I currently do not freeze my cigars. I have read and read and read to see if this is something I should do. Like you said Boro, I have a humidor that holds about 100 sticks and I am not too worried. If I was to get something larger I might consider. As they say better safe than sorry.

 

[MWS]

I freeze 'em all (Cubans, not NC's) for 5 days, fridge for 1 and into the humidor for 6 months. After that, or even some additional age they tast wonderful. If I'm putting them in with the rest of my stash, I'd like to have insurance.

If you're going to smoke them in the next 6 months, don't worry about it. If you're going to age them, mine as well freeze them and not worry...

 

[FlyingGuillotine]

I've done both, could not really tell the difference. If your humidor is rock solid then you really have nothing to worry about.

 

[Old Man Army]

I wouldn't trust my freezer. A friend bought a Cuban H. Uppman Churchill size in a cedar lined tube that was infested. It was truely sad.

 

[Boro62]

Hmm...so for me i think its going to depend on how my wineador turns out and how well it holds temp and rh which will be the deciding factor if i freeze my sticks. But I will definitely be giving every stick i put in a thorough visual inspection to be sure there are no buggers hiding out.

 

[riFph]

Best things for bugs is to burn them out