How to Freeze and the Science behind it. Long Post

T.G · 12-05-2010, 12:35 PM

If your cigars have gone through a few summers where they spent weeks with daytime temps of 78F and nighttime temps of 70F and nothing has hatched, while of course there are no guarantees, it isn't too much of a stretch to say that it's likely that those cigars don't have have any eggs capable of incubating. Having beetle eggs in all cigars is not a given. They might not be there, and, if they are (were), they might have already been killed by fumigation or shattered by commercial blast freezing by the manufacturer and/or distributor.

Don't worry about trying to control the humidity to keep a handle on beetles since they can hatch and live at RH's far lower than where most, if not all, of us would likely find a cigar smokable (somewhere in the 30-40RH range is their bottom end IIRC).

I leave the cigars in the box after opening to inspect and then just freeze the whole thing after putting it back into it's vacuum seal bag and resealing, a ziplock bag or even a few layers of saran wrap if I can't get the box to fit into anything else. I do leave my cigars in the freezer longer due to the extra material being frozen; I go with a week or so, but that's not just because of the box, it's also because residential freezers cycle rather than maintain a constant low temp, and since it won't hurt the cigars, it's better to be safe than sorry. I don't see any added value in refrigerating before hand either, just straight to the freezer. Gradual cooldown isn't necessary, they survive going from ambient to -30F in minutes in a blast freezer, taking half a day to drop to 10F sure isn't going to hurt them.

12-05-2010, 12:35 PM	#10
T.G Grrrrrr Join Date: Mar 2009 First Name: The Other Adam Posts: 15,559 Trading: (37)	Re: How to Freeze and the Science behind it. Long Post If your cigars have gone through a few summers where they spent weeks with daytime temps of 78F and nighttime temps of 70F and nothing has hatched, while of course there are no guarantees, it isn't too much of a stretch to say that it's likely that those cigars don't have have any eggs capable of incubating. Having beetle eggs in all cigars is not a given. They might not be there, and, if they are (were), they might have already been killed by fumigation or shattered by commercial blast freezing by the manufacturer and/or distributor. Don't worry about trying to control the humidity to keep a handle on beetles since they can hatch and live at RH's far lower than where most, if not all, of us would likely find a cigar smokable (somewhere in the 30-40RH range is their bottom end IIRC). I leave the cigars in the box after opening to inspect and then just freeze the whole thing after putting it back into it's vacuum seal bag and resealing, a ziplock bag or even a few layers of saran wrap if I can't get the box to fit into anything else. I do leave my cigars in the freezer longer due to the extra material being frozen; I go with a week or so, but that's not just because of the box, it's also because residential freezers cycle rather than maintain a constant low temp, and since it won't hurt the cigars, it's better to be safe than sorry. I don't see any added value in refrigerating before hand either, just straight to the freezer. Gradual cooldown isn't necessary, they survive going from ambient to -30F in minutes in a blast freezer, taking half a day to drop to 10F sure isn't going to hurt them. Last edited by T.G; 12-05-2010 at 12:41 PM.