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Ive got BEETLES!

J

Jeffro600

Member
Joined
Jul 23, 2005
Messages
576
:angry2: :angry2: This is a complete first for me and im freakin out...inside my coolerdor i have about half a dozen different boxes of mixed brands of smokes...most are from bombs, trades, and a couple other sources. One of these boxes contained what i would consider my "PRIZED" cigars...the Opus's, some ISOM's, Padron 64's and about 30 other high dollar cigars. I havent opened this particular box in probably 2-3 weeks, but today i did as i wanted a PAM and to my horror i was greeted with about 15-20 of those tabacoo chewing bastards eating up my precious smokes!! The majority of them are trash now...lots of holes and other nasty lookin stuff that i want nowhere near my mouth. Talk about a TOTAL loss. I quickly quarenteened the rest of my stash that were in seperate boxes and am keeping a very close eye on them...im thinking that i might put them all in a deep freeze for a couple days just to be on the safe side. But WTF?!?! I keep my coolerdor at no more than 72 degrees with a constant 66% RH and almost always sterelize my smokes by doing the "freezing for a few days method" so why did they hatch??? ???

Wheres the crying smiley when you need it?!?!?! :angry:
 
Gah sorry to hear about your loss there Jeffro, of course it would happen to your most prized box (always seems to be how it is. There are a lot of good posts about the freezing method. Some think that todays freezers just dont get cold enough to kill the eggs others say they need to stay in there for a good long time but they will die. I for one am no expert. The best think you can try to do is section off your stash in baggies or some form of plastic. :shrug: sorry again.
 
Would getting Dry Ice and a styrofoam cooler work? That would get it colder than my freezer I would think. I read that the retailers that do freeze thier cigars use commercial sub-zero freezers, but not every distributer does this.

I wish they would...
 
If you buy some of those giant rolling papers you can re-wrap your cigars to cover up the holes and still get a decent smoke. A modified PAM is better then no PAM IMO.
 
indyrob said:
Would getting Dry Ice and a styrofoam cooler work? That would get it colder than my freezer I would think. I read that the retailers that do freeze thier cigars use commercial sub-zero freezers, but not every distributer does this.

I wish they would...
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I would not recommend this for 2 reasons:

1. Dry ice is solid CO2. Very acidic, and I don't know what it would do to the cigars and how they would age after they had been stored in a purely CO2 enivronment. If you've ever put any in your mouth (which you actually can do very easily without hurting yourself believe it or not, I'm a lab dork, so I've done things like this before ;) ) it tastes very bitter. Might not be a problem, but not sure what it would do.

2. I don't think it would get much colder than your freezer. When we have reagents and enzymes sent to us, they package them in two different ways. If something has to be refridgerated (stored at 4 degrees C) they ship it on ice to keep it cold. If something needs to be frozen at all times (-20 degrees C) they send it on dry ice. It is just enough to keep the sample frozen, but short of being in direct contact with they dry ice, it isn't any colder than the freezer itself.

Not to mention how inefficeint and expensive this would be. The only consideration I would think about when freezing would be the type of freezer that you use. A "deep" freezer is ideal because it holds a constant temperature. They usual freeezer attached to most residential refidgerators have an automatic temerature flux to help minimize frosting, so while they keep food frozen, the vary temperature atutomatically so that there isn't excessive frost build up.

Just my humble opinion...

Jeffro, sorry to hear about your troubles. We all feel for you. Make sure you keep us all posted on your progress so that we can all learn from each other. Hope all works out well for you. Good luck man! :(
 
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Sorry to hear about your loss...
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Some pictures would be interesting as I've only ever heard of these nasty little boogers, and thankfully I've never actually seen what they do.

Again sorry -
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Sorry to hear abour your stash. Too bad you don't know the source. Other people may have cigars from the same person.
 
man, im really sorry to hear it. Ive never had that problem with my humi and hopefully never do. man, that sucks I guess that means more bombings are in order lol.

K&P
 
Well, i put the rest of my stash in tripple sealed bags and stuck them in the freezer where they will stay till later this week just as a precautionary...i put the 3 of what was left of my "premiums" that i think might be able to be salvaged in the freezer too hoping that they will at least make it.

I didnt get any pics as im between digital cameras at the moment, but did manage to freeze a couple beetles and will save them for when i get a new camera so that everyone can see what they look like.

Really heartbreaking to say the least to see hundreds of dollars of smokes GONE!! :(
 
So sorry to hear about your loss. Glad that I haven't had this problem yet. I'm sure they would go after my Limited Edition smokes first.
 
God that has to suck. :angry: This type of stuff always seems to happen the good stuff. Maybe beetles like premium cigars compared to dog rockets. :laugh: Hope you can atleast save a few. :thumbs:
 
Jeffro600 said:
....... and almost always sterelize my smokes by doing the "freezing for a few days method" so why did they hatch??? ???

Wheres the crying smiley when you need it?!?!?! :angry:
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What if they "almost always" checked for weapons at the airport? ;) :p It only takes one cigar with one beetle egg.

You also mentioned keeping your cigars below 72 degrees. I would totally avoid anything above 70 and really strive for 65 degrees. I bought a window airconditioner for the room I keep my cigars and maintain it around 66/67 as best I can. Not always easy in the summer when we have triple digit heat.
 
I can relate. A beetle outbreak makes you a real believer in freezing your smokes before you put them in the old coolerdor. Ask me how I know. What some people don't realize is that the beetles can hatch at temperatures as low as 65 degrees if the conditions are right. So even if you are able to keep everything at 70/70 you are still at risk. I freeze everything in my free standing freezer double bagged as it comes in and before I store in in the coolerdor. My .02!
 
Understand man. One time I got a canister of Cuesta-Rey's in the mail and the cigars inside had a bunch of beetles in them!

The rolling papers idea is a good one. Just cause a cigar has a small hole or two, still smokeable [to some degree]. Unless of course they look like swiss cheese.

FWIW, my humi's r.h. is around 62-65% IMHO, anything above is too moist. But, that's just me.
 
does freezing damage the cigars in any way?

In other words, can a newbie like me F my cigars?
 
chewbacco said:
does freezing damage the cigars in any way?

In other words, can a newbie like me F my cigars?
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No...freezing them when in an airtight container of some sort does nothing to harm a cigar...its if freezer air can get into the container that it will do damage.
 
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