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To Freeze or Not to Freeze

dannymer1974

New Member
Joined
Jul 1, 2007
Messages
60
Question:

When you all get shipments from an online retailer (HOT UPS TRUCK FOR # DAYS TO WEST COAST) do you go through the freeze process or not?

I am looking for some general responses here, not necessarily how you go about doing it. Do you personally feel like it affects the taste or anything about the Cigar?
 
Some people don't order cigars during the hottest months of the year for fear of beetles and even mold occuring. Freezing only kills live larva and beetles, a normal freezer will not drop the temp enough to crack the eggs.

If you freeze them do it slowly. Put them in the fridge for a day before you transfer them into the freezer for 3 or so days. Repeat the process in reverse when you're done. The point is to slowly freeze them and not damage the cigars. They should smoke fine this way.
 
From what I have read, I wouldn't freeze unless I saw evidence of people infestation. Also when you do order during the hot months, you may want to consider paying the extra money to express ship it to your door. I just ordered a box from an online dealer this afternoon, and it's supposed to be at my door tomorrow afternoon. They will go right in the coolidor and then into my mouth. :p
 
Question:

When you all get shipments from an online retailer (HOT UPS TRUCK FOR # DAYS TO WEST COAST) do you go through the freeze process or not?

I am looking for some general responses here, not necessarily how you go about doing it. Do you personally feel like it affects the taste or anything about the Cigar?

Who makes the cigars you ordered?
 
Ziplock freezer storage bags, I use three at a time for a single bundle of cigars when I need to freeze. Freezing WILL result in loss of some flavor, so you have to decide whether or not the precaution is worth the sacrifice. I only freeze when I see definitive evidence of beetle outbreak. The moldy ones are cleaned off and smoked immediately. I find some cigars don't smoke as well after freezing, and others taste like crap, but it also depends on how the retailer stored their stock prior to your purchase.

Some other things that I thought I should mention although it doesn't answer the question directly, but addresses some of the concerns.

In the MRN book, he states that the beetles need sufficient conditions to gestate, and one of them is a good supply of oxygen (pp 280). However aluminum tubes strictly control the air/oxygen that the cigar is exposed to, and supposedly have a higher chance of stunting beetle eggs from hatching, and if they do hatch, the outbreak is contained within that tube (hopefully, unless they can chew through aluminum). Sounds logical to me. So maybe tubes are the way to go for the warm summer months.

On a plus side (referring back to the MRN book), he states that the high temperatures help to break down the ammonia in the tobacco faster also speeds up fermentation and makes the cigar tastier in a shorter amount of time (pp 6). However, this quick fermentation doesn't seem to be as beneficial as if the cigars were fermented slowly.
 
From what I have read, I wouldn't freeze unless I saw evidence of people infestation.

I hate it when I open a new box of cigars, only to find a bunch of people crawling out. Then they're all, "Man, I'm thirsty, you got any beer bro?" and "Dude, I'm hungry, man, give me some pizza."
 
I never freeze. I quarantine all newly arrived cigars in a separate "intake" humidor for at least a month before depositing them into my general cigar inventory.
 
From what I have read, I wouldn't freeze unless I saw evidence of people infestation.

I hate it when I open a new box of cigars, only to find a bunch of people crawling out. Then they're all, "Man, I'm thirsty, you got any beer bro?" and "Dude, I'm hungry, man, give me some pizza."

LOL I totally missed that one when typing it! Damn I need a smoke. :laugh:
 
Who makes the cigars you ordered?
Don't many of the manufacturers freeze prior to shipment?

Also, try a search.This has been talked about a lot. I'm sure you can find a number of threads about freezing and beetles.

I'm not so sure there are many threads about people infestation, though... :whistling:
 
I never freeze. When I order singles and fivers I keep them in ziplock bags for a couple weeks (yes I know beetles can chew through plastic) and I constantly check them, looking for the smallest sign of beetles or larva.

When I order a box I inspect all of the cigars in the box looking for beetle holes or the tell tale dust that the larva leave behind. I then just keep an eye on the box checking it more frequently than the ones I've had for awhile.

I haven't even seen an beetle or larva in just over a year and even then, I took extra steps when I first received the afflicted cigars. I had a weird feeling about them so I place them in a spare humidor and a couple weeks later I had to toss them all. The damage was horrible but at the same time the casualties were minimal, one bundle of no name seconds and a grab bag of yard gars I should never of bought.

Even though it's been over a year I am still paranoid about beetles. I go through my entire coolador once every two weeks looking for holes and dust, and I check the humidor I keep my best sticks in at least twice a week (though that may be primarily in trying to make up a reason to smoke one of my "special occasion" cigars.

God knows in Florida during the summer even with air conditioning my room reaches temps that beetles can hatch in.
 
Who makes the cigars you ordered?
Don't many of the manufacturers freeze prior to shipment?

Right, many manufacturers, including Habanos SA finally, freeze their cigars before shipment, in a much more effective way than anyone is likely able to do at home.

I wonder if there is a way to find out who does and does not freeze their cigars prior to shipment. Because I dont know I freeze everything (my stand alone freezer gets to -10 degrees at its coldest setting) as a precaution. In the past, I had two separate beetle outbreaks that cost me some bucks. Since I began freezing a few years ago, I have not had a problem - knock on wood! :thumbs:

Also thought I would mention that my first outbreak started in a bundle of La Unicas mfg by Fuente.
 
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