Battle Beetles

[modo22]

I have searched and can't find a decent thread in the last few years on best steps when you find beetles or a beetle in your collection. Is there a good thread or someone have decent advice on the process of freezing / killing off any pests in my cigars?

Back story, I pulled out my last a rojas taco to smoke Sunday, but didn't end up smoking it and it stayed in my golf bag / car until Monday morning when I had the time to smoke it. It was then that I found some holes in the stick that resembled pictures of tobacco beetles. Since it was all I had, I smoked it and it was fine. Didn't get home till late last night, but was able to grab the empty box of street tacos, which I luckily had taken out of my cooler, and inside the box was a little dead looking bug. Can't get great pictures right now, but will soon. I had just bought these street tacos from Cigarpage back in April (yes I smoked through them way to fast). I had not had any issues with any of the other tacos or cigars from that cooler and the cooler is not full, but still has several boxes.

Never had this happen, but I know its been discussed here before. Any help finding a good thread or if you have new suggestions on the process of freezing would be appreciated.

 

[2K6TBSS]

That sucks, hopefully it was just a random mishap in that single box. When you get back, I would inspect the other boxes and cigars to see if there were any others that are around. I'm sure that's on the top of your list of things to do though...

IIRC, any residential freezer will not get cold enough fast enough the kill any of the beetles or eggs that might be in a cigar. They need to be in a commercial blast freezer type of environment that will get into the negative temps (for some reason I'm thinking it was like -40).

 

[modo22]

That sucks, hopefully it was just a random mishap in that single box. When you get back, I would inspect the other boxes and cigars to see if there were any others that are around. I'm sure that's on the top of your list of things to do though...

IIRC, any residential freezer will not get cold enough fast enough the kill any of the beetles or eggs that might be in a cigar. They need to be in a commercial blast freezer type of environment that will get into the negative temps (for some reason I'm thinking it was like -40).

So I inspected all of the boxes and cigars in that cooler. I did not find anything out of ordinary. I am hoping that was a one off and that infection was in their before Rojas sent out the cigars since they supposedly freeze them before shipping...and that one bug did its damage before hand and I did not notice it since it was the very last one in that box.

 

[CBoukal]

How many boxes are left in the cooler? I don't know if it would matter, but maybe saran wrap the boxes each time you take a cigar out. It would be super annoying, but I would think it will protect each box separately.

 

[TexasTraveler]

I havent done this, but something I pulled from a source that is known to be pretty reputable...

Cigar Beetle eggs can be killed by exposure to temperatures easily obtainable by home refrigerators/freezers. An industrial deep freeze is not required, as rumor has indicated.

There is a direct correlation between the time it takes to kill and temperature. The colder the temp, the shorter it takes to kill eggs.

The figures below are time to kill 95% (abbreviated LT95) of eggs exposed to the environment. Keep this in mind when applying these figures to cigars because 1) we want to kill 100% of eggs and 2) any eggs inside our cigars have a thick layer of insulating tobacco that must be cooled before the eggs will reach that temperature.

5c (41f) requires ~12 days (275 hours)
0c (32f) requires ~9 days (220 hours)
-5c (23f) requires ~4 days (100 hours)
-10c (14f) requires less than 24 hours
-15c (5f) requires less than 24 hours
-20c (-4f) requires less than 24 hours


The length of time you should freeze your cigars depends on the temperature your freezer is at. I highly recommend that everyone using their freezer to treat cigars keeps a fridge/freezer thermometer in there so they know roughly what temp range their freezer runs at. These are available at most grocery stores, usually with baking supplies. From experience I have seen home freezers that run anywhere from 1 degree below freezing to as low as -25c.
Right now I am trying to get data on how long it takes a cigar to go from room temp to 5c, and from 5c to -20c. Based on data from other consumables I estimate it would take a cigar at least 24 hours to reach the same temperature as the freezer (equilibrium) when it is moved into the freezer from the refrigerator. Based on this alone one should add 24 hours to amount of time cigars are kept in the freezer.
The times given above are to kill 95% of eggs. I have not found times required to kill 99.9% of eggs but doubling the LT95 for that temperature should be more than sufficient.

IN SUMMARY

Double bag your cigars and let them spend 24 hours in the refrigerator. I think everyone agrees that this gives the cigars a safe transition from room temp to near freezing. Move the cigars into the freezer. How long they should stay there depends on your freezer temp. If it is below -10c 72 hours in the freezer should be sufficient. That's 24 hours to get the cigars to -10c, 24 hours to kill 95% of eggs, and an extra 24 hours for good measure. When coming out of the freezer it is a good idea to let the cigars spend 24 hours in the fridge, and another 24 hours at room temp STILL SEALED IN THE BAGS. This protects the cigars from rapid changes in temp/humidity.

I know there are some out there who prefer to avoid freezing because of potential damage to cigars and the rest period required afterwards. The time required will vary greatly based upon the temp of your fridge. Keep in mind the temp will also fluctuate based on door opening/closing etc. (Although this occurs in the freezer, it is less of an issue due to the comparatively short time required) With an LT95 of 12 days at 5c I would personally keep cigars in there for at least 3 weeks.

This information should be applied to uninfested cigars for prevention of a beetle outbreak. If you have cigars that are infested or you know have been exposed to beetles they should be subjected to more lengthy treatment because they will presumably have far more eggs present than any uninfested cigars that picked up some eggs during manufacture.