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Freezing Beetles

D

discdog

New Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2006
Messages
87
Luckily I have not yet needed to try this, but from everything I've read residential freezers may not get cold enough to kill tlhe beetles. What about DryIce? Its definatly colder than most freezers, the little buggars would have little time to react to the sudden drop in temperature as it will only take a couple of seconds to freeze to somewhere to the -30 area, Would you still have to maintain that temp for a day or two?

I use this method to flash freeze certain foods that I put up in the summer so wo can enjoy the all year long and it works great on that so I was just wondering if it would be a useful tool to protect cigars too. I also use dryice occassionally in my coolers that I keep in my basement. Hopefully this month is the last time I will have to do that though.

What I'm thinking is DI in a cooler, nonstick cookie sheet slightly elevated off the DI, and then a single layer of cigars, keep them in the cooler for about 2 days. Once the DI depletes itself, the cooler should allow the cigars to thaw at a slow enough rate that it shouldn't hurt them. At least that's my theory.

Any thoughts?


Edited since I realized this should be in Cigar Discussion section.
 
Disc - do a search and you'll find out a lot that has been stated already.

Let me know if you do not come across the info.
 
discdog said:
What I'm thinking is DI in a cooler, nonstick cookie sheet slightly elevated off the DI, and then a single layer of cigars, keep them in the cooler for about 2 days. Once the DI depletes itself, the cooler should allow the cigars to thaw at a slow enough rate that it shouldn't hurt them. At least that's my theory.

Any thoughts?
Click to expand...


Cigars should at least be double bagged in zip lock bags whether they are in the box or laid out in a single layer.
 
Grateful1 I couldn't find anything with the use of dryice. I have previously read threads here about how to freeze & thaw cigars in a conventional freezer, this is just an idea I had recently as I was getting strawberries ready for the freezer. I use this method for food that I am freezing and just wondered if it would work for our purposes also.

I read a link a while back by MattR I think about him freezing all of his incoming stock during the hot months and I have been trying that this summer. As I said, I have never had a problem, but this seems like insurance against them. I was just thinking that because of the speed at which this process works that it may be worthwhile to try.

atuck, thanks for that, I wasn't thinking about the humidity.
 
I would be concerned about two things. First, physical damage from rapid and uncontrolled freezing. Second, dehydration of the cigars.

To address the second, when I used to freeze cigars, I would wrap the entire box in several layers of plastic film, then foil, then heavy plastic or freezer ziplocs. This seemed to protect them for refrigerated exposures of up to a week. I did not test longer durations.

Controlling the first issue is potentially more difficult. Because cigars are composite structures consisting of many folded and wrapped layers of various thicknesses, rapidly cooling or heating them can wreak havoc. DIfferential contraction/expansion is the killer.

If you were to try this, I'd suggest bringing the cigars down to near dry ice temperatures by putting them in the veggie crisper, then the freezer for at least a day. Then plunk them into a dry ice cooled chest. Reverse the sequence to warm them up. Gentle is ALWAYS best when subjecting cigars to changes in humidity or temperature!

Wilkey
 
Thank you Ginseng, I never thought about the freezing being too fast. This is exactly why I asked though, I knew I'd miss something.
 
Just my 2 cents, I've never frozen any my stash. I go through every box and lose stick every 2 weeks. I've never had a problem with bugs, I think alot of that has to do with our weather up here. Maybe 15 days a year over 80 degrees and atleast 14 days of 10 to 30 degrees below zero.

If you want to freez yours go with Wilkey suggestion.
 
A regular freezer is plenty cold enough so skip the dry ice. By the way there is definitely no "a" in definitely nor is there one in "buggers" ;)
 
Thanks for the input guys. And Coventrycat86, you are correct, I'll try & watch that.:)
 
discdog said:
Thank you Ginseng, I never thought about the freezing being too fast. This is exactly why I asked though, I knew I'd miss something.
Click to expand...





:thumbs: yup...bring 'um down slow and bring 'um up the same way...the Dead did it too me all the time!

(oh wrong forum!>



Now we have a linky with dry ice...thanks Wilkey!



<edit - dry ice>
:thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs: Edit - here's a Lniky regarding Dry ice - from bchem!!!> :thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs:
 
discdog said:
Thanks for the input guys. And Coventrycat86, you are correct, I'll try & watch that.:)
Click to expand...

:laugh:
Well, I gotta admit, it was from a cigar board where I learned how to spell "definitely" myself. I'd been doing it wrong for years (using the "a" like you did) and someone finally pointed that out to me for which I'm grateful. :p
 
coventrycat86 said:
discdog said:
Thanks for the input guys. And Coventrycat86, you are correct, I'll try & watch that. :)
Click to expand...

:laugh:
Well, I gotta admit, it was from a cigar board where I learned how to spell "definitely" myself. I'd been doing it wrong for years (using the "a" like you did) and someone finally pointed that out to me for which I'm grateful. :p
Click to expand...



Hey!!! I'm the grateful1 !!!
 
Discdog,

Your bringing up something I had thought about and posted on over a year or two ago. Dry Ice is CO2. My original thoughts were to use the CO2 for fumigation LINK. It kind of went on deaf ears but I think it has real possibilities.

With that said here’s the offer. To the first person to send five cigars that have an “active & live” beetle infestation I will exchange them for five cigars that are beetle free. I will match the value of the sticks (up to $6/ea) sent with what I have in my humi. PM’s only and do not send the sticks until we talk.

Also, if there is a scientific kind of person out there that would be willing to help me setup an experiment so the results could be verified at a later date by others please PM me.

All results will be posted here at CP

Thanks,
Brent
 
Brent that is a great offer that I hope no one here can help you with. I hope to never see 2 cigars in my collection with beetles let alone 5. I did come across your link after grateful1 sent me another link.
It seems to me that the CO2 would work, I know that when I work with the stuff, we have to be very careful about not breathing in the pure CO2 while using it.
In the mines, I believe they called it Black Damp. It's why the miners use to carry carnaries and now they have small detectors to warn them. It's still a danger today.
 
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