Freezing Cigars. How?

[mcease022]

Hi All,

Do you freeze your cigars to ensure there is not a beetle outbreak? If so how do you go about doing it - do you wrap them before freezing? How long do you freeze, and how do you bring them back to room temp? Thanks for the help.

[ElPuro]

I use liquefied hydrogen in a chlorinated base to freeze. The process can be tedious and one must watch to ensure no digits are fast frozen. If so, you dip the fingers in a warm bath and then sprinkle with baby powder. That'll fix you right up.

Or you can follow a process like this. As with anything in life, I'd double bag it.

1. Place the cigars (singles or boxes) in a freezer bag and suck out as much air as possible using a straw and lung power. Or carefully use vacuum seal bags if you have them. Many BOTL double or triple bag the cigars as an extra precaution.

2. Put the cigars in the fridge to slowly lower the temperature closer to the freezing point to prevent possible wrapper bursting from rapid freeze. 12-24 hours is plenty of time. Many BOTL skip this step with no ill effects.

3. Move the cigars to the freezer where they will stay for X hours (see mortality chart). This ensures that the temperature is reached and any potential bugs are more than dead. It's probably a good idea to double the mortality time just to be safe. This will also account for the time it takes for the cigars to fully freeze.

4. Move the cigars back to the fridge for 12-24 hours. Again, many BOTL skip this step with no ill effects.

5. Remove the cigars from the fridge and allow them to come up to room temperature (3-5 hours) before putting them back in the humidor.

6. Allow them a few weeks to acclimate to the proper RH before smoking.

[mcease022]

Where can I find the mortality chart? Is it something that is available here or is it something to "Google"?

Also, is it common practice to freeze all newly acquired cigars?

[ElPuro]

[Puros Y Vino]

p_3826995_0.jpg

Fantastic data! What's the source?

[Fugu]

I use liquefied hydrogen in a chlorinated base to freeze. The process can be tedious and one must watch to ensure no digits are fast frozen. If so, you dip the fingers in a warm bath and then sprinkle with baby powder. That'll fix you right up.

Great you can use the equipment in your off-time? Excellent, but wasn't it liquid nitrogen they use in chicken-processing?

[ElPuro]

Fantastic data! What's the source?

Listed in the summary of the data.

[Habana Mike]

Good stuff!

[oliverdst]

I let -20°C for 24 hours to 100%.

I have (had) a study about it.

These numbers are really different.

If I find the paper I will link it.

[mcease022]

I've never seen a beetle. I have a wineador. Temps never rise above 70 Fahrenheit, even midsummer.

I've never frozen a cigar, nor would I unless a box had physical signs of larvae/holes. I simply don't believe that freezing does no harm to the flavors; otherwise we'd all freeze everything and never bother with humidors at all.

This is my fear as well. Do the majority freeze or not? My house stays at 70% or below in the winter, and probably about the same in the summer because we keep the AC going all summer. Also, my humidor is in my basement, which is a little cooler than the rest of the house anyway.

[ElPuro]

I freeze.

[mygar]

Whats the likelihood of an outbreak from CCs stored at 78 deg F or so? Supposedly, they are frozen before leaving Cuba.

[ElPuro]

There are many opinions on this. To me, better safe than sorry. My sticks smoke great after freezing. Only way to be basically 100 percent sure.

[Diamondog]

Simple as this...ziplock bag..get the air out as best as possible without using tools...straight in to the freezer they go...leave them in for a few days...take them out..open the bags leave them on the counter for a few hours to come too room temp...in to cooler or whatever you have and thats that....i have done thousands of cigars like this without issue from $5 cigars to much more expensive..i just did a batch straight from Cuba, these are the only cigars I freeze..$6 customs and much more expensive ltd editions...no difference...I in fact fired up a reynaldo a few hours after coming out of the freezer and it smoked brilliant..obviously that isnt a normal thing...few things ive learned...ive often put much more effort and thought in to the way I do things than i needed to and ive also learned its hard to teach old dogs new tricks when we all have our ways....cigars are a lot more robust than we give them credit for...

[Guyman1966]

I use the Fridge 24 hours > Freeze 48 hours > back to Fridge 24 hours > humidor.

edit

Side note, place cigar boxes in airtight ziplock bags. Double bagged. As much air removed as possible before closing.

[BigRay023]

Sounds easy enough, will probably start this practice just in case. AC went out last summer and it was easily 85-95° in the house for a couple weeks. Better safe than sorry.

[WhiteMamba]

Has anyone ever had a negative experience from freezing? I have never heard of anyone having problems but I am always curious.

[ElPuro]

There are some who think they can taste a difference.

[PapaDisco]

Whats the likelihood of an outbreak from CCs stored at 78 deg F or so? Supposedly, they are frozen before leaving Cuba.

They are frozen before leaving Cuba. Nino has posted photos of the giant freezer rooms on here. Of course doing it at such scale is imperfect. Pretty damn good though. I've only once found a beetle that gnawed its way out of a PSD4 Tubo, it was DOA in the tube and when I cut the cigar open I also found a dead larvae. Other than that one cigar I've not seen a bug since and I've had tuperdores that have gone over 75F before I got my cellar fixed up for stogie storage.

I would not be afraid to freeze my cigars. I've done it in the past (all the cigars that were in storage with the PSD4 box), but am too lazy to do it for absolutely everything.

[mygar]

I wonder Rob's opinion on this? He certainly goes through a lot of stock on a weekly basis. I have read that any customs bought... definitely freeze. But what about stock bought from Rob or other legitimate sources?

[SipIt]

They are frozen before leaving Cuba. Nino has posted photos of the giant freezer rooms on here. Of course doing it at such scale is imperfect. Pretty damn good though. I've only once found a beetle that gnawed its way out of a PSD4 Tubo, it was DOA in the tube and when I cut the cigar open I also found a dead larvae. Other than that one cigar I've not seen a bug since and I've had tuperdores that have gone over 75F before I got my cellar fixed up for stogie storage.

I would not be afraid to freeze my cigars. I've done it in the past (all the cigars that were in storage with the PSD4 box), but am too lazy to do it for absolutely everything.

Ha, not only is there the lazy aspect, but then my wife's shoe collection will multiply when she notices boxes of cigars in the freezer all the time.

[mcease022]

Ha, not only is there the lazy aspect, but then my wife's shoe collection will multiply when she notices boxes of cigars in the freezer all the time.

[TheMonk]

All Cuban cigars are now supposedly flash frozen before being exported, however I still freeze ALL my cigars. My routine is: 2 days fridge + 3 days freezer + 2 days fridge + 1 day outside, before popping them back in the humidor.