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Nick2021Nick2021 Posts: 938 ✭✭
in Cigar 101
With my wife getting ready to accept my new Aristocrat this Friday, I'm thinking of freezing cigars to protect my investment (as my cigar collection back home grows bigger it only seems logical). My question is for those who freeze cigars, do you also freeze unopened boxes? It seems like a hassle, especially with the size of the boxes...unless I open them and break the seal which I was hoping to avoid. Do some of you only freeze loose cigars or everything? I would think if beetles are in the boxes, it would help contain them from spreading to other cigars especially if the cigars are in celo, the box is sealed, and wrapped. Thoughts?

Comments

  • camgfscamgfs Posts: 968 ✭
    freezing your cigars will NOT protect your investment. Do a search on this site and you will see why. The short explanation is that the freezer is much much dryer than other places; hence "freezer burn" occurs when the humidity has been sucked out of your food = same will happen to your cigars. The ONLY time you should freeze your sticks is IF you have the misfortune of beetles. You can then freeze your sticks for a few days to kill off any little critters. Other than that, keep your sticks out of the freezer and invest in a Humidor or a Coolidor.

  • Nick2021Nick2021 Posts: 938 ✭✭
    camgfs:
    freezing your cigars will NOT protect your investment. Do a search on this site and you will see why. The short explanation is that the freezer is much much dryer than other places; hence "freezer burn" occurs when the humidity has been sucked out of your food = same will happen to your cigars. The ONLY time you should freeze your sticks is IF you have the misfortune of beetles. You can then freeze your sticks for a few days to kill off any little critters. Other than that, keep your sticks out of the freezer and invest in a Humidor or a Coolidor.

    Thanks for the feedback, I've read the issue on freezing cigars and it seems like a back and fourth issue. The reason I brought it up again is because I have an Aristocrat Humidor being delivered to my house this Friday and was going to have my wife set the electronic humidification system up while putting all of my cigars in there. However, this issue was brought up on another site and it seems people still do this even with a good humidor & humidification system...scares me, but I figured I'd follow up to see if anything has changed since.
  • Russ55Russ55 Posts: 2,765 ✭✭
    Is your line of thought: Got new humidor, got new humidification device, now I want to protect it and ensure nothing goes in that might have bugs?

    I'm just trying to understand the question, and the reason behind freezing in this case. Do you have bugs now, or sticks you suspect of bugs?
  • The CankThe Cank Posts: 799
    Don't freeze.... I think he is saying he wants to freeze them for storage purposes until his Humi gets set up. Freezing for that long with damage the cigars.... Like said the only time you should freeze is if you have an outbreak. Instead of putting them in the freezer put your cigars in a ziplock bag with a humi pillow. That will hold your cigars at the right RH for at least 15 days which is more than enough time for your humi to get seasoned.
    If you don't have a Humi pillow take a paper towel, dampen it with distilled water put the paper towel in a small ziplock bag, poke holes in the bag then put the bag with the paper towel in the big bag along with your cigars and then seal up the big bag.....Now your cigars that are in the unopened sealed boxes should be ok not humidified for a week while your humi is being seasoned.... Hope I didn't confuse the hell out of you with this :-)
  • Nick2021Nick2021 Posts: 938 ✭✭
    Russ55:
    Is your line of thought: Got new humidor, got new humidification device, now I want to protect it and ensure nothing goes in that might have bugs?

    I'm just trying to understand the question, and the reason behind freezing in this case. Do you have bugs now, or sticks you suspect of bugs?
    Correct :) Especially since I'll be continually adding cigars...wasn't sure if it was a good time to start the process but it seems like there have been so many different opinions on this
  • Nick2021Nick2021 Posts: 938 ✭✭
    The Cank:
    Don't freeze.... I think he is saying he wants to freeze them for storage purposes until his Humi gets set up. Freezing for that long with damage the cigars.... Like said the only time you should freeze is if you have an outbreak. Instead of putting them in the freezer put your cigars in a ziplock bag with a humi pillow. That will hold your cigars at the right RH for at least 15 days which is more than enough time for your humi to get seasoned.
    If you don't have a Humi pillow take a paper towel, dampen it with distilled water put the paper towel in a small ziplock bag, poke holes in the bag then put the bag with the paper towel in the big bag along with your cigars and then seal up the big bag.....Now your cigars that are in the unopened sealed boxes should be ok not humidified for a week while your humi is being seasoned.... Hope I didn't confuse the hell out of you with this :-)
    Actually, they're stored fine now...but now that my wife is about to move all of my cigars into a high end cabinet, was considering the freeze process. I've looked i nthe threads here, and also saw numerous arguments on other sites, and it seems all over the place. I don't anticipate temperature being higher than 72-73 degrees and with the humidification system the Aristocrat comes with I can easily adjust it to whatever humidity % I need it at....I personally don't like the idea of freezing, but the thought of having an infestation especially with a nice collection scares me. Maybe it's really nothing to be worried about. :)
  • Russ55Russ55 Posts: 2,765 ✭✭
    Nick2021:
    Russ55:
    Is your line of thought: Got new humidor, got new humidification device, now I want to protect it and ensure nothing goes in that might have bugs?

    I'm just trying to understand the question, and the reason behind freezing in this case. Do you have bugs now, or sticks you suspect of bugs?
    Correct :) Especially since I'll be continually adding cigars...wasn't sure if it was a good time to start the process but it seems like there have been so many different opinions on this
    Ah, I see. I personally wouldn't freeze in that instance then. If you are really concerned about it though maybe look into a secondary humidor you can use as a temporary storage and segregation humidor. A cheap cooler would work and not cost much. Put new stuff in there for a few weeks, watch it, inspect it and then move it over when you're comfortable. I dunno, just a thought.

    The other thing about freezing, I think someone said in a thread on here a few weeks ago, is that I don't think a standard refrigerators freezer gets cold enough to even kill the eggs. You have to use a commercial grade freezer. I may have misread, or not be remembering the thread correctly, so don't take that as the gospel.
  • The CankThe Cank Posts: 799
    Russ55:
    Nick2021:
    Russ55:
    Is your line of thought: Got new humidor, got new humidification device, now I want to protect it and ensure nothing goes in that might have bugs?

    I'm just trying to understand the question, and the reason behind freezing in this case. Do you have bugs now, or sticks you suspect of bugs?
    Correct :) Especially since I'll be continually adding cigars...wasn't sure if it was a good time to start the process but it seems like there have been so many different opinions on this
    Ah, I see. I personally wouldn't freeze in that instance then. If you are really concerned about it though maybe look into a secondary humidor you can use as a temporary storage and segregation humidor. A cheap cooler would work and not cost much. Put new stuff in there for a few weeks, watch it, inspect it and then move it over when you're comfortable. I dunno, just a thought.

    The other thing about freezing, I think someone said in a thread on here a few weeks ago, is that I don't think a standard refrigerators freezer gets cold enough to even kill the eggs. You have to use a commercial grade freezer. I may have misread, or not be remembering the thread correctly, so don't take that as the gospel.


    This is true a standard freezer does not get cold enough... But you should be fine with the way you are going... Don't worry about freezing.. I saw the cabinet on the other thread it looks tight ! I want that big S.O.B !
  • Nick2021Nick2021 Posts: 938 ✭✭
    The Cank:
    Russ55:
    Nick2021:
    Russ55:
    Is your line of thought: Got new humidor, got new humidification device, now I want to protect it and ensure nothing goes in that might have bugs?

    I'm just trying to understand the question, and the reason behind freezing in this case. Do you have bugs now, or sticks you suspect of bugs?
    Correct :) Especially since I'll be continually adding cigars...wasn't sure if it was a good time to start the process but it seems like there have been so many different opinions on this
    Ah, I see. I personally wouldn't freeze in that instance then. If you are really concerned about it though maybe look into a secondary humidor you can use as a temporary storage and segregation humidor. A cheap cooler would work and not cost much. Put new stuff in there for a few weeks, watch it, inspect it and then move it over when you're comfortable. I dunno, just a thought.

    The other thing about freezing, I think someone said in a thread on here a few weeks ago, is that I don't think a standard refrigerators freezer gets cold enough to even kill the eggs. You have to use a commercial grade freezer. I may have misread, or not be remembering the thread correctly, so don't take that as the gospel.


    This is true a standard freezer does not get cold enough... But you should be fine with the way you are going... Don't worry about freezing.. I saw the cabinet on the other thread it looks tight ! I want that big S.O.B !
    You can get one too, you just have to get through the "Queen" to get one like I did lol
  • KriegKrieg Posts: 5,188 ✭✭✭
    You shouldn't ever have to worry about a beetle infestation if your humi temps and RH stay within normal range (65-70%RH) and not go above 76-80F.

    "Long ashes my friends."

  • jship079jship079 Posts: 621 ✭
    What you want to do is not a good idea for two major resons one it has potential to hurt your sticks when freezing and two every stick you ever buy is suspect because the beetle larva come from the factory its the ones that make it through the normal fumagation process so as long as your sticks are good now and you keep all your numbers right you wont have to worry about the beetles hatching
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