freezing smokes

[beamish]

Question about freezing and beetles,am I correct in thinking that beetles hatching in cigars,only happens if the conditions are right for them? including high temp and humi?so in other words if a vendor overhumidified and sent you smokes you have a problem,so after freezing as other posts have said,storing after the thaw should be good to go if you are careful about temp and humi? sorry if it is a repeat question....

[groogs]

As far as I know, if you freeze your cigars you should not have a problem with beetles unless they get into you humi from somewhere else in the house. Once all the cigars are frozen the beetles and eggs are killed, so the temp is not as much of an issue, but you can never be to carefull.

[BamaDoc77]

Originally Posted by groogs

As far as I know, if you freeze your cigars you should not have a problem with beetles unless they get into you humi from somewhere else in the house. Once all the cigars are frozen the beetles and eggs are killed, so the temp is not as much of an issue, but you can never be to carefull.

not entirely correct ....freezing will kill LIVE beetles and send eggs into "a hibernation type state".....even after frozen, if you throw them into a humi thats 80 degrees, you are asking for the eggs/larvae to hatch.

[EvanS]

Originally Posted by BamaDoc77

not entirely correct ....freezing will kill LIVE beetles and send eggs into "a hibernation type state".....even after frozen, if you throw them into a humi thats 80 degrees, you are asking for the eggs/larvae to hatch.

hmmm, I thought that if frozen properly, meaning driving the temp low enough for long enough, that you will in fact burst the cell structure of the eggs, rendering them unviable.

[groogs]

Originally Posted by EvanS

hmmm, I thought that if frozen properly, meaning driving the temp low enough for long enough, that you will in fact burst the cell structure of the eggs, rendering them unviable.

That is what I thought as well.

[SilverFox]

Originally Posted by EvanS

hmmm, I thought that if frozen properly, meaning driving the temp low enough for long enough, that you will in fact burst the cell structure of the eggs, rendering them unviable.

That is also consistent with what I have read, and heard

[montecristo#2]

Originally Posted by beamish

Question about freezing and beetles,am I correct in thinking that beetles hatching in cigars,only happens if the conditions are right for them? including high temp and humi?so in other words if a vendor overhumidified and sent you smokes you have a problem,so after freezing as other posts have said,storing after the thaw should be good to go if you are careful about temp and humi? sorry if it is a repeat question....

Beetle problems can happen if cigars are exposed to non-ideal temperatures. . . Unfortunately, what those temperature are is not well documented.

From what I have read, anything above 65F can lead to problems. Although, most people say it is above 70F.

I do not think humidity has anything to do with it and have not read anything that really talks about humidity being an issue.

Originally Posted by BamaDoc77

not entirely correct ....freezing will kill LIVE beetles and send eggs into "a hibernation type state".....even after frozen, if you throw them into a humi thats 80 degrees, you are asking for the eggs/larvae to hatch.

Like other people had said, this is not what I have read. Freezing should cause the formation of crystals, which should in turn split and destroy beetle eggs. The eggs should already be in a hibernation state as they have not hatched.

With that said, I do not believe anything is 100%. The other problem is whether or not a home freezer can get cold enough to completely wipe out the eggs. I really wish there was some better data on this subject as the experiments would not be that hard to perform, but I have not found any.

I know when you freeze bacteria or fungi in the lab, you usually add something to prevent crystal formation. However, I know people who make their own yogurt and they freeze bacteria cultures in their freezer and they thaw fine without any problems (or at least enough survives to grow out). Of course, I would think bacteria are a little more hardy than beetle eggs, so this might not really be relevant.

I freeze everything I keep in my humidors / coolerdors and don't have a way to regulate the temperature during the summer (mid to high 70s). Because of that, I still check everything about once a week. So far I made it through last summer (knock on wood), but it is always in the back of my mind.