Cooking Cigars in the Microwave Oven

[Teninx]

A cigar is appx. 14% moisture. Boiling that moisture out of it will produce a change in the cigar.

[BigVito]

Originally Posted by Teninx

A cigar is appx. 14% moisture. Boiling that moisture out of it will produce a change in the cigar.

give it a shot and post it up.

[Pyro]

Reply to Teninx;
Of course, but that is not what I did! If you check my link and read the text below the pictures it explains that the cigars were treated inside plastic bags and that they were left in their bags over night. Then they were stabilized at 65 % RH for ten days before I started to evaluate any differences in taste!

The loss of moisture is not the problem since you easily can rehydrate the cigars. The problem is the potential loss of volatile and aromatic substances that will be lost forever!

[Smokey Bob]

It just sounds barbaric to me.

I'd rather throw a poodle in the microwave than my cigars and I love dogs more than people. Hmmm except that if it killed worms and fleas....

Robert

[Teninx]

Originally Posted by Pyro

Reply to Teninx;
Of course, but that is not what I did! If you check my link and read the text below the pictures it explains that the cigars were treated inside plastic bags and that they were left in their bags over night. Then they were stabilized at 65 % RH for ten days before I started to evaluate any differences in taste!

The loss of moisture is not the problem since you easily can rehydrate the cigars. The problem is the potential loss of volatile and aromatic substances that will be lost forever!

C'mon. If you think that a cigar can be microwaved for twenty seconds AND ACTUALLY BOIL THE MOISURE OUT, as you stated, without bad effect, you're not smoking any type of cigar I've ever seen. Putting them in a baggie and leaving them alone overnight won't help.

[Teninx]

Originally Posted by BigVito

give it a shot and post it up.

Send me your cigars and I'll be glad to try.

[BigVito]

Originally Posted by Teninx

Send me your cigars and I'll be glad to try.

[Pyro]

Originally Posted by Teninx

C'mon. If you think that a cigar can be microwaved for twenty seconds AND ACTUALLY BOIL THE MOISURE OUT, as you stated, without bad effect, you're not smoking any type of cigar I've ever seen. Putting them in a baggie and leaving them alone overnight won't help.

It appears to me that you still haven't followed my link and studied the pictures, nor the explaining text! I also don't like your tone since you practically imply that I'm lying! Why would I do that?

Just because something is heated until steam is generated vigorously, it doesn't mean all water actually leaves the substrate, or the cigar in this case, at once. What I tried to explain was that the cigar was definitely heated enough to kill beetles, larvae and eggs and even though the wrapper looked very wrinkly afterwards, I could not detect a significant change in flavour between a cooked and untreated cigar!

[SmokeyJoe]

Originally Posted by yourchoice

With a name like Pyro, it doesn't surprise me you would try for high heat over freezing cold.

Not something I would do, but thanks for sharing.

Interesting... I had not run into this discussion before. So how do cooked tobacco beetle eggs taste? Kind of like Tobacco Beetle Caviar...

[tuneman07]

If you have to heat the cigar up to kill the beatles I would say that would be bad for the cigar, I was under the impression that the theory is it is the microwaves that kills the beatles not the heat.

[Pyro]

Originally Posted by tuneman07

If you have to heat the cigar up to kill the beatles I would say that would be bad for the cigar...

I agree!

Originally Posted by tuneman07

...I was under the impression that the theory is it is the microwaves that kills the beatles not the heat.

The function of the microwave is to primarily heat up water molecules. This raises the temperature inside whatever living thing you introduce into the oven and when the proteins in the poor critter start to denaturate (being destroyed) from the high temperature, death follows quickly!

[Silound]

Just to see tonight, I'm going to nuke a Rocky Patel Edge Toro Maduro (one of the oiliest cigars I have) for 5, 10, and 15 minutes.


I will post pics when I can.

[Teninx]

Originally Posted by Pyro

It appears to me that you still haven't followed my link and studied the pictures, nor the explaining text! I also don't like your tone since you practically imply that I'm lying! Why would I do that?

Just because something is heated until steam is generated vigorously, it doesn't mean all water actually leaves the substrate, or the cigar in this case, at once. What I tried to explain was that the cigar was definitely heated enough to kill beetles, larvae and eggs and even though the wrapper looked very wrinkly afterwards, I could not detect a significant change in flavour between a cooked and untreated cigar!

I don't think you're lying. I think you're flat-out wrong. And my tone expresses frustration. Exposing a cigar to microwaves is a bad practice.

[Pyro]

Originally Posted by Teninx

I don't think you're lying. I think you're flat-out wrong. And my tone expresses frustration. Exposing a cigar to microwaves is a bad practice.

I totally agree with you that exposing cigars to microwaves is bad practice. This was only an experiment! How can you say that I'm flat-out wrong when it comes to what I personally experienced flavour wise?

[Teninx]

We are not going to come to any agreement on this issue...which is OK. We're both secure in what we believe and further argument won't change things. Thanks for sticking to your guns; it makes for interesting reading. As they once said in the newsroom: -30-