To freeze or not to freeze?

[txaggie9307]

Hey guys,

Do you freeze your sticks or not freeze em?

[ilikefishes]

Always. I had a beetle outbreak 1 time. Never again.

[funkejj]

Have never seen the need to do it. I personally think that it may jack with the oils and such in the cigar.

[calgon]

I don't freeze and don't plan to, but why see why people do.

[strife]

No need to IMO. Frozen veggies never taste the same as fresh, freezing causes cell damage in plants. Does it change the flavor of a cigar? Don't know and don't want to risk it.

[javajunkie]

No need to IMO. Frozen veggies never taste the same as fresh, freezing causes cell damage in plants. Does it change the flavor of a cigar? Don't know and don't want to risk it.

think this works IF you have an industrial blast freezer. qiucker the freeze, smaller the ice crystals, and therefore less cellular damage.

alton brown, kids. mr. wizard for fat kids!

[twenty5]

I dont freeze them.

Although, myself and a few others invented a Freezing chamber that is 100% guarenteed to get rid of those pesky beetles.

[USCG Cigar Newb]

Nope I am not and as others had said I just dont know enough about how it might affect the cigar, but I see why theoretically people do, I hope I never have an outbreak of beetle and make me wish I had.

[MReschke0626]

I've had to freeze sticks before after being gifted sticks with possible beetle signs. (Some gift right? The gift givers were not cigar smokers, I couldn't get mad at them for a hole or "dust" they might not have known better about.)

I can't say whether or not the flavor was affected definitively, but, for my palette, it did seem somewhat muted. I WILL say though I wouldn't even bother with the recovery process for any Connie Shade wrapped sticks, they almost all fell victim to some kind of cracking after the freeze at some point, even if it was all the way past the 1/2 way point of smoking the stick, the frustration of losing some of the more delicate sticks anyways was annoying.

I do though, freeze all sticks given to me as a gift where I either do not trust the giver as a fellow cigar enthusiast, or the sticks did not come from a trusted cigar retailer or have not ever laid eyes on the conditions of the humidors of retailer they were purchased from. Even without any signs of infestation, they are frozen, properly thawed, rehumidified and quarantined into their own Tupperdor with Humipaks until they are consumed.

Only sticks bought from the B&M's I know, love and trust that have been inspected by yours truly are the only ones that go straight from the B&M into the collection. Not to say I don't love cigars as gifts and appreciate them, but there is a certain amount of investment into my collection, as I'm sure all of yours too, and certain steps should be taken to protect that investment as a precaution.

[strife]

I do though, freeze all sticks given to me as a gift where I either do not trust the giver as a fellow cigar enthusiast, or the sticks did not come from a trusted cigar retailer or have not ever laid eyes on the conditions of the humidors of retailer they were purchased from. Even without any signs of infestation, they are frozen, properly thawed, rehumidified and quarantined into their own Tupperdor with Humipaks until they are consumed.

Why not just skip a few steps and quarantine suspected cigars until consumed or they show any signs of infestation if you're that concerned? Just curious.

[bugbear]

I do not freeze. But my house never gets above 75 degree's F

[MReschke0626]

Why not just skip a few steps and quarantine suspected cigars until consumed or they show any signs of infestation if you're that concerned? Just curious.

Better safe than sorry. Had a perfectly innocent looking stick destroy a smaller humidor before.

Once bitten, twice shy.

[ilikefishes]

Better safe than sorry. Had a perfectly innocent looking stick destroy a smaller humidor before.

Once bitten, twice shy.

Amen my friend. Just put 4 boxes that showed up today from one of my best friends shop in there. I will NEVER see another beetle in my collection again.

[ilikefishes]

Why not just skip a few steps and quarantine suspected cigars until consumed or they show any signs of infestation if you're that concerned? Just curious.

The reason I don't do this is because when I caught the problem last time the sticks were from somebody with a great almost impeccable reputation. I lost about $200.00 worth. Not huge, but my collection is much bigger now.

[ilikefishes]

I do not freeze. But my house never gets above 75 degree's F

What about the UPS, FedEx or similar truck. The warehouse they were transferred in, and so on. If the temp + humidity factors are right it only takes one to hatch. Then it is on. I will take the extra few days to do it right so I will never be concerned with it again.