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Beetle lessons... again

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Hi all,
A week or so go we had a spike in the temp here in the PNW. The room I keep my cigars In got close to 80 degrees that day. None of my storage is temperature controlled

A few days later I was looking through my stash and found a few beetles in a box. Looking at the rest, I ended up pulling quite a few boxes that I had purchased in the last year out.
Damage wasn’t to horrible, so I’m doing ok.

So here is the lesson I learned...
Normally, everything I buy goes in to a freeze.
12hrs in fridge at 32f
24hrs in freezer at -6f
12hrs in fridge at 32f
then room temp for a little while before they get their first look at the humidor or cooler.

This has turned out not to be enough time I’m guessing!

So I’m going to do 3 days in the freezer and see how that works.

For the record there is a temperature chart floating around the internet that shows how long a Tobacco beetle can survive at certain temps. After calculations off of that, I had originally thought I was safe. All while keeping the cigars from being frozen for the minimum amout of time (not wanting to damage, or change flavor). Didn’t work out so well for me.

Hope this helps someone in the future
 
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If properly protected I think you would have to freeze for a lot longer then a couple of days to have any noticeable flavor change.
 
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Interesting.
I have bought a lot of Cigars in the last 15 years and have never frozen any, and have never had any beetles.
Pretty able to keep temperatures around 68-70 degrees though, but it has gone higher on occasion.
Guess I have just been lucky and should consider freezing them...

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I know this sounds like a silly question, but if you froze all the cigars that you purchased, did you have any cigars in your humidor which had been gifted to you? Or possibly maybe you bought a couple singles from a local brick and mortar store?

I asked for the simple reason that there is the possibility that either one of those may not have taken the diligence freezing their cigars, and they may be the ones that brought in the beetles.???
 
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I think you have the best chance of getting a beetle infestation from the sources you just mentioned then from a reliable vendor.
 
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I also freeze everything before it goes into my humidor. I freeze for 4 days. I've never had a problem but most people who don't freeze also have never had a problem. But it only takes once and a lot of cigars can be ruined. If I plan on smoking a new cigar soon and don't want to freeze it then I isolate it in a ziploc. I saw this video many years ago and it convinced me to freeze everything https://www.cigaraficionado.com/video/ql4t8fNg/cigar-101-tobacco-beetles
 
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I also freeze everything before it goes into my humidor. I freeze for 4 days. I've never had a problem but most people who don't freeze also have never had a problem. But it only takes once and a lot of cigars can be ruined. If I plan on smoking a new cigar soon and don't want to freeze it then I isolate it in a ziploc. I saw this video many years ago and it convinced me to freeze everything https://www.cigaraficionado.com/video/ql4t8fNg/cigar-101-tobacco-beetles
Nice video. Very interesting
Fortunately I have always lived in places with good climate control, so have had no problems keeping my smokes below 70 degrees.

On rare occasion it has gone higher for part of a day, but still didn't have any issues.



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