Hot delivery

[strife]

A box of cigars were sent out yesterday via UPS and arrived today. The package had to be in the mid 80's, the contents even hotter from sitting on the truck. Should I play it safe and do the fridge->freezer->fridge->room temp->humidor routine with these or should I just quarantine and keep an eye on them?

 

[lbowles2]

I've never done anything special with mine and they have been fine... and lately I've had some arive pretty warm. Of course I have never heard of any special treatment so maybe I SHOULD be doing something... :lookaroun

 

[benday]

someone will correct me but from extensive research it takes a few days of heat to allow eggs to hatch. i would just let cool down and isolate for a little.

 

[andy]

i thought it took weeks for eggs to hatch.

 

[strife]

^^^^^See!!^^^^^ This is exactly why I'm asking. I knew I'd get a definitive answer from you guys. :stretchgr

 

[tubaman]

If you are worried about them, keep them quarantined and check them out in a couple weeks. I don't think you need to go through the freeze route.

 

[dpricenator]

summertime can be dangerous. A day or two in a warehouse or in a truck at 85+ then sitting on your porch all day. I would leave the box sealed for a couple months. Even if beetles do hatch they will have no reason to leave a box full of tobacco, and they won't run through 2-3 generations in that amount of time. So once put back into proper storage the beetle "colony" would die off. Of course this is only a guess and I would never want any beetles in my humi, and if one was found then everything would get frozen. Maybe put your box in a tupperware in your humi it would give you more comfort for the next month or so.

 

[jjon90]

Tobacco beetles have a life cycle - egg, larva, pupa and adult - that lasts about 10 to 12 weeks total. You should have em all smoked by then????:stretchgr

 

[LiLo]

Quarantine them. If nothing happens after a week then you are good to go. As long as you keep your cigars below 72 degrees you shouldn't have any trouble.

 

[Alwayslit]

From my understanding everyone is flash freezing their cigars before they hit the market.

 

[BrooksW]

It takes more then a few days for eggs to hatch...you should have no problems at all if you are just talking about the time a box is hot while in transit...

~brooks

 

[AlohaStyle]

From my understanding everyone is flash freezing their cigars before they hit the market.

I didn't see or hear of any freezing operations at the My Father factory. That's not to say they don't do it before shipping out or once it's off the boat in Miami, but I have not heard anything about them doing it.

Are you talking cuban cigars or all?

 

[CaTeacher]

I'd freeze them for peace of mind.

 

[BEN(SWEDEN)]

Freeze them, why shouldnt you??!! Better to be safe! I freeze everything!

 

[smokingIsh]

Are the factorys kept at a certain temp? I would think they arent but I may be wrong. I dont know. It gets damn hot here. I have never run into an issue and I would say if a box sits in your mailbox, doorstep, etc... here it could easily reach temp into the 90's.

 

[cvm4]

I know Habanaos freezes their cigars now. I'll have to do some research as to what degree below freezing actually affects the cigar beetles. I forgot where I saw that.

Posted via Mobile Device

 

[Alwayslit]

I didn't see or hear of any freezing operations at the My Father factory. That's not to say they don't do it before shipping out or once it's off the boat in Miami, but I have not heard anything about them doing it.

Are you talking cuban cigars or all?

.....from what I've heard they're doing it also.

 

[ChazHollywood]

I've read most factories fumigate, and some freeze. Some large vendors also freeze.

Personally, I freeze everything that comes in if I don't plan on smoking it immediately. I haven't noticed any degradation in quality since I started doing it, and I feel a lot safer. The only downside is it means waiting a month for the sticks to settle afterward before I smoke 'em.

-Charles

 

[strife]

Thanks guys, I'm going the quarantine route. I read somewhere that cigars go through a vacuum process at the factory to cause the eggs to squish but I've never been able to confirm that.

 

[Greyghost]

Personnal experience, well a friend of mine who came in for a fall turkey hunt last year. Last week of October and the day time temps were high 70's low 80's. When he arrived he left his truck parked at my house under some trees for 3 days. He left his travel humidor in his truck on the floor, forgot them since he was smoking mine for 3 days and we used my truck. Well on the 4th day we took his also since the hunt that day was going to be about 6 miles of searching. He realized that 4th morning he left his humi in the truck and just got one out and lit it up on the way to the area. It was still dark when we arrived and made our way to the LP. We heard turkeys about 300 yards in the roost at first light and got to within about 125 yards to wait till they flew down to attempt a scatter. Well they remained on roost well after good light (they may have heard or seen us), anyway we were waiting and all of a sudden he started cussing really loud (so much for that hunt). When asked what was wrong he showed me 2 larva's wiggling from the tip of his cigar.

When he got back home the cigars he had in his humi were all good.

I used to just put them aside before and watch them for a couple weeks.

After that I freeze all shipments whenever the ambiant temp is 70 or above.

Overkill, maybe.