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How do you freeze your cigars?

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I saw a recent thread on here that spooked me on cigar beetles. Do you mind sharing your process of freezing your sticks? I have read many different things and would like to hear the real world experience.


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Some guys double bag them then pop in freezer for 3 ish days. Then pop in fridge for a day. Then out and let em come up to temp. Then into humidor. I personally don’t but I do go through my coolers ever so often. If I smoked more Cubans I’d potentially consider it.
 
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My initial first time freeze, I bagged all of my cigars in 1 gal ziplock freezer bags, put the bags in a bath towel lined banana box, rented a meat locker for a month for $5 and left them in their freezer for 8 days. Took them home, wrapped the baggies in bath towels and put the all in a large ice cooler for 24 hours to slowly return to room temp, then out of the ziplocks and into the humidor. Did it work? I've never found any beetles so I guess it didn't hurt.
 

Rupe

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Nothing fancy or OCD about it for me.

I just put them in a Ziplock bag (single not double) and into the freezer for 3-5 days, sometimes longer because I forget to take them out. I then let them sit out at room temperature for 1-2 days before putting them into my coolers.

Pretty simple actually.
 
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Single Freezer bag, add cigars box and all, make sure there’s no boveda packs! Suck out as much air as possible and into the deep freeze for 72 hrs pull out and wrap in a large bath towel for 12-24 hrs.
Thats it. ive done this with thousands of cigars and never had a problem.
 
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I put them in 5 finger bags. I put a straw in the opening, then close the bag up to the straw. Suck our all the air I can, and quickly seal it the rest of the way. I do this to try and take out the humidity so that I won’t get ice crystals to form on the cigars. Repeat this with as many 5 finger bags as needed. Put all of those in a freezer bag, and suck the air out of that too.
I put them in the fridge on laying on top of a towel, so they don’t come in direct contact with a cold surface. Leave them for a day. Put them on the freezer, again on a towel. Leave for at least 3 days, maybe up to a week. Back to the fridge for a day. Take them out and leave them on the counter for a few hours. Unbag them, and into the humidor.
I only ever really do this with customs. All other commercially distributed cigars have been frozen by the manufacturer before they are shipped.
 
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So my newbie follow-up question would be: if the cigars are already being frozen by the manufacturers before being shipped to the vendors, what's the point of repeating the process?

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So my newbie follow-up question would be: if the cigars are already being frozen by the manufacturers before being shipped to the vendors, what's the point of repeating the process?

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Because you don’t know what the cigars were exposed to once they left the manufacturer, then the retailer then either to you or the person who you got them from.

As far as the OP goes, I do 3 days in the refridge, 4 days in the freezer, then 3 more days back in the refridge. If it’s a whole box, I might freeze it for 5 days.
 

Nacho Daddy

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here is the story....

you need to freeze any cigars direct from Cuba, especially custom rolls.

you can, of course, freeze anything, the double ziplock bag is a good idea, I like to leave them in the freezer for 3 days.

then a day in the fridge to gradually warm, and then a day to regain room (humi ) temps.

there are no noticeable problems, since 99.9 % of everything you have ever smoked has been frozen.
 

StogieNinja

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I tell everyone who listens: I’ve gotten beetles in a box fresh from My Father. If you can get them from that factory, you can get them anywhere.

I freeze everything that comes through my door, Cuban and new world.

Triple-freezer bag, use a straw to suck out excess air. Freeze for three days, leave on the counter for a day, then into my humidor.

All done. Easy and total peace of mind.
 
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Supposedly everything is frozen from the factories... yet people still get beetles. I do it to every cigar before they go into my humi. The peace of mind is worth it. I use a single ziplock, 4 days in freezer, one day in fridge and that's it. Simple. Go crazy with the details if you want but I choose not to.
Here's some background info.
 

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Great information all, thank you! After reading, I think I am going to start doing this to be safe. If I had my cigars in multiple places I might chance it. But they are all in 1 place. Also really helpful to know that I don’t have to do the 10 step process I saw on google lol.


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Stogiewear

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To be honest, in my 25 years of smoking cigars I have never put a cigar in the freezer. I have never had a problem with with beetles. I am sure it has happened as other have stated here just have never had the issue myself.
 
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@Stogiewear how many cigars have you stored at a time on average over the years and did you store them all in the same humidor?


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Stogiewear

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@Stogiewear how many cigars have you stored at a time on average over the years and did you store them all in the same humidor?


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I store all my cigars in the same humidor. I have a JC Pendergast glass front cabinet humidor that I got probably 20 years ago. I would guess I probably have anywhere from 500 - 1000 cigars at any given time depending on how many I order vs how many I am smoking :)
 
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