Freezing but still beetles show up?

[Jwrussell]

I'm not sure where I got this from but this is telling me my freezer gets cold enough to kill the eggs. Right now my freezer is at -4F and I leave my cigars in there for at least 3 days to make sure they reach that temp.

5c (41f) requires ~12 days (275 hours)
0c (32f) requires ~9 days (220 hours)
-5c (23f) requires ~4 days (100 hours)
-10c (14f) requires less than 24 hours
-15c (5f) requires less than 24 hours
-20c (-4f) requires less than 24 hours

From the same place I posted mine from. :grin: Cigar Weekly.



Chuck, Alwayslit, I'm sorry, but I have to beg to differ. There is plenty of research out there showing that both time and temperature contribute to killing the eggs.

From a University of Florida document:

Non-chemical control measures
including heat (140 to 145°F for 6 hours for large
spaces or 30 minutes in a 130°F oven for small
quantities spread in a shallow pan), cold (36°F for
16 days, 25°F for 7 days, or deep freeze for 4 days),

The information from CW comes from a scholarly document titled "Time-Temperature-Mortality Relationships for Various Stored-Product Insect Eggs and Chilling Times for Selected Commodities" by Mullen and Arbogast.

This document (published in 2006 has a chart on page 89 (3rd page in the pdf) showing time to 100% lethality that are consistent with the info posted earlier when taking into consideration the insulating tobacco. In fact, this study showed that even with temps as high as 60F all eggs were killed in a matter of 6 weeks. Of course, again, that was for eggs alone, no tobacco involved.