Cigar manufacturers all use some form of beetle infestation method, freezing is one of the most common and safest. Some use chemicals which are outlawed (I guess you could say only outlaws use that method) Others use high pressure rooms that build up a huge amount of air pressure so the eggs burst and or crush the beetles (not sure how this effects the cigars in the long run) but the most common method is freezing, Padron and some of the best use it. But there is a little science to it, so just drop $5 in the mail to my address and you can read the book LOL,, here goes,
first of all make sure the cigars are properly humidified 70/70 or 70% Relative humidity, the other guy was right a little too much humidity they could burst, happened to mine today, but 1 out of about 100 is not bad, and it could have had the flaw before I froze it or it got dropped or something,
Freezing does not hurt the taste unless done improperly; in fact it helps crystallize the oils (plume)
Best Freezing method I know of,,
line the cigars flat into a freezer Ziplocs, no the ones with the new fangled zipper on them but the old style and best use top quality bags like zip lock,, make sure you put just enough cigars in bag so they are flat, dont double stack, use quart bags first if the cigars are not too long, always try to keep uniformly straight in bags, use gallon for longer cigars, zip the bag up till almost the end and slip a straw into the bag all the way to the bottom and start sucking out the air and slowly pulling the straw out, once to the top pull the straw out quick and seal the bag so they are vacuum sealed (there might be other ways to vacuum seal but this is the least harmful to the cigars that I know of (the gentle approach, treat cigars like women, that is if you are a gentleman, no pun intended) once you have a few bags filled, gently put these into a gallon bag and vacuum seal that bag,, hence removing all the air which holds moisture (getting the feel of it yet)
dont put to many in any one bag, maybe 3 or 4 quart bags into one gallon bag,, remember being gentle is key here
now that you have a few gallon bags,, remember these have to be freezer quality zip locks (dont skimp on bargain bags and dont reuse bags, just my rule of thumb) put these gallon bags gently into a paper shopping bag and stack them uniformly as you can,, taking care not to have edges rubbing on cigars is the point here,,
Then put into another paper grocery bag, yes two bags will keep the frost from biting,,
Now freeze for at least 3 days if not 4,, then remove and put into fridge for at least 24 hours,, the crisper is the best place so it does not get slapped a few times with them Bud light bottles you keep reaching in for
Then if you have a wine cooler ro beverage cooler at about 50 to 60 degrees put into that for 24 hours
(point is bring to 70 degrees slowly, taking form freezing to 70 degrees instantly ro quickly will cause some bursting and wrapper failure)
Now they are ready to unseal and put into a CLEAN humidor,,
I do this with all my cigars,, especially Cubans as they are almost surely going to have eggs in them and not been treated,, Cuba is pretty low quality nowadays when it comes to cigar quality and care (sorry but it is the truth)
They will be ready to smoke in about 24 hours in the humidor,, make sure it is CLEAN,, blow out with them hi pressure air cans, wipe clean, blow again, wipe again,, point CLEAN
Beetles hang out around dog food, pantries, as the bugs like other stuff besides just tobacco, except coffee, most bugs wont go near coffee, caffeine is a great pest control substance
I just did about 100 cigars after getting back form the IPCPRA convention, I do this because some manufacturers DONT do a good job and some dont do at all and even though some do great jobs there is still a chance that one egg survived,, unlikely but there is a chance, now with a humidor with $1000's of cigars in it who wants even a .01% of beetles
my motto ; better safe than sorry, I do this because I lost about $1000 or more of cigars once because I bought a box of CAO Sopranos and they all seem to have beetle problems, (it is a known fact just take one and leave it out in 80+ degree weather for a few days, they will hatch, if they dont you got very lucky)
so there it is remember the best manufacturers do this but some dont, and it only takes that one cigar to hatch an egg and then you lost the whole humidor if you dont catch in time,, and once they hatch and are in the cigars ,, if you enjoy smoking bugs then have at it,, bad enough there is microscopic eggs that we smoke most of which have been neutralized or crushed by freezing or other methods,,
Say are you going to smoke that egg or what !!
Hope that helps,, should have made an article out of that post
© Cigar Companero Online Magazine Marc Cote
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