I'm burning up!!

[Mr.Draned]

Hey gang, this has probably been asked before, but I need some advice and I'm asking again.
I received a sweet humi from a brother on the forum (as well as some sweet cigars from some other brothers) and I have really enjoyed using it. Temp and humidity were solid for a while, then the heat hit.
My humidity is still holding around 65-66%, but the temp is hovering around 72-75 degrees. I've read that this is no good.
I have no basement, I've tried a closet and other "cool" spots in the apartment and no luck. I used the ac yesterday and ran it at 70 in one room, but my wife and I felt that was a waste of resources as well as made the room freezing to anyone passing through or using the room.
I have a cooler that I'm going to clean today, line with some cedar, toss in some Bovedas and see what happens. I figure that if it gets too warm I can always toss in an ice pack in a sealed container (to avoid condensation) and put that inside to help regulate.
Now I know many of you will suggest a wine cooler, but even a used one is not in our budget at this point in time. Sure, it is by far the best idea, but I have to figure something out besides that route.
Thanks in advance guys, and I hope you're all having a great Sunday!

 

[THEMISCHMAN]

Try to find the coolest place in the house and store it there. Before I got the wineador I stored my tuppedors under the bed in the spare room.

 

[Mr.Draned]

@THEMISCHMAN, thanks my man. I'll give that a shot today, as it's supposed to get in the high 80's or low 90's today.
If nothing works here, I may have to ask my brother to store the humi in his basement and keep a tupperdore here for daily smokers. He lives up the block from where I teach, so stopping in to grab some sticks is no issue.

 

[ZippoGeek]

Question: can Ian just freeze all his sticks preemptively to kill any dormant beetles? Then the room temperature would no longer be an issue...right? This isn't a rhetorical question; I'm asking out of ignorance.

 

[hot grits]

Question: can Ian just freeze all his sticks preemptively to kill any dormant beetles? Then the room temperature would no longer be an issue...right? This isn't a rhetorical question; I'm asking out of ignorance.

Thats what i do. Freeze everything before it goes in the humi.

 

[Mr.Draned]

Hhhhmmmm, very interesting idea and thanks for asking this one Jason!
Do I freeze them for 24 hours, then "thaw" in fridge for a certain time before putting back in the humi?

 

[ZippoGeek]

Hhhhmmmm, very interesting idea and thanks for asking this one Jason!
Do I freeze them for 24 hours, then "thaw" in fridge for a certain time before putting back in the humi?

@8ball (Eric) is an avowed stick-freezer. Ask him how he does it...or @hot grits .

 

[boltman]

A question on freezing. I would imagine the rh in a freezer is very high. If you are going to freeze would you put a few bovedas along with the cigars in a zip lock bag?

 

[ZippoGeek]

If you are going to freeze would you put a few bovedas along with the cigars in a zip lock bag?

My thought is that the Bovedas might freeze solid, rendering them useless. Can't say for sure because there's no freezing point listed on their MSDS. Although it does say, "DO NOT EAT." Glad they talked me off that cliff!

 

[Mr.Draned]

@ZippoGeek, I was also glad Boveda spelled that out for us! Had they not I'm not too certain what may have happened.

 

[hot grits]

I double ziploc bag them and then place them in my freezer for five days and than 1 day in the fridge. If you have a deep freezer than you can decrease the time to two days as they get colder.

There is a table on line that gives survival rates for the eggs and larvae at different temps and amount of time.

 

[boltman]

Just researching for a few minutes, it appears the rh inside a standard freezer is 80% at the lowest and 95% at the highest. So my question is, will a rh of 90% for 5 days of freezing cigars affect them long term? And, can you avoid this by placing the cigars inside a zip lock bag with boveda packs?

 

[hot grits]

I do not know how a boveda will work in the freezer as i have never tried it. I do not notice any ill effects from freezing personally. I know that alot of the bigger mqnufactures and a lot of CC's if not all are frozen in the factory before being exported.

 

[THEMISCHMAN]

Post #20 has some good info on beetles. If beetles are a concern freezing is probably a viable option. If it's just a temperature concern, I wouldn't be too concerned. From what I understand the lower temperatures just slow the aging process and higher temperatures allow cigars to age a little faster. I would assume slower and faster are negligible as far as speed is concerned. Again, this is just from what I've read. Hope this helps.
http://www.botl.org/threads/freezer-beetles.13731/

Here's some more info.
http://www.botl.org/threads/how-warm-is-too-warm.19286/#post-339476

 

[Almi]

This was from another website but is still some great info on freezing your stick. I have not had any problems when pulling my sticks out of the freezer and putting in my Humi but I do have a cool basement where it is located.

Freezing to kill pest.

Egg

-4 F / -20 degrees C Time to 100% mortality 1 hr

5 F / -15 degrees C Time to 100% mortality 4 hr

14 F / -10 degrees C Time to 100% mortality 12 hr

23 F / -5 degrees C Time to 100% mortality 48 hr

32 F / 0 degrees C Time to 100% mortality 240 hr

41 / 5 degrees C Time to 100% mortality 336 hr

Larval

-4 F / -20 degrees C Time to 100% mortality 1 hr

5 F / -15 degrees C Time to 100% mortality 3 hr

14 F / -10 degrees C Time to 100% mortality 12 hr

23 F / -5 degrees C Time to 100% mortality 96 hr

32 F / 0 degrees C Time to 100% mortality 288 hr

41 F / 5 degrees C Time to 100% mortality 336 hr

Acclimated Larval (acclimated at 59 F / 15 Celsius for 3 months to determine acclimation impact if any)

-4 F / -20 degrees C Time to 100% mortality 1 hr

5 F / -15 degrees C Time to 100% mortality 6 hr

14 F / -10 degrees C Time to 100% mortality 24 hr

23 F / -5 degrees C Time to 100% mortality 504 hr

32 F / 0 degrees C Time to 100% mortality 1176 hr

41 F / 5 degrees C Time to 100% mortality 1680 hr


Pupal

-4 F / -20 degrees C Time to 100% mortality 1 hr

5 F / -15 degrees C Time to 100% mortality 4 hr

14 F / -10 degrees C Time to 100% mortality 48 hr

23 F / -5 degrees C Time to 100% mortality 288 hr

32 F / 0 degrees C Time to 100% mortality 840 hr

Adult

-4 F / -20 degrees C Time to 100% mortality 1 hr

5F / -15 degrees C Time to 100% mortality 2 hr

14 F / -10 degrees C Time to 100% mortality 2 hr

23 F / -5 degrees C Time to 100% mortality 72 hr

32 F / 0 degrees C Time to 100% mortality 288 hr

41 F / 5 degrees C Time to 100% mortality 840 hr

 

[Mr.Draned]

Thanks for all the advice guys. I'm going to keep an eye on things this week and see what happens.
As of now I have it in a closet in the coolest room of the apartment.

 

[luckysaturn13]

Just researching for a few minutes, it appears the rh inside a standard freezer is 80% at the lowest and 95% at the highest. So my question is, will a rh of 90% for 5 days of freezing cigars affect them long term? And, can you avoid this by placing the cigars inside a zip lock bag with boveda packs?

the zip lock bag will help. Bovedas will be in effective at the temps in the fridge

 

[8ball]

I used one of the gel packs once in the freezer, and it froze like a brick, so I would say skip the boveda in the freezer. I usually do 48 hours in the freezer followed by 12 in the fridge. I'm not sure if I freeze them long enough though. I've not experienced any construction issues from freezing, but give them at least 2 weeks in the humidity before smoking them.

 

[Mr.Draned]

Question gents.
What if I buy a large cooler (one with a slot to put a cold pack), clean/deodorize, toss in a few Boveda's, add my cigars and swap out the cold pack as needed?
Would this work to get me through the hot months here in Philly? In theory it seems that it will work.

 

[THEMISCHMAN]

Question gents.
What if I buy a large cooler (one with a slot to put a cold pack), clean/deodorize, toss in a few Boveda's, add my cigars and swap out the cold pack as needed?
Would this work to get me through the hot months here in Philly? In theory it seems that it will work.

That would probably work. Just make sure you aren't getting drastic temp swings.