Help!

[Shelby07]

I met with a friend from out of town last Friday night. We exchanged cigars, as usual. He gave me some hand-rolled cigars from a local shop where he lives. As I usually do, I segregated the cigars, but I took the humi pak that was in the bag and put it in my humidor. Today I opened up the drawer and found a beetle hole in one of the cigars directly under it.

I have examined everything and that is the only one that I found, but I'm wondering if it would be best to freeze everything or just keep an eye on them. I have tossed the one with the hole and have taken the rest of the loose ones and put them in the freezer. My other cigars are stored in boxes inside the humidor.

What do y'all think? I'm thinking I should just keep a close eye on the boxed ones rather than going thru the freezing process. Is this a dumb thing to do?

[cinda]

What's the cash value of that humidor contents? So your theory is the beetle, the lone one hopped a ride on the humi pack and was able to dig his way though the cigar in a day? How long can a beetle live on a humi pack? You are sure there is no way that cigar got the bug anywhere else? I just think your naive to think that just one beetle was taking a ride on that pack if thats the way you belive it happened. You are sure it a beetle hole? I might of kept one of those cigars out to see if it itself had beatles. In any event I am guessing you have a grand in the humi knowing how you roll so I would be proactive, but what do I know....

[Shelby07]

What's the cash value of that humidor contents? So your theory is the beetle, the lone one hopped a ride on the humi pack and was able to dig his way though the cigar in a day? How long can a beetle live on a humi pack? You are sure there is no way that cigar got the bug anywhere else? I just think your naive to think that just one beetle was taking a ride on that pack if thats the way you belive it happened. You are sure it a beetle hole? I might of kept one of those cigars out to see if it itself had beatles. In any event I am guessing you have a grand in the humi knowing how you roll so I would be proactive, but what do I know....

The humipack was in the bag with the cigars until I took it out, so it's real plausible that it hitched a ride in the cigars and jumped ship when I took them out. If there are any more they are now in the deep freeze. The humipack is in the trash.

Of course I can't be 100% sure if it got there from the humipack... but it makes more sense than not. I check my singles every 2 or 3 days and the boxes less frequently. The one that was drilled has been in there for over two years. I took the humipack directly from the cigars and put it into the humi (stupid, I know now.) 2 days later there's a hole in the cigar directly under it. Yes, it was a beetle hole. I've been looking at that cigar for a long time and the hole wasn't there the last time I looked. No other cigars anywhere around it showed any sign of infection.

Is it possible the cigar has been infected for a while? Sure, but unlikely. What are the chances of the one lone infected cigar just happening to be under the humipack that just came out of a new bag of locally rolled cigars in a humidor with several hundred cigars in it. I've inspected every cigar, loose and boxed, and there is no sign of any other cigar being infected. Odds are the gifted cigars were infected and the beetle hatched in transit and was transferred inside a fold of the humipack.

In any event, all of my loose cigars, including the new ones, are in the deep freeze. I'm wondering if it's overkill to take the boxes out (maybe 25-30 boxes or so) and freeze them, too. I'm thinking it probably is overkill, at least for the moment.

[ashauler]

Absent any other evidence in you humi (dust, other damaged cigars), I think I'd keep the eagle eye out for a while and take immediate and drastic action if I saw anything else suspicious.

There is some risk in the freeze / thaw process itself, and imho, not a necessary one right now.

[denver24]

There is some risk in the freeze / thaw process itself, and imho, not a necessary one right now.

I've never frozen cigars, but in the case that I need to, does freezing cigars affect their quality when you bring them out of the deep freeze and they thaw?

[Shelby07]

I've never frozen cigars, but in the case that I need to, does freezing cigars affect their quality when you bring them out of the deep freeze and they thaw?

You need to do it slowly. I plan on 3 days in the freeze and 3 days in the refrigerator. Those who have done it say it has no effect on the flavor once the cigars re acclimate in the humi for a couple of weeks. As with any shock change in temperature and humidity the construction of the cigar could suffer.

[CoventryCat86]

I've never frozen cigars, but in the case that I need to, does freezing cigars affect their quality when you bring them out of the deep freeze and they thaw?

I've never done it either but I've talked with a couple of guys who have. They say it's very important to double zip lock the cigars and do every thing you can to remove as much air from each bag during the initial packing process.

If done correctly, freezing has no effect on the cigars, you'll never know that they were ever frozen.

Mark, if I were you, I'd just keep a careful eye on things for a while. If you see another beetle hole or two, then you probably should consider freezing them.