The Half Ashed Cigar Forum

While in Cuba this time, I had the chance to open boxes before I purchased. I am EXREMELY glad I did. 5 boxes had beetles. '13, '14 and '15. Different brands, different vitolas. These were at the LCDH's too, where they are somewhat airconditioned.
All these years I have been on the fence about freezing cigars. Now, after seeing that, I am NOT. Everything I have bought from the Island at any time has now gone through the freezing process at home this week. I cannot recommend it enough.
There has been talk over the years that Cuba does freeze, there has been some talk that they only freeze exported products and not their domestic stock. NO ONE knows for sure.
For anyone unfamiliar with how the process works, it is simple. If you freeze your cigars long enough, the beetle larvae will die off as well as kill any living ones as well. The duration of how long is debated as well as some people put their boxes in the fridge for a day before and after the freezer to acclimate slowly.
I usually do: ziplock freezer bag. 1 day fridge. 2 days freezer. 1 day fridge.

There is also controversy over the temp needed to kill the beetles. There are people out there that think the freezers that are used in Nicaragua/Dominican/possibly Cuba are any better than what you have at home. The only difference is the active cooling aspect (fans to move air) which helps cool things down quicker. Your chest freezer or "deep freeze" operates at the same temp -18C or 0F. I work on both commercial and smaller restaurant refrigeration, no one ever needs to bring temps down lower than that. It would cost a fortune to keep their large freezers down that low in those humid, hot countries....I highly doubt Cuba has the financial forsight for that.

Just some food for thought as I would hate to see anyone else run into those little bastards eating their cigars.

Zedman05 wrote:While in Cuba this time, I had the chance to open boxes before I purchased. I am EXREMELY glad I did. 5 boxes had beetles. '13, '14 and '15. Different brands, different vitolas. These were at the LCDH's too, where they are somewhat airconditioned.
All these years I have been on the fence about freezing cigars. Now, after seeing that, I am NOT. Everything I have bought from the Island at any time has now gone through the freezing process at home this week. I cannot recommend it enough.
There has been talk over the years that Cuba does freeze, there has been some talk that they only freeze exported products and not their domestic stock. NO ONE knows for sure.
For anyone unfamiliar with how the process works, it is simple. If you freeze your cigars long enough, the beetle larvae will die off as well as kill any living ones as well. The duration of how long is debated as well as some people put their boxes in the fridge for a day before and after the freezer to acclimate slowly.
I usually do: ziplock freezer bag. 1 day fridge. 2 days freezer. 1 day fridge.

There is also controversy over the temp needed to kill the beetles. There are people out there that think the freezers that are used in Nicaragua/Dominican/possibly Cuba are any better than what you have at home. The only difference is the active cooling aspect (fans to move air) which helps cool things down quicker. Your chest freezer or "deep freeze" operates at the same temp -18C or 0F. I work on both commercial and smaller restaurant refrigeration, no one ever needs to bring temps down lower than that. It would cost a fortune to keep their large freezers down that low in those humid, hot countries....I highly doubt Cuba has the financial forsight for that.

Just some food for thought as I would hate to see anyone else run into those little bastards eating their cigars.

Question: Were the boxes you opened previously and originally sealed prior to you opening them? What I mean is 1) Had the boxes been opened for inspection prior to your viewing them? if they hadn't 2) Were they Revisado stamped or Anejado banded cigars?

MRN (author: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Post-Revolution Havana Cigars) claimed that it was (nearly) impossible for sealed boxes of cigars to harbor tobacco beatles because the offgassing ongoing tobacco fermentation/aging did not leave an oxygen rich environment for the eggs to hatch, larvae to pupate and beetle to emerge. I've only seen beetles in cuban cigars received as singles so I can't disprove this. BUT asserting that a box of cigars would be air tight (or air restricted) enough to not have oxygen seems...unlikely. It is possible that the tobacco would offgas ammonia and other nonfriendly gas in large enough quantities to prevent life but I find it to be doubtful.

I was at Tranquilo Cigars (locale of the 2012 Dogwatch Herf) once and witnessed Sean open a box of cigars that were absolutely infested upon delivery. He leapt from the counter and ran them outside the shop as if his a$$ was on fire and his head a-catching.

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All 5 boxes were opened in front of me. Cuban seal still in tact as well as Habanos sticker. @kurtdesign1

Very, very interesting. I've not seen that before.