few questions about cigar beetles

[T.G]

Originally Posted by gijoey959

My questions are
Can beetles still do damage if they even got a change to get around while the cigars are doing the initial cool down in the fridge?
Will the sticks I'm taking with me be fine?
Can beetles hide in the humidor (aka cooler with boxes in it)?
If so, should I freeze the boxes that are in the humidor?
Can leaving cigars in the freezer for 16 days total cause any damage?

Thanks

"Can beetles still do damage if they even got a change to get around while the cigars are doing the initial cool down in the fridge?" Some, how much is open to debate, but ultimately, but they can't breed at refrigerator temps - so even if they do damage, the lifecycle grinds to a halt. FWIW, the refrigerator step is not really necessary, you can go straight to the freezer with the cigars. Think about it, they take cigars from ambient to -30 in minutes with the typical blast freezer that is used for beetle control by many manufacturers and some vendors and it doesn't hurt the cigars, your slow pulldown home freezer won't hurt anything taking hours to go from ambient to 0.

"Will the sticks I'm taking with me be fine?" Meh. Maybe. Depends how extreme the infestation is. The cigars you're taking might not even be infested. It's unlikely though that you have anything to worry about.

"Can beetles hide in the humidor (aka cooler with boxes in it)?" Sure they can. Just yell "olly-olly-oxen-freeeeee" and see how many come running out from their hiding spots.

"If so, should I freeze the boxes that are in the humidor?" I freeze whole boxes. Tobacco beetles will eat just about anything except glass, plastic, cedar, rubber and metal. Things like paper, certain foodstufs, some woods,,, etc - yeah, all that is fair game to them.

"Can leaving cigars in the freezer for 16 days total cause any damage?". Nope - I sometimes leave cigars in the freezer for two weeks or so. Doesn't hurt them one bit;.