Who can partake in a little Freezing Test?

[Fuzz]

That my friend is just to pragmatic a question for this board to handle!!! It makes me wonder further. Would the freezer be a 50's vintage American made freezer or a 60's vintage Soviet freezer??? -LOL

Maybe and I say just maybe... they are pulling power off the Gitmo windmill grid! -Piggy

An easy solution to both the unemployment and electricity supply problems. Use human electricity generators! Just hook up about 100 exercise bikes to a dynamo, then hire 1000 people to ride them day and night. Use a flywheel on the bike and more energy can be produced.

If we presume that an average person can generate a constant 25 watts every hour (rotate them every 2 hours), then 100 people could generate 2500 watts or 60Kw per day. I don't know how much electricity the freezer needs, so just add more riders!

Problems solved. Two birds, one stone!

[tmac77]

took my frozen cigar out a day late... ooops. should not make a big difference though.

will still be posting up but might be on the monday 6th as I am out of town 4th - 5th. Is that okay Rob?

[El Presidente]

took my frozen cigar out a day late... ooops. should not make a big difference though.

will still be posting up but might be on the monday 6th as I am out of town 4th - 5th. Is that okay Rob?

No problems Tom!

[drake2k]

OK, I'm in with BHK54 and Bolivar GM I just received from the lovely and gracious Lisa.

[dB69]

Test cigars: Bolivar Tubos No.2 LRE MAR09

I selected two most similar cigars out of five (didn't want to go through the whole box) by colour of the wrapper and firmness of construction.

The other cigar went to freezer on 20th May. Moved it to fridge on 23th May and outside the fridge on the next day and next morning to the humidor where the other cigar had been since 20th May. The tubes stayed unopened until smoking.

Smoked the non-frozen cigar yesterday on 7th June and the frozen one today on 8th June.

Both cigars had identical draw, burning and flavour profiles. Strong toasted tobacco, white pepper and creaminess as main flavours. In the end both cigars gave nice perfume and burnt wood.

What was different? - My mouth. I didn't eat before the first one and had a small dinner before the second. I tend to have salted and toasted peanuts almost every time before and during a cigar. Before the second cigar I did not taste much salt on the peanuts.

In the beginning the second cigar also tasted less strong than the first one, which had been one of my strongest cigars that I have smoked. However, in the end both cigars tasted similar, when talking about the strength of body and flavour.

I kind of failed the test, but I still think freezing does not affect the cigar anyhow.

The lesson learned: What you eat or don't is much much more important to the smoking experience than freezing your cigars.

[Colt45]

Test cigars: Bolivar Tubos No.2 LRE MAR09

Thanks for the report - interested in hearing others as well.

[El Presidente]

Cheers for that

[CaptainQuintero]

This is kind of danergous territory for me, it's starting to cross into the culinary sphere of influence. I managed to burn rice once....I just don't trust myself with putting cigars into freezers and then fridges and getting the timings right. I just know Ill end up with a mushy brown slop with a really pretty band sticking out of it!

There must be other things cigars can be exposed to to kill any possible beatle eggs. Maybe leave a box overnight next to a cd player playing one of Stephen Segal's albums on repeat?

[tmac77]

Thanks for the report - interested in hearing others as well.

I have been a bit remiss in my posting up on this. Been in and out of the city with little time to post. Will try to get mine done this weekend.

[tmac77]

Well I am a bit late on this here due to being out of the city off and on for business and pleasure. So, without further adieu here we go.

Cigar : PLPC

May 20th

Selected two PLPC cigars from my main humi from the same box with similar construction fill based upon appearance and squeeze test.

Pre test construction:

Both cigars had good appearance and gave a bit on the squeeze test but not so much as to say that they were under filled.

Test Process

Friday May 20th

Placed one in an airtight double Ziploc bag into the freezer.

Placed the other into my desktop humidor at 64% 18*C

Tuesday May 24th

Removed Frozen cigar from the freezer and placed it in the fridge.

Sunday May 29th

Smoked unfrozen cigar

Monday May 30th

Removed frozen cigar from the fridge and placed into my desktop humidor at 64% 18*C.

Monday June 6th

Smoked Frozen cigar.

Review of unfrozen/vs Frozen PLPC

Both paired with Perrier

Construction/Appearance & Pre-Light

Constrcution and appearance of both cigars remained unchanged from pre test observations.

Aroma at cold:

A nice old leather/tobacco scent for both cigars

Cold Draw:

Unfrozen cigar cold draw seemed a tad looser than the frozen but not enough to be deemed a significant variance from the frozen one. Detected some fresh roasted coffee tones in both cigars and nice balance of salty/sweetness on the cut cap

Fist light

Cedar and hay with a bit of bitterness on the first couple of draws.

The unfrozen cigar was a bit looser than the frozen one for the initial draws.

First Third:

Both cigars were giving off nice woody/caramel tasting notes as the first third developed with a bit of youthfulness present and a slight hint of underlying acidity akin to a very subtle white wine vinegar.

Burn is razor sharp on both cigars

Draw still a bit tighter on the frozen cigar. mmmmm I wonder if this is a result of the freezing or if I missed something on my initial selection. I would have thought, if anything, that the freezing/unfreezing process might loosed up a cigar as opposed to making it tighter.

Both cigars are what I would describe as light bodied with very little spice through the nose

As I get to the end of the first third some creaminess and bitter chocolate develops as do the cedar wood flavorings.

Similar flavour profiles through the first third on both cigars with the only variance being the slightly tighter draw on the frozen one.

Ash on both cigars is a nice grey/white and both holding on strong.

Second Third

Well this is either fate or coincidence but the ash from both of these cigars fell onto my shirt at about the same time as I was admiring their strength.

More pronounced caramel/cedar/leather flavours with a subtle hint of what I might describe as a smoky anjeo tequila in the background. This I detected a bit more on the unfrozen cigar than the frozen one but not enough to say that overall flavour was significantly different. Acidity has faded and a nice white pepper through the nose.

As the second third developed some coffee/cocoa falvourings coming through.

Wife commented on the lovely aroma of this cigar but was not present for the second one so no comparison there.

Still quite similar flavours on both cigars through the second third with the only difference being in that anjeo tequila in the unfrozen one.

Still a great razor sharp burn on both cigars and the frozen ones draw is now on even par with the non frozen one.

Last third

More roasted coffee beans/cocoa/leather and white pepper spice as I get into the last third. The caramel has faded a bit but lingers ever so slightly.

There is also still that smoky flavour. This is now more akin to a roasted poblano without the heat. Once again I got this flavouring more in the unfrozen than the frozen cigar.

Now, even down the end of the last third, the roast coffee bean/cocoa/leather is not getting overpowered by the spice and I smoked both cigars close to the nub.

I let them both die out in the stinky

Conclusion

Both cigars were what can be best described as Light/medium

Burn on both cigars was razor sharp through to the end with no relights required.

The draw was ever so slightly tighter for the frozen cigar.

The smoke flavour that I described as anjeo tequila in the second third and developed to a roasted poblano pepper in the last third were not as pronounced in the frozen cigar.

Overall I would have to say that there were few variances to the two cigars that I tested and certainly not enough to say that the cigar was impacted by the freezing process.

I must say however that I did like the non frozen cigar more than the frozen one. Does this mean that the freezing process had an impact upon the quality or flavour?

No f***ing idea.

I think I will however do this again with cigars from another Cab of PLPC's that I have to see if I get similar variances.

Tom

[Puros Y Vino]

Great review Tom. Cigar smoking is both and art and science it seems. .

You last note on liking the "non-frozen" over the frozen one opens up even more variables. For instance, if you let it reacclimatize in the humidor longer, would you have noticed a difference? Would it be better or worse? Would any differences be attributed to the freezing or just plain aging? Keep smoking my friend. For science.

All in all.. a great thread. Entertaining and informing.

[rfenst]

Low-temperature as an alternative to fumigation to disinfest stored tobacco of the cigarette beetle, Lasioderma serricorne (F.) (Coleoptera: Anobiidae)

http://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/aez/41/1/87/_pdf

[El Presidente]

Cheers Tom

There is a reluctance in this part of the world (Oceania/Asia) to freeze cigars. Your post adds valuable information.

[dB69]

In the active beetle topic I wrote I have heard that freezing the same cigar twice or more could be a bad thing. So, I just smoked a Partagas Mille Fleur BGE MAY06 frozen twice by myself. All I can say it was a tasty and wonderful cigar, yes! I'm not skilled enough to say if there's a difference compared to a non-frozen one.

It would be nice to have an opinion of really long time experienced aficionados like for an example Laficion, PigFish and others. I would also like to hear what the king-of-taste-buds CanuckSARTech thinks about this.

[PigFish]

In the active beetle topic I wrote I have heard that freezing the same cigar twice or more could be a bad thing. So, I just smoked a Partagas Mille Fleur BGE MAY06 frozen twice by myself. All I can say it was a tasty and wonderful cigar, yes! I'm not skilled enough to say if there's a difference compared to a non-frozen one.

It would be nice to have an opinion of really long time experienced aficionados like for an example Laficion, PigFish and others. I would also like to hear what the king-of-taste-buds CanuckSARTech thinks about this.

I don't think that my opinion is of any greater value than personal experience (foremost) or that of any other member, but I appreciate the thought.

I have frozen my own cigars before, not all of them, but due to beetle fears when I have had them. I don't think it makes a bitta' difference but as usual I have to add my standard caveats.

You can only smoke a cigar once. Its neighbor in the box could be very different. I can't see correlating two siblings and drawing a conclusion. Too many variables exist, including sample size.

What do we know of tobacco that might give us a clue? We know that depending on species of tobacco, properly stored tobacco should apparently have 10 to 15 percent water content. I have read this in numerous places... don't ask me to prove it, it is the work of others and from what I understand is based around shipping and storing of tobacco as a means to reduce shatter, and mold at the two opposing extremes. We do know that tobacco is hydroscopic and absorbs water from other media. We also know that leaves are wetted to roll and process. It follows then that the leaves swell as they absorb water. Wet leaves could potentially be damaged by freezing while wet, knowing that water is one of the few molecules that becomes less dense as it moves from a liquid to a solid. If we consider that the properly conditioned cigar is frozen at a much lower water content, less swelling of the cellular material, likely less than wetted tobacco alone, one could at least postulate that no perceivable cellular breakdown would occur. Is there a flavor component due to the cellular component of tobacco? I don't know! Could it be damaged? I don't know, but I don't think so. I can't say that I know whether water in tobacco is held in the cells or between them! I am just speculating that the damage that you would see in fresh vegetal matter, with a high concentration of water, would not be a factor here. That damage would likely be more of physical breakdown affecting more texture than taste. That is at least my experience.

The dehydration process does not seem to hurt the flavor of tobacco. In fact some would argue (like me) that the less water present the better the taste. I would think then that highest probability of damage would befall wet tobacco verse relatively dry tobacco. While on that topic of dehydration, many things, from beef to banana chips appear to me to have greater flavor concentrations when dryer, verses wetter.

Empirically I have seen, perceived to have seen as no harmful effects; I have no proof either way. I have only evedenced that cigars that I have frozen, have not been noticably different beyond what I would have likely experienced without freezing them. As usual, there are just too many variables for proof. Chalk up another in the column as "religious" tobacco beliefs. -Piggy

[gigabyte056]

Having now smoked two of the same Party shorts, one frozen and the other not.

I have tasted some differences but none that can be attributed to the freezing process.

Both Cigars presented the same body, evolution and burn, there were some differences in the tastes being the frozen one had stronger chocolate and nutmeg to it.

I will attribute that to the frozen one being a tad dryer causing tastes to be more pronounced, nothing to do with the freezing process IMHO.

Cheers

[beamer]

I have to apologize for not getting around to freezing and tasting the Bolivar PCs. I'm in the middle of a move, and planning a wedding.

When things calm down I'll be sure to post the details.

Thanks for understanding.

[PAL]

Have been smoked, perhaps, about 100 cigars from my freezer over some years. Smoke them right out of the freezer (they are fully defrosted almost at once) and never found a problem. Now doing an experiment of keeping half a box in the 70% humidor and half in the freezer for a month (now 10 days into it). Got about 40 CC and NC in the freezer, in ziplocks now. Will let you all know the result of side-by-side smoking of them in a few weeks.

Got some that have been in the freezer for two years of so and will sample and post (sorry, no 'control group' for these for all the scientific-study fans out there).

PAL

[goalie204]

I've basically done this a few tiems and there was no difference

[PAL]

if its not too late to get into this, please let me know. I started freezing variety of smokes about ten days ago: Trinidad Reyes (got the other half of the box at 70% Guess I got about 50 in the freezer now (partagas 898-cubans, ashton vsg, a bunch on NC as well.

For what its worth, I have some cigars (R&Js?) in the freezer for the last, maybe, two years, just a few (do not have a humidor in my 'other' place and have always just frozen them; been doing this since 1996.) I shall review them as well, though it won't be 'scientific'.

Please let me know how to proceed.

Thank you,

PAL

[Bcrowell]

I will also begin putting random things in the freezer. How should we proceed?

[android]

I will also begin putting random things in the freezer. How should we proceed?

"random things???"

[Bcrowell]

If its not too late. I have been freezing stuff for months now.