Decided to freeze...

[PhilB]

Saw someone lately with a beetle hole in a stick (from before it got to him. He checked all stock later, no signs of any infestation, thankfully), and it reminds me that, even being careful, there are things you can't control (like what were the conditions in shipping/storage on its way to you? A previously frozen stick can still be put next to a contaminated one from another brand, etc).

I'm now opting for "better safe than sorry". All stash (minus a few days' worth) is now in the fridge, in transition to the freezer for a few days. All new stock will get frozen. If nothing else, it'll buy peace of mind in the eventuality of my non-temperature controlled stash getting a little too warm (it's all moved to the basement, so staying under 70 degrees so far, but you never know.)

Thankfully, I have way less sticks than most here, so it's not too bad for me. Even a few hundred sticks sure looks like a lot more when you bag them all and keep them together, though!

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[Old Smokey]

Phil, while I have never found any signs of beetles, I had the same concerns and froze all of my cigars almost 2 years ago. Beetles are something I had just as soon not worry about. Just a few minutes of our time and no concern about a potential problem.

[Branzig]

Been buying cigars for over 15 years. Still haven't froze a single one.

I'm sure one day I'll eat my words.

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[Cigarer]

Actually I do this from time to time, and by that I mean when I buy from an untested source... I'm like 2-3 day shipping from cigars international and buy the bulk of my stuff there. No issues ever. Ordered from Holts, froze it just incase. To be honest same thing with private deals to a point. I should probably do it more often, but I just try and use "good judgement" for lack of better terminology.

Also when it's brought up in conversation is always a good reminder to me to maybe not be so lax

[jhedrick83]

Been buying cigars for over 15 years. Still haven't froze a single one.

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Don't say that! That's how you summon them...

[Sir Lancerolot]

I freeze just about all incoming cigars. The exceptions are any that I plan to smoke within a few days, or any that I figure have probably been sitting around aging long enough that if they WERE hosting beetles, the infestation would already be showing.

@PhilB - you said they started in the fridge. I used to do that, but I don't any more. I haven't noticed any difference.