from my experience...the burn and draw are drastically altered. my dad smoked that padron that was damaged and he had to cover the hole each time he took a drag to help the draw. not the way i want to smoke my cigar.

jim

Yeah ... you can try and smoke the cigar by "playing it like a flute" (holding your fingers over the holes while you draw), but that's no fun.

There are Patch Kits available ... and work extremley well!

Do the Bucs come with "Patch kits?"

Sketcha,
To answer your question about freezing. I freeze justabout everything I get. So far I have not had any issues with taste, burn, draw, etc. The key is to get good ziplock freezer bags, if you use regular ziplocks dbl bag them and as slim has said remove as much air as possible. A straw works great for removing the air!
3 days in the freeze.
1 day in the fridge,
1 day on the desk,
and back in the dor.

I am with rck, when in doubt freeze.
If you do not know the manufacturer and distributor have a good practice of beetle prevention "an ounce of prevention" may save a lot of heartache.