TheFife Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 I have a cheap, 6' cabinet humidor. Unfortunately, it doesn't have a good seal with the front door closed. A slight warp causes a gap between the door and the frame. However, using a large quantity of beads, I keep a fairly steady 65‰ humidity (as measured with 2 calibrated hygrometers) with only a percent or two swing throughout the day. I have looked into fixing the seal, but I don't think I will be successful due to the cabinet's construction. This got me to wondering (and researching). Is a seal necessary at all? As long as temp and humidity remain stable, is there any reason for keeping the air shut in a humidor? After all, there would be a natural air exchange each time the humidor is opened. Additionally, all of the cigars are in their original boxes which traps the air to some degree already. So what do you think? Is a seal important? Right now I've got around 40 boxes, and I don't want to damage my stock with poor storage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Natedog Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 Not an expert on this but it sounds like you don't. And if you think about it, if for instance you lived somewhere....cigar heaven and the temp and humidity were always exactly where you like them to be, couldn't you just place your cigars in a beautiful open box? I think so my friend. Please, anyone tell me if I am wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habanos2000 Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 My personal opinion is that as long as you can control temp and humidity you're good to go. I think it's a good thing to let the cigars get some fresh air every now and then as well. Go ahead and sleep well at night! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shlomo Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 I would make sure there are no other aromas near the humi. I still feel as though it is not ideal, and I absolutely would fix or replace asap, but maybe I am just overly cautious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habanos2000 Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 I would make sure there are no other aromas near the humi. I still feel as though it is not ideal, and I absolutely would fix or replace asap, but maybe I am just overly cautious. Certainly not an ideal situation and nothing wrong with being overly cautious but I think cigars are much more resilient than many people give them credit for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shlomo Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 Certainly not an ideal situation and nothing wrong with being overly cautious but I think cigars are much more resilient than many people give them credit for. I agree that they are. But this is not a short term problem. It seems as though it is one the OP is willing to live with indefinitely... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordAnubis Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 A humidor is simply a sealed environment in which the ideal storage conditions for cigars are created. Whether it is a small wodden box, a big fridge, a walk in humidor or an entire warehouse. You need control of your environment so you can store your cigars the way you liek them best. It seems you have maintained ideal storage conditions depsite the poor structure of the humidor. Is the seal important? Absolutely. Should you fix the seal? Ideally, absolutely yes. Is the bad seal important to how you are currently running? Probably not. If conditions change, and you need to control your conditions in your humidor, will the bad seal help you? Hell no, it will be a pain in your rear end. If you loose control of you humidor conditions can you loose all 40 boxes of cigars due to bad storage conditions? Possibly. Those are the answers, but i am not your mother. What you do with those answers is up to you. You control your own destiny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bclass1 Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 A humidor is simply a sealed environment in which the ideal storage conditions for cigars are created. Whether it is a small wodden box, a big fridge, a walk in humidor or an entire warehouse. You need control of your environment so you can store your cigars the way you liek them best. It seems you have maintained ideal storage conditions depsite the poor structure of the humidor. Is the seal important? Absolutely. Should you fix the seal? Ideally, absolutely yes. Is the bad seal important to how you are currently running? Probably not. If conditions change, and you need to control your conditions in your humidor, will the bad seal help you? Hell no, it will be a pain in your rear end. If you loose control of you humidor conditions can you loose all 40 boxes of cigars due to bad storage conditions? Possibly. Those are the answers, but i am not your mother. What you do with those answers is up to you. You control your own destiny. X2 I agree with the notion that the seal is very important, if not the most important aspect of a humidor. As mentioned earlier, it's a "controlled" environment and it should only be subject to change as per the adding or removing of controlled moisture content within the humidor. Having a bad seal defeats this purpose even though the ambient temperature/humidity surrounding your cabinet is keeping the environment relatively stable. Still, it's a variable you cannot control. Secondly, I don't know what type of humidification system you have, active or passive, but a bad seal would generally mean that you would be working that much harder to keep a stable environment. The beads definitely help with that though. They do make small sized insulation strips, all types of thicknesses, that you could use to help seal the cabinet..I would try to rectify that if I had 40 or so boxes. Just my 2 cents, take it for what it's worth. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dafrey23 Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 I've gotta agree with the last two posts. You can't have a controlled environment if you don't have control over your environment. Having a bad seal allows the outside world to get into your environment creating a variable that you can't control. As long as the outside world is of proper temperature and humidity it won't be a problem, but as soon as it competes with your desired environment you'll have problems. Go get some foam tape from the hardware store and seal that thing up. It may not look great, but it'll perform. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFife Posted January 15, 2014 Author Share Posted January 15, 2014 Thanks for the input guys. You have confirmed my suspicions on 2 fronts. The first being that the goal is to control temperature and humidity, as opposed to doing that while also maintains a closed volume of air (in other words, if the entire world were 65 degrees and 65% humidity, there would be no need for humidors) . The second being that regulating temperature and humidity (the actual goal) is facilitated by sealing the air inside the humidor (though limiting the total air volume is not an end in itself). I will attempt to improve the seal on the humidor. However, as I mentioned in the original post, I'm not sure it will be successful. The issue I'm having with the seal is that the door is 6 feet tall, and it has a lock in the middle and a magnet toward the top and another toward the bottom. Where the lock is, as well as various points along the 6' length, the seal is tight. However, at other spots, the wood is warped and the seal is not tight. Applying a uniform thickness of sealing foam or other material may not work, as it will push the areas that are already sealed apart slightly (they will still be sealed as the gap is filled by the foam) but that will cause a corresponding increase in the distance between the frame and the door at all points. Unless the foam is very easily compressed, this will not significantly change the gap in the areas that are poorly sealed. Even if it does, I fear the magnets that are located toward the top and bottom of the door, will no longer be effective at pulling the ends of the door into the frame (due to the increased gap caused by the foam.). My thinking on this is based on trying to use weather stripping for doors. Despite purchasing the thinnest weather strip I could find, the results were as described above. Foam may perform better, so I will give it a try and report back. Either way, thanks again for the input. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bclass1 Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 As I mentioned earlier, they do make foam weather stripping in different sizes. I believe Frost King was the brand I used to seal my humidor. The foam actually compresses quite nicely and as long as you get the proper thickness, it should seal up well. Your objective must be to locate the areas along the doors (when closed) that are warped and need to have the weather stripping applied. It may only be a sporadic section here and there, not actually lining the entire length of the opening as it will not help your cause in some spots. This will be a trial and error on your part. As long as you can get the door to lock and create a good seal the magnets will still play there part even if they are limited. Also, I don't know if you have glass panels but if you don't try using the light test in the humidor when you think you've gotten a good seal. I had to do this to my humi.. It took some patience and a little strategic placement of the stripping but I got it to work and now seals like a champ. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrotherBear Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 Assuming an average retail value of $250 USD per box, that's a $10,000 collection. When you think of it as a $10,000 collection, does it change your perspective on proper storage? That in my opinion is the true litmus test... If ensuring your $10,000 collection isn't 100% secure is OK with you then carry on... if not, fix it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skyfall Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 Assuming an average retail value of $250 USD per box, that's a $10,000 collection. When you think of it as a $10,000 collection, does it change your perspective on proper storage? That in my opinion is the true litmus test... If ensuring your $10,000 collection isn't 100% secure is OK with you then carry on... if not, fix it. ^This. Why spend so much on the collection, but not do the same preserving and protecting the collection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevblue18 Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 Figure out a way to fix the seal. Unless you have a Cigar Oasis or something I would be worried. Beads are great but I would think a little weatherstripping would go a long way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edd Posted March 15, 2014 Share Posted March 15, 2014 Instead of weather striping, would it be possible to skim it with filler and then sand flat, I've never tried this, but figured it may be a solution to the odd gap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevblue18 Posted March 15, 2014 Share Posted March 15, 2014 It would be possible I would think. I'm just lazy thats why I chose to weatherstrip. It creates a great seal. But if you can do it that way then by all means it would look better. Weatherstripping works great though. Post pics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pedro2486 Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 Instead of weather striping, would it be possible to skim it with filler and then sand flat, I've never tried this, but figured it may be a solution to the odd gap. If you wanted to do this here's what I'd Do. I would mark the door with lampblack and close it. Then fill the unmarked sections on the cupboard face a little. Rinse and repeat several times and you should be able to create a flat plane for the door to seal against. Use a long block when sanding back the filler to avoid creating new ripples. Then apply the thinnest weatherstrip you can find. You will get a great seal but on a natural wood cabinet the filler would stand out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sengjc Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 It is important. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canadianbeaver Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 If you wanted to do this here's what I'd Do. I would mark the door with lampblack and close it. Then fill the unmarked sections on the cupboard face a little. Rinse and repeat several times and you should be able to create a flat plane for the door to seal against. Use a long block when sanding back the filler to avoid creating new ripples. Then apply the thinnest weatherstrip you can find. You will get a great seal but on a natural wood cabinet the filler would stand out This is what I was thinking. Caulking and then thin weather stripping for an even seal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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