The MDF humidor scam by elie bleu and others


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Greetings fellow smokers,

I have been seriously upset after discovering that several major "premium" humidor builders have been building humidors with lining that has only a thin layer of cedar veneer on top of medium density fiberboard. This means there's less than one millimeter between the cigars and the MDF which can release toxic glue fumes, especially when summer temperatures are combined with the high humidity inside the humidor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medium-density_fibreboard#Safety_concerns

I don't believe it's to avoid sapping from the cedar, since humidors have been built for ages with solid spanish cedar lining with minimal sapping issues and this veneering method can be seen also on humidors with lining made of okoume or mahogany(ST dupont humidor below as example).

I believe this is to make production cheaper, since building hundreds of humidors with solid wood is much more expensive than using MDF with cedar veneer. Now I just wonder that if lining is built like this, how could the rest of the humidor feature solid wood instead of MDF, I guess the visible part of the walls is also veneered.

And why this hasn't been exposed before, since it's completely obvious that if a person is paying thousands for a humidor, he's expecting at least solid wood lining, or preferrably completely solid wood construction, without a trace of MDF. To me this looks like a widespread scam since it goes quite unnoticed.

I am telling you guys this so you would be more knowledgeable than me when I bought an expensive french humidor some time ago. I suggest looking for real luthiers to build humidors if you're looking to buy a proper humidor, these famous brands are obviously charging for the name only and not for the quality. I first stumbled upon this through this thread:

https://www.cigarpass.com/threads/mdf-inside-a-diamond-crown-st-james-160-count-humidor.70594/

Before seeing that thread I had been wondering what is the glue line on the cedar lining just below the top of the lining, found on many humidors, and this explains a whole lot.

So first of all this is the issue we're dealing with:

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Just take a look at these humidors

elie bleu (the glue lines on the lining can be found even on bleu humidors from the 80's)

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ST dupont maharadjah model (probably made by elie bleu)

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Another ST dupont, this definately isn't spanish cedar so the veneering of the lining further proves it's not done to eliminate possibility of sapping but to save on production costs

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Dunhill

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Daniel marshall (at least these are the cheapest)

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Also I used to be a fan of Davidoff brand but got disappointed by their use of okoume wood for the building, but at least the lining is solid, not sure about the rest of the humidor.

How difficult can it be to buy a properly built humidor that also doesn't present a potential health risk?

What are your thoughts on this?

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Really disappointing this kind of cheap out on materials, no integrity, shame on these companies . However aside from not disclosing MDF being used this....

Veneer or solid wood construction

There are basically two different options for constructing humidors:

  • Based on MDF (medium density fiberboard), the interior is lined with a veneer of Spanish cedar and the exterior consists of a veneer of some type of hardwood (often cherry).
  • The entire humidor case is manufactured of solid wood and is lined inside with Spanish cedar (sometimes the entire humidor is made of solid Spanish cedar without any interior lining).

Contrary to popular belief, solid wood humidors are not necessarily superior to veneer humidors. The higher price of the material of solid wood humidors will usually be far outweighed by the substantially more complicated construction of veneer humidors.
Since the humidity inside the humidor is much higher than the external humidity, the internal wood expands and it leads to tensions in the walls of the humidor.

Here veneer humidors have the advantage that the internal MDF will expand less with an increase in humidity. Thus, fewer tensions in the inside of the humidor will develop – tensions which might otherwise lead to cracks and deformations in the humidor’s lid. A further advantage of the veneer construction is that high gloss lacquer finishes can be better applied on hardwood veneers.

Solid wood humidors of Spanish cedar are more susceptible to dents and damages since the wood is very soft. As previously mentioned, the softness of the Spanish cedar limits the gloss and durability of the exterior lacquer. For these reasons, the construction of humidors based on MDF instead of solid wood has become the standard in humidor production.

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Seems like all the humi's I've looked at in the last 20 years have been MDF with a thin cedar laminate.   I know my end table cab is.  Found it out when I drilled it for fans, but wasn't surprised.   Seems funny to be upset about it.  

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Never heard of this. Very interesting topic. If this happens in top shelf humidors, it' definitely happening in the mid level humidors most casual smokers would buy. 

Anyone here that built their own mind sharing if they lined theirs or built it from complete cedar?

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1 hour ago, helix said:

Really disappointing this kind of cheap out on materials, no integrity, shame on these companies . However aside from not disclosing MDF being used this....

Veneer or solid wood construction

There are basically two different options for constructing humidors:

  • Based on MDF (medium density fiberboard), the interior is lined with a veneer of Spanish cedar and the exterior consists of a veneer of some type of hardwood (often cherry).
  • The entire humidor case is manufactured of solid wood and is lined inside with Spanish cedar (sometimes the entire humidor is made of solid Spanish cedar without any interior lining).

Contrary to popular belief, solid wood humidors are not necessarily superior to veneer humidors. The higher price of the material of solid wood humidors will usually be far outweighed by the substantially more complicated construction of veneer humidors.
Since the humidity inside the humidor is much higher than the external humidity, the internal wood expands and it leads to tensions in the walls of the humidor.

Here veneer humidors have the advantage that the internal MDF will expand less with an increase in humidity. Thus, fewer tensions in the inside of the humidor will develop – tensions which might otherwise lead to cracks and deformations in the humidor’s lid. A further advantage of the veneer construction is that high gloss lacquer finishes can be better applied on hardwood veneers.

Solid wood humidors of Spanish cedar are more susceptible to dents and damages since the wood is very soft. As previously mentioned, the softness of the Spanish cedar limits the gloss and durability of the exterior lacquer. For these reasons, the construction of humidors based on MDF instead of solid wood has become the standard in humidor production.

 

After finding about this so called MDF scam in my french humidor I have been researching humidor building a bit. This is some of the info I have relevant to this article:

In this article the "based on mdf" construction is talking about veneer on the exterior, mdf in between and spanish cedar lining on the inside, it seems to me. This is common method of building these days and is still quite good even though with possibility of MDF glue fumes still. This method seems to be the method these above mentioned companies use for building, but with the MDF use extending to the lining inside the humidor. And this is understandable only for cheap humidors where saving 50 dollars on solid spanish cedar lining wood is a factor.

The article also dismisses the possibility of using solid wood but still having veneer construction, as example veneer on exterior, maple, mahogany or whatever solid wood in the middle and spanish cedar on the inside lining. This method of building has been used for a long time and cracks only if built by an amateur. Also I understand some don't want to use any spanish cedar (due to sapping risk) in their humidors, I guess this is why davidoff uses okoume, even though it's still softer than spanish cedar. But to me it's a big factor that at least the lining is solid wood, this is why I'm upset about this kind of lining with MDF. Especially when I don't want any MDF in my humidor, just in case.

The method mentioned in the article of using solid spanish cedar construction without any veneer on the exterior is very rarely used and is somewhat expensive way to build, therefore the talk in this article about it's softness and finishing properties is sort of irrelevant since there are so few available.

 

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  Sometimes you can have too much Spanish cedar in my opinion. I've seen some large humidors/walk ins etc that were panelled every inch in the stuff and to say it was overwhelming is an understatement. This might be a happy by-product


Agreed!

When I finally do my walk-in, only the shelves will be made out of that stuff. I'm storing in boxes anyway so there will be plenty of cedar around.
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2 hours ago, TheGipper said:

Stopped reading at "toxic glue fumes".

The fine line between huffing and herfing...

  • Haha 1
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The possible glue fumes is just part of the problem, although some can be released when high temperatures are combined with the high humidity inside the humidor. Something I would not like to worry about personally.

The main problem is cheaping out on lining to save 50-100 usd on materials in the making of these expensive humidors. Another problem for me is that I would have never guessed that these humidors are just made to look like solid wood, all the way from the lining to the space between the lid and bottom part of the humidor.

The MDF construction in other parts of the humidor isn't such a big issue since it's understandable the factory workers can't make a box out of solid wood completely.

And yes, there's plenty of old solid wood humidors around, and these have been always appreciated by the aficionados. It's a shame these days these are hard to find.

I just wanted to share this because I didn't find this info anywhere.

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Yet MDF is dimensionally stable. It is quite probable that some of these folks have MDF specifically made for them. Perhaps not the cheap knockoffs made in certain parts of the world, but others certainly.

I don't use wood humidors (except for the Aristocrat that my wife bought for me about 2 decades ago) because she bought it for me. Wood humidors, IMHO, are second rate themselves. Wood is porous and not conducive to precision control, like I am!!!

However, when you think about what a humidor does, and that is form a devising wall (or set of them) between the desired climate, say 70F and 60rH for the cigars themselves, where the ambient may be 80F and 80rH, then you have to consider the porous, and again the hygroscopic nature of wood, as well as its dimension stability at the hands of this differential environment, and you have a real need for a dense, stable wood product. Hence, MDF.

Humidors don't need wood! It is a traditional beauty, however a technological handicap!!! MHO... Wood humidors are from a bygone era where smokers needed to held hostage to a more powerful ambient. Today we have more than wood burning heating. We have entire HVAC systems for human comfort. We also have the ability to store our cigars in better, more stable controlled long term appliances. I evolve with the times, and so do my humidors!

-the Pig

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MDF, as has been mentioned, is the technically favourable alternative over massive board for a (desktop) humi. And its use even in the top-end premium range hasn't been a secret at all. What seems surprising (at least to me), is that also the inner lining is not massive cedro. That fraction of a millimetre of veneering is just cosmetics, doing just nothing technically.

20 hours ago, TheGipper said:

Stopped reading at "toxic glue fumes".

I'm always surprised how hypochondriac us cigar smokers can be about everything other than cigar smoke.

Same holding for the all so deadly 'plume'....:ph34r:. Funny thing is, formaldehyde is a generic component of tobacco smoke.

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The veneering of the lining and how it's such a widespread(even on humidors without spanish cedar use) is the main point of this post. But I guess the reason the lining is veneered is that if you have to build 500 humidors or so, there's a whole lot wood saved, but it's not much of money saved per humidor.

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4 hours ago, PigFish said:

Yet MDF is dimensionally stable. It is quite probable that some of these folks have MDF specifically made for them. Perhaps not the cheap knockoffs made in certain parts of the world, but others certainly.

I don't use wood humidors (except for the Aristocrat that my wife bought for me about 2 decades ago) because she bought it for me. Wood humidors, IMHO, are second rate themselves. Wood is porous and not conducive to precision control, like I am!!!

However, when you think about what a humidor does, and that is form a devising wall (or set of them) between the desired climate, say 70F and 60rH for the cigars themselves, where the ambient may be 80F and 80rH, then you have to consider the porous, and again the hygroscopic nature of wood, as well as its dimension stability at the hands of this differential environment, and you have a real need for a dense, stable wood product. Hence, MDF.

Humidors don't need wood! It is a traditional beauty, however a technological handicap!!! MHO... Wood humidors are from a bygone era where smokers needed to held hostage to a more powerful ambient. Today we have more than wood burning heating. We have entire HVAC systems for human comfort. We also have the ability to store our cigars in better, more stable controlled long term appliances. I evolve with the times, and so do my humidors!

-the Pig

Even Aristocrat cabinets are built with MDF and they are coveted by many as one of the finest wood humidors available. Looks like you are not dead yet after 2 decades! LOL :rolleyes:

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