Cabinet Purchasing Advice, Please...

[gweilgi]

So after a year and a half of doing the home reno/extension the hard way during COVID, I have finally been given the green light by She Who Must Be Obeyed (or at least consulted) to splurge on a Forever Home for my cigars.  At the moment, my long-term storage is six 50l tupperdors stacked in my Kennards wine locker -- not a satisfactory solution because of access and it limits my wine storage (another vice) -- so I am looking for a large cabinet of 400l/3,000 cigar size.

This has thrown up a few issues....

1. I'm in Australia, and nobody seems to to sell these here, or even do conversions.  If I could buy local, I would.  If anyone knows a chippie who does this sort of thing, I'd love to hear about them.  

2. The main countries that manufacture cabinets appear to be Germany, the US and China.  Past experience with other purchases mean that I am not keen on Chinese products (quality control can be, shall we say, uneven).  Does anyone have experience with US cabinets, in particular voltage conversion issues with the humidification?

3. In the past, my active humidification systems have always managed to produce a healthy crop of mould even when using distilled water.  Can anyone recommend a system that avoids this?

4. I am also looking for a system that offers both active humidification and temperature control.  This rules out a few options already, such as Marc Andre and the Schwaben (both Germans).  Any other recommendations?

5. Gerber -- the exorbitant solution, and I am not sure that selling my right kidney and left nut would cover the cost, but when I start to think about the value of the cigars over a lifetime I might just be able to argue myself (and, more importantly, SWMBO) into it.  Anyone in Oz have one of those, I'd love to hear your experiences.  

6. CigarCava -- the Spanish option.  Far more affordable, and again: any first-hand experience, I'd love to hear them.

 

TIA.

[Fuzz]

Asking a cabinet maker to build you one would be the easiest option. That way, you can design it yourself and have all the little extras you want. Just look at all the cabinets sold overseas, take design hints from them, and include it in your build.

Or just buy a 200 bottle wine cabinet and store all your cigar in there.Even better, get side by side to store wine and cigars. Just make sure that the shelves can be removed for stacking of boxes.

[gweilgi]

1 hour ago, Fuzz said:

Asking a cabinet maker to build you one would be the easiest option. That way, you can design it yourself and have all the little extras you want. Just look at all the cabinets sold overseas, take design hints from them, and include it in your build.

Or just buy a 200 bottle wine cabinet and store all your cigar in there.Even better, get side by side to store wine and cigars. Just make sure that the shelves can be removed for stacking of boxes.

 

 

Thanks for the advice; I think I may have to revisit this option.  I had discounted it before because of a few horror stories by people who went down that path and found out the hard (and expensive) way that humidity and temperature requirements can be fatal for "normal" cabinetry.  But I know a guy ....

As for alternatives, that is one big rabbit hole!  When I googled "temperature and humidity cabinet", I found all sorts of stuff, from lab equipment to cabinets for ageing cheese and sausages (yum) to cabs for photographic equipment and even one guy who builds these things to store his guitars ....

 

[Eric05]

Look at wacata humidors. That might be a good option for you. If they ship out to you. 

[Queens88]

DeArt might be worth checking out. When I purchased mine back in September they were running a 50% reduction on all humidors.

[gweilgi]

20 hours ago, Eric05 said:

Look at wacata humidors. That might be a good option for you. If they ship out to you. 

Thanks for the heads-up.  I have sent off an email to enquire about temperature regulation as well as humidification (their website wasn't too clear).

Shipping, IME, is actually the easy part because I can always make my own arrangements and have things picked up directly from the factory/workshop.  The difference between my own shipping costs and the discount form a manufacturer isn't too painful.