Humidor project

[Mark Twain]

I get jealous looking at all these cabinet humidors that people drop thousands on, so I decided to take a leap. I don't have alot of cash, but I went sniffing around the antique shops in old down town and found this Jem for $130.

The cabinet is about 4 1/2 feet tall and the inteior measures 22" x 21" x 16". It was lined with old plywood shelfs that only took ten minutes to pop out.

Here's the gutted cabinet and on the left is the Lauan plywood that I'm using to line it. It's 5.2 mil thick and the Lauan or "Phillippine Mahogany" is very similar in quality to spanish cedar in terms of absorbing and standing up to humidity. Too much spanish cedar in a cabinet this size would be over whelming and ruin the cigars. I lined the cabinet with 2mil plastic that I doubled over and used to seal the walls of the cabinet before I put in the Lauan. I used stainless steel nails and screws and stayed away from glue.

I debated on lining the doors with Lauan but finally went for it. I used weather stripping around the door and bought some magainet cabinet clamps to make sure the doors remain tightly shut. I then lined the seams with some simple molding.

Some boxes to give it scale.:-P

I ordered four cedar trays and plan on making them into cigar drawers at some point. I also got a line on a soild 1" thick peice of spanish cedar that I'm going to use to build a shelf.

I'll keep you guys informed as the project goes along.:-)

[MarkM]

That looks awsome bro! Very nice job. If you need more singles trays let me know, I have 4 that I took out of my tower to fit more boxes, all you have to do is pay for shipping.

[habanohal]

Nice job! I told my brother that this winter, we need to build a cabinet for atleast 6000 cigars. I dont feel like dumping thousands for another. Most likely it will get half finished...like everthing else, but we are going to try

[new2habano]

That is a very stylish humidor, great work.

[El Presidente]

:clap: :clap:

Bloody nice work. ;-)

[Trevor2118]

As we Aussies say, "Bloody Fantastic"

[Cam]

very nice job, so the wood is totally non-aromatic? such a great find! im gunna try and make me one this summer also good work Twain!

[stever]

Well done! Given me some good ideas. What will you use for humidification?

[VigorishSLC]

Too much spanish cedar in a cabinet this size would be over whelming and ruin the cigars.

Are you sure about this, I mean, aren't cigars wrapped in cedar? Aren't humidors lined with cedar? I am interested because I'm planning a project of my own and have never considered the prospect of too much cedar. Looks mighty nice, though! :-)

[bobsled]

Nice, I too have a similar cabinet that I was thinking about converting. Now is the time!!!!!!

Looks Good !

[Mel]

» Too much spanish cedar in a cabinet this size would be over whelming and

» ruin the cigars.

»

» Are you sure about this, I mean, aren't cigars wrapped in cedar? Aren't

» humidors lined with cedar? I am interested because I'm planning a project

» of my own and have never considered the prospect of too much cedar. Looks

» mighty nice, though!

I disagree that a lining of spanish cedar would be improper and overwhelm the cigars. I would rather use solid wood anyday over the laminated stuff. I also think wood glues are fine for building because they are water based and dry odorless. Oh well to each his own. I have built all my own humidors and I can agree with the pleasure of self built boxes.

[1f1fan]

Looks great. Very nice job!

[Mark Twain]

» » Too much spanish cedar in a cabinet this size would be over whelming and

» » ruin the cigars.

» »

» » Are you sure about this, I mean, aren't cigars wrapped in cedar?

» Aren't

» » humidors lined with cedar? I am interested because I'm planning a

» project

» » of my own and have never considered the prospect of too much cedar.

» Looks

» » mighty nice, though!

»

» I disagree that a lining of spanish cedar would be improper and overwhelm

» the cigars. I would rather use solid wood anyday over the laminated stuff.

» I also think wood glues are fine for building because they are water based

» and dry odorless. Oh well to each his own. I have built all my own

» humidors and I can agree with the pleasure of self built boxes.

Lauan isn't laminated, it's just Phillippine Mahogany cut in thin stripes which aren't nearly as powerful in terms of smell comapred to spanish cedar. The reason why I've chosen not to line the cabinet with Spanish cedar is because of the $ involved and the fact that I plan to store boxes already made of Spanish cedar. The amount of Cedar I'll be using in the project is for trays and a shelfs only. I've talked with folks who have done walk in humidors before and they all agree that the larger the area or the cabinet, the less spanish cedar you want to use.

[Mel]

» Lauan isn't laminated, it's just Phillippine Mahogany cut in thin stripes

» which aren't nearly as powerful in terms of smell comapred to spanish

» cedar. The reason why I've chosen not to line the cabinet with Spanish

» cedar is because of the $ involved and the fact that I plan to store boxes

» already made of Spanish cedar. The amount of Cedar I'll be using in the

» project is for trays and a shelfs only. I've talked with folks who have

» done walk in humidors before and they all agree that the larger the area

» or the cabinet, the less spanish cedar you want to use.

Good deal mate I see your point. Most of my cigars will probably not see to much time in my boxes, I smoke quite a few.

[wp2]

Very nice, thanks for the pics.

[CWS]

Beautiful job. I never thought of using Luan!! Any other feedback on this concept?

[Miami101]

Wow!

That looks great! What kind of wood are you using?

LOL

from Miami!

[Miami101]

Sorry it was late for me. I look over the posting again, and got the wood. Looks good!

[Mark Twain]

An update.

A long day for me, I did quite a bit of detail work on the cabinet. I ordered 4 cigar trays for $40, and wouldn’t you know, three of them fit exactly into the base of the cabinet. Instead of building single drawers I decided to put all three together and make a nice tray.

The one piece of Spanish cedar I ordered still hasn’t come so I’m stuck using the Lauan as a shelf. The supports are just simple poplar wood lined with plastic.

Work would have gone faster if the mailman hadn’t stopped by. I didn’t know that they could just give you the cart.

Well aside from the shelf that I want to make this is the final product. I drilled ¼ inch holes for ventilation (Would have liked to used a router, but I don’t own one. I would recommend anyone trying to build their own humidor to invest in one.)

[clovis]

Beautiful....

Please keep the pics coming as you progress.

On the positive side, I am inspired to attempt constructing my own humidor. On the negative, I lack any form of talent at this type of thing

[Mark Twain]

I go the RH up to 63% and started adding cigars over two days which brought down the Rh to 58%.

There's twenty boxes in there right now and I think the max capacity would be 25-30 depending on the size of each box. I'm using 3/4 of a pound of humidification beads as a humidification device.

I am also going to put in a small portable fan to help air circulation.:-)

[acecchetto]

WOW, that looks amazing. Congrat's on the great job, and as some said earlier, I think I have been inspired to make my own!!

Nice collection of sticks too, made my mouth water!

[bigwaved]

That turned out really nice.

[n2advnture]

Wow! That came out really well, great job!

~Mark

[Miami101]

Hi

Mark Twain

What is inside the platsic cases....also where did you get the draws?

I notice some of my cigars in boxes are kind of dry & hard, but the once out side are to moist. I have my Humi at 72...