Vinotemp Electronic Humdior

[Freddy]

I have a wine fridge (in which I keep wine, duh); the temperature is set to about 55°. There are a couple of empty shelves on which I could store cigars.

Question: What is the lowest temperature at which it is safe to keep cigars? (I'm not concerned with the humidity since I can handle that issue).

[dball]

Bumping an old thread, but I just bought one today off of Ebay... $199 w/ $0 for S & H. I'll feel much more secure putting my real high end sticks in that than any other desktop...

I'll report back w/ opinions.

[kjmc]

I have one but I'm not very happy with it. Maybe I'm not using it correctly.

Temp regulating worked OK in the summer when I had my AC on but as it got cooler it fell off even though I had it set for 66 it was driving it down to 59.

I used the Xikar humidifer gel beads but my cigars were very soft like they were too moist. I think it was because of condensation that was dripping into the unit but not visible to me. I think it dripped off the cooling plate down under the internal plastic shell. There is no drain hole there else it wouldn't be air tight. It uses a fan to push cool air through the enclosed shell. I discovered it when I lifted it off my shelf and it spilled on me. Cold + Humidity = Extra Moisture. I don't know of any beads that react fast enough to balance humidity with an open puddle of water. I even kept it at 66(the highest setting). When I unplugged it I did notice Icing on the cooler plate. It wasn't regulating properly due that as well, probably. Its also highly dependent on the room its in. Don't expect it to cool properly if you don't have it in a climate controlled room, which kind of misses the point I think. I think above 80(its in the manual) it doesn't cool properly. I kept my room at 70 degrees 24/7.

The plastic smell is annoying.

It feels like the company saw how people would buy and mod their other products so they just made one with a laqcuer colored plastic front plate, threw in a varnished wood shelf(not even cedar), took out the wine racks and called it a humidor without really testing it or designing it for quality(for cigar use) in mind. I'm sure it makes a great wine fridge. But I wanted a humidor.

Maybe I'll take a look at it again sometime. Though I'm thinking I'll just gut the cooler and see if I can build a better one.

I'm open to any suggestions you guys might have if yours actually works well.

I bought it after my desk cabinet wasn't working it out for me. I discovered it was only cedar sheets lining particle board. And in the summer/winter the temp jumping up and down with my heat then A/C.

[socrates3]

I have one but I'm not very happy with it. Maybe I'm not using it correctly.

Temp regulating worked OK in the summer when I had my AC on but as it got cooler it fell off even though I had it set for 66 it was driving it down to 59.

I used the Xikar humidifer gel beads but my cigars were very soft like they were too moist. I think it was because of condensation that was dripping into the unit but not visible to me. I think it dripped off the cooling plate down under the internal plastic shell. There is no drain hole there else it wouldn't be air tight. It uses a fan to push cool air through the enclosed shell. I discovered it when I lifted it off my shelf and it spilled on me. Cold + Humidity = Extra Moisture. I don't know of any beads that react fast enough to balance humidity with an open puddle of water. I even kept it at 66(the highest setting). When I unplugged it I did notice Icing on the cooler plate. It wasn't regulating properly due that as well, probably. Its also highly dependent on the room its in. Don't expect it to cool properly if you don't have it in a climate controlled room, which kind of misses the point I think. I think above 80(its in the manual) it doesn't cool properly. I kept my room at 70 degrees 24/7.

The plastic smell is annoying.

It feels like the company saw how people would buy and mod their other products so they just made one with a laqcuer colored plastic front plate, threw in a varnished wood shelf(not even cedar), took out the wine racks and called it a humidor without really testing it or designing it for quality(for cigar use) in mind. I'm sure it makes a great wine fridge. But I wanted a humidor.

Maybe I'll take a look at it again sometime. Though I'm thinking I'll just gut the cooler and see if I can build a better one.

I'm open to any suggestions you guys might have if yours actually works well.

I bought it after my desk cabinet wasn't working it out for me. I discovered it was only cedar sheets lining particle board. And in the summer/winter the temp jumping up and down with my heat then A/C.

First I bought the Vinotemp VT-Bordeaux1 (42 bottle capacity). It sucked up moisture like crazy. DO NOT USE IT for cigars.

After a lot of phone calls and arguments I was able to exchange it for the Vinotemp VT-48TEDS-2Z. This is a 2 door 48 bottle cooler with individual temperature controls for each side. It works great. I use 65% beads and after 10 months of use I have not had to add any water. I keep the temperature at 62*F and the humidity stays around 65% at the bottom and 70% at the top.

I designed my own drawer and sent it out for quotes to a couple of shops. I received quotes around $2,800 for 12 drawers.

With plenty of time on my hands I decided to build them myself. So I bought a precision routing table, a router, the Spanish cedar, wood glue and clamps all for around $1,100. I had a lot of fun and the drawers turned out great. They are now holding approximately 1,000 Habanos from Robustos to Double Coronas. No plastic smell to speak of.

CigHum1.docCigHum2.docCigHum3.doc