The Humidor project

[cannonfodder]

A few weeks ago I picked up the last few pieces of equipment to round out my wood shop, a Delta unisaw tablesaw and jointer. So to try them out I thought I would make myself a humidor, a big humidor.


I have a large 400 count chest right now that is way out of space, I have overflow in a cooler which works, but not very fitting. I keep most of my sticks at work and having just moved to the corporate office had a bit of a problem. Apparently some of the executives take exception to cigars so I was told it would be in my best interest to tuck it away somewhere out of sight. So I got to thinking, I have a two drawer horizontal filing cabinet that is empty, I will just make a humi that will fit in it.


So I picked up some cabinet grade Red Oak half inch ply, a 4' by 15” by ½ red oak board, several 3'x8”x3/4” Spanish cedar boards and a few other odds and ends. I cut the cabinet to 33x11.75x9 and routed rabbits in the base for the bottom. The lid is cut from solid ½ inch red oak with a ¼ inch roll routed around the sides and front. The lid overhangs the sides and front by a half inch so no hardware is needed to open the chest. I used a 31 inch piano hinge that I recessed into the box and lid. The Spanish cedar was riped to 4 inch wide boards then I resawed and plained it to a final thickness of 3/16.


The oak got two coats of grain sealer and two coats of satin polyurethane inside and out. At 70% humidity you still need to seal the base wood. The glue joints are all urethane so it will stand up to the high humidity. The Spanish cedar is raw kiln dried lumber, it is glued in place with CA. The cedar on the lid recesses into a grove inside the box for a nice seal. The inside edge of the box got a thin foam tape to help seal the box and to cover the plywood edge. Saves me from ripping some thin oak veneer to glue over it.


Man does it smell good. My garage smells like a cigar shop, unfortunately Spanish cedar is high on the potential for lung problems if inhaled so the dust collector ran nonstop and I wore a sealed respirator while working on it.


The chest is pretty big, That is a Fuente 25 count box sitting in there for reference. This should hold a few hundred. Now for the hard part. Letting it sit for two weeks to stabilize. That cedar is kiln dried so it will suck up a lot of moisture before it is ready to use. I also had to take care to leave 1/32 tolerance between the end joints to account for wood swell. Those little lines and crack you see will all go away as the wood moistens and swells.


I think it came out nice. I think I will celibate by cleaning out the garage and have a Rocky Patel Old World Reserve and a little Oban 14 single malt, maybe a slice of that sourdough i just took out of the oven.

[Quick Orange]

Looks more like a coffin for a dwarf! Whatever its use, it's definitely nice. Good work!

[TomSD]

Excellent work! Are you going to make trays to stack in it or just stack your cigar boxes in it? Also, are you going to add an electric humidifier or just go with the packs? Something that big is going to need a good sized humidifier in it.

[VeeDubb65]

Nicely done. I see that you included a foam seal.

Have you put any thought into humidity control, or are you going to use it as an outer case for storing smaller humidity controlled cigar boxes?

[cannonfodder]

This will be more a box storage humi. It is so large that opening it a couple times a day to pull out a stick or two would let all the humidity out. I have a smaller 150 count box that the 'working' sticks will go in and this one will be for storage of the boxes. As to humidity, a couple (or 5) jars of beads will do the job once it is seasoned and ready to go.

[Quick Orange]

You know, if 400 sticks becomes unmanageable, I'm an aspiring smoker that would be willing to help you out

Do you have so many for aging purposes?

[mikemeatman]

Nice humidor. I have a three hundred count with a Cigar Oasis electric humidifier that works great. I'v heard good thing about the beads as well. Enjoy-!!!

[gregs656]

Looking good, I haven't had a good cigar for months. You must get through a whole lorra cigars.

[12stones]

Very cool idea. I keep a coolidor for all of my boxes, but this would be nice to add to the look of a room. Coolers aren't very good for the visual ambiance.

[cannonfodder]

I like to give my sticks 6 months or more of additional ageing although many dont make it that long. When I come across a good deal I pick a box up, several deals in a month can grow the stash very quickly.