Help with new humidor... (a.k.a. Wow, this slope IS slippery!)

[punosion]

So, here's how my experience curve has gone. I've had an 8-cigar Pelican case, which has been happily fed by Boveda's and a few decent cigars around town for about a year. A friend has been going off the deep-end and ordering a bunch of samplers from CI and other online shops. At just the right time, my dad gave me an old 20-25 cigar humidor that had fallen into disuse...so I've gone in on a few of the orders, topped-off my Pelican and have just about filled my wooden humidor in a manner of a few weeks. Had a few that I've really enjoyed recently, so I think I'm starting to really get into this now...uh oh!

Now, here's where I can't decide. I like how the Pelican holds humidity and it seems nice and stable...the construction on the wooden humidor I'm not so sure about, but it's at least decent and I've got 3 Boveda's cranking away in there so I'm not too concerned for the time being. I've removed a few wrappers on a few of my cigars but since I'm a veritable OCD-ish freak when it comes to my hobbies I've been trying to keep the various cigars separate, alternating pairs I've with plastic and the ones without. (Gawd, I'm a fun one already ain't I? )

That said, I've been piecing together another Pelican on the web. I've found the Pelican 1450 with dimensions of ~ 14.5"x10"x6", which would nicely hold a few stacks of 9"x7"x1" trays I've found. The current configuration I'd like to do is 4x Churchill trays and 8x Robusto trays, total capacity = 88 cigars. I'm thinking this is a bit better deal than the Xikar and the X-treme cases I've seen.

Probably a bit more expensive and elaborate than just going with a wood humidor...but I like the stability of the airtight Pelican I got now, and going with the trays would keep everything real nice and tidy. I don't expect to be digging around in the lower trays a whole lot, but I would definitely like the capacity to keep a bit of a collection going. It also doesn't really need to be portable at all...got the smaller Pelican for that.

Anyone got any thoughts for me? Should I not be too concerned about cigars intermingling and wrappers touching (good cigars with good cigars only, of course)? Is cedar necessary for the aging process or just something to help stabilize humidity? For the size I'm thinking, should I just think about stepping-up to a cooler right away? As a side benefit, a cooler might help keep temperatures more stable than a one-walled case could...

Do I need to just STFU and go back to throwing words at the Search button?



Argh. Sometimes you feel like you can't read enough, then later you feel like you can't read anymore until you organize your thoughts and throw it out there...this is where I'm at.

Thanks guys!

[Tour De Cigar]

Hello and welcome to the jungle.. for long term aging yes, you would have to worry about the mix sticks but, short term nope......

[punosion]

Originally Posted by Tour De Cigar

Hello and welcome to the jungle.. for long term aging yes, you would have to worry about the mix sticks but, short term nope......

Where's that general "line" between short-term and long-term? We talking about a half year = long term, or a year or few?

Thanks for the welcome!

[Tour De Cigar]

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Cigars-21...ar-storage.htm

check this out.. hope this helps..

[MikeyC]

Welcome to the jungle!

I've done some searching in the past on CS and the general consensus seems to be that "marrying" of flavors is a non-issue (short or long term) unless we're talking about flavored cigars (ex. grape, vanilla, cherry, etc.).

My advice to you is to buy a cooler. They hold humidity like your Pelican and it will cost you a lot less. For organizational purposes you can put the cigars in old cigar boxes (available at most B&M's often for free) or you can order spanish cedar trays from many places on-line for $10-$15 each.

[hotreds]

Originally Posted by MikeyC

Welcome to the jungle!

I've done some searching in the past on CS and the general consensus seems to be that "marrying" of flavors is a non-issue (short or long term) unless we're talking about flavored cigars (ex. grape, vanilla, cherry, etc.).

My advice to you is to buy a cooler. They hold humidity like your Pelican and it will cost you a lot less. For organizational purposes you can put the cigars in old cigar boxes (available at most B&M's often for free) or you can order spanish cedar trays from many places on-line for $10-$15 each.

Unless you need to make a show of your humidor, a cooler is cheaper and very efficient. You can get a huge 120 qt one at Wally World for about fifty bucks- the same amount it would cost to get a decent 150 count wood table top. I actually use unlided tupperware containers in my coolerdor, have spanish cedar boards velcroed to the top and sides, use beads and oust fans, and various types of grills between layers, and actually need to get another coolerdor! What were you saying about the slope?........

[punosion]

Originally Posted by hotreds

Unless you need to make a show of your humidor, a cooler is cheaper and very efficient. You can get a huge 120 qt one at Wally World for about fifty bucks- the same amount it would cost to get a decent 150 count wood table top. I actually use unlided tupperware containers in my coolerdor, have spanish cedar boards velcroed to the top and sides, use beads and oust fans, and various types of grills between layers, and actually need to get another coolerdor! What were you saying about the slope?........

...it's slippery!

Thanks for the replies so far. I think I'm just going to ditch the whole "good enough for a gun" case idea...it's just a thought stream that took one too many "good-sounding" tangents, and I'm coming around to thinking it's just not a very efficient use of money and space.

I think it'd be a lot better to make a coolerdor that maybe might not be quite so full to start than to max-out a Pelican case in a matter of months. Maybe upgrade to a larger Pelican that does 65% to keep a good supply ready-to-smoke, then keep a coolerdor at 69% or something.

Grindin' away at the Search, reading stickies, being like silica gel next to water...soaking it up. There's so much good knowledge here...this place rules!

[NCRadioMan]

Originally Posted by punosion

Grindin' away at the Search, reading stickies, being like silica gel next to water...soaking it up. There's so much good knowledge here...this place rules!

Kudos to you brother! Alot of folks don't bother to make an effort. Whatever route you take, when you hang around here it doesn't take long for cigars to pile up. Good luck and welcome to CS!

[punosion]

OK, that's it. I settled it.

After some research, I just went for it and ordered the Pelican 1300, which I believe will hold 5 of those trays just fine. I got 3 Churchill trays, 2 Robusto trays. I also got 2 ounces of 70% beads for the 1300 and an ounce of 65% for the current 8-cigar 1150 model. With the bead tuebs and a few accessories, the new 1300 should hold 30 or 31 cigars.

The plan is to keep the 1300 for long-term storage/aging and keep it at 70%, then use the 1150 to bring stuff I'll smoke in the short-term to 65%. I'll probably still go a bit slow with a few 5-ers and splitting samplers with friends, but I'll definitely do a coolerdor when I can get a few boxes.

It'll be a nice rotation, I hope...nice, easy upgrade path.

[smokeyscotch]

Nice post. Put up some pics when you get it done. Would love to see your stash. It might also help some of us with pimping out our caddies.

[groogs]

Originally Posted by smokeyscotch

Nice post. Put up some pics when you get it done. Would love to see your stash. It might also help some of us with pimping out our caddies.

, I love to see new set ups,and am always looking for new ideas.

[punosion]

Will do! I can snap some shots of my current stash tomorrow when I have a good chunk of time.

Photography is another hobby of mine...such a different hobby, because you buy a lot of expensive gear but the end product (the photos) is cheap. With cigars you spend relatively little on the gear (unless you start to get into high-end humidors and walk-ins, of course), but more on the product (the smokes). Kinda' flip-flopped, in a way.

Got a decent pile now, some Rocky Patel MM's, a La Vieja sampler, a La Aurora 1495 Cameroon 1994, a pair of Camacho Triple Maduro's, a bunch of higher-end Gurkha's, some el-cheapo Onyx and Hoya's. I'm having some fun.

[smokeyscotch]

Originally Posted by punosion

Will do! I can snap some shots of my current stash tomorrow when I have a good chunk of time.

Photography is another hobby of mine...such a different hobby, because you buy a lot of expensive gear but the end product (the photos) is cheap. With cigars you spend relatively little on the gear (unless you start to get into high-end humidors and walk-ins, of course), but more on the product (the smokes). Kinda' flip-flopped, in a way.

Got a decent pile now, some Rocky Patel MM's, a La Vieja sampler, a La Aurora 1495 Cameroon 1994, a pair of Camacho Triple Maduro's, a bunch of higher-end Gurkha's, some el-cheapo Onyx and Hoya's. I'm having some fun.

Those Onyx are good. I had an Onyx Mini-Beli with some Port. One of the best Cigar/Drink pairings I have ever had. The Port brought out a lot of chocolate flavor from the cigar. The cigar knocked the sweet edge off the port. Was kinda like eating a chocolate covered fuit. Then again, I could have been buzzed form the Port.
Look forward to the pics.

[punosion]

OK, just got a few new ones...a Rocky Patel Olde World Reserve, a Gurkha Centurian and a Graycliff Double Espresso. Here's the whole collection at this point:



Lookin' good?

[smokeyscotch]

Looks good, man. I like those trays. Makes me look forward to getting my 18 ct from Ron. Thanks for the pics.