humidor suggestions

[FrankB]

Good morning fellow primates, interested in purchasing a humidor to replace my humidibags that I have been using these since a started this hobby some months ago. Have done a web search and found a gazillion of the damn things. Interested in one that will hold fifty to a seventy-five cigars and appeals to my sense of aesthetics and not cost me an arm and a leg. Any ideas on brands or vendors on line. Looking at about two hundred bucks as a top dollar. Input appreciated. Frank B

[poker]

www.bargainhumidors.com

[drc]

There are way too many places for you to find a decent humidor at a good price. I had good success with franklinhumidors.com. I know that some people have been displeased with their humi from there, but mine has performed perfectly. You might see what's on sale at thompsoncigar.com or famous-smoke.com. There's also cheaphumidors.com, but that's another site where different folks have had varying degrees of satisfaction. You should also check out silverstatecigar.com. That's a site run by one of our own good gorillas, OnePyroTec.

Do not settle for a 50 to 75 count humidor. As discussed in other threads on a similar topic, once you start buying cigars by the box (which is the best way to get the most bang for your buck, so to speak), you will quickly find that a small humidor is of little use. I think most gorillas will back me up when I say, get the largest humidor your budget and sense of style will allow.

[FrankB]

Poker. understand your point of view about the largest humidor one can afford, but I travel for a living and basically carry my house with me so space is a prime consideration. As to buying by the box I am not far enough into my experience to think about having favorite cigars that I would smoke regularly. At this point I am working my way through the vast varieties out there and getting a feel for where my tastes lie. I appreciate your suggestions and look forward to the benefit of your experience in the future. Frank B

[FrankB]

drc,accidentally replyed to Poker in response to a post from you. Sorry.Appreciate the input. Frank B

[robmcd]

if i had to buy a humidor right now, it'd be from www.silverstatecigar.com ...

[DaveC]

i regret purchasing such a small humidor(40-50 cigar)

now that i am buying boxes i have zero space, i am debating between renting a box at my local shop(perfect temp/humi) or purchasing a larger humidor for more storage vs daily use.

[relaxnsmoke]

FrankB, I agree with all above. I've bought products and continue to with Silverstate and Bargain Humidors, couldn't be happier, they both will do you right.

Maybe in your situation a couple of travel humidors would be good till you settled down long enough to get one real nice big one. Then you would have a couple of nice travel humidors on hand. I have 3 humidors now and a couple of tupperdors! I wish I would have just purchased 1 big humi at first, but at that time I did not realize that time takes time and a well aged cigar out performs a fresh one, so I try and keep a few boxes aging. I've only been puffing stogies a little over a year!

Hey maybe just a tupperdor with some Climax beads and a few spanish cedar strips in it, a 2 gallon one will hold 50 cigars nicely. (I store my tupperdors in a fancy old oak icebox) Your cigars won't know it only cost $10, yet they will smoke like they were in a $1500 Davidoff foo foo box!

The only real good advice I can pass along is use a digital hygrometer, your cigars are worth it.

Good Luck! Keep us updated, I'd like to know how it all works out.

[kscotty]

I have to admit, even though I've only purchased one humi (100ct), I did it through Thompsons and have been very happy with it. Keeps good humidity and the fit/finish looks to be excellent as well.

Of course now I'm looking at ways to build a coolerdor because I now understand how fast you run out of space if you want to age cigars at all.......why doesn't someone tell you this before you buy your first humi???

[JKeats]

i dont know if temp is going to be an issue for you but i got myself a wine fridge (like many of the others here at CS) and love it. temp IS an issue here, so keeping my smokes cool was a big factor. i picked up a piece of spanish cedar from the specialized lumber store in town for like 10 bucks and made some shelves for the thing and presto... instant temp controlled humi.

the fridge cost me 120 bucks... it's a smaller model as i don't keep 100's and 100's of smokes.

as for humidification, i just have a cup of distilled water in there. since refers pull water out of the air naturally, there's no need really for me to buy any special humi device... the cup of water works just fine and keeps my smokes at about 65RH. temp is set to the "hottest" the refer can go (used for red wines) and holds around 62ish degrees.

i love it... has a pretty glass front door to see in... can store wine and smokes together... it's a great alternative to a regular humi.

[kscotty]

Hmmm. Now THAT is an interesting concept: using a working fridge for both wine and cigars. However, and I don't claim to know a lot about this, but if the purpose of fridges is to minimize internal humidity when operating, isn't your dish of distilled water constantly being sucked dry by the working fridge instead of going into the cigars?

How often do you have to fill the dish of water? Also, do you keep your ready-to-smoke cigars in a separate/traditional humi, or is everything held in the fridge?

I'm really interested in the concept of converting a fridge to hold smokes, but I thought the key was to disable the workings of the fridge and just use it as a place to hold boxes of cigars once some spanish cedar is installed.....

[Lamar]

Regarding refrigerators and cigars, PM Edisonbird on that one. He has some comments that should be helpful.

[JKeats]

i'd be interested in edisonbirds comments....

anyway... yes... the fridge pulls the humidity out of the air... however, the RH in the fridge stays at about 65... so obviously it's not sucking the cigars dry (unless i'm missing something here...)

a number of ppl on this board use the wine fridges... they all seem to be happy with them.

no... i don't keep any smokes in a desktop... they all are in the fridge, and they all smoke and taste fine.

keep in mind... this is a WINE fridge... not a regular fridge... i don't know, but their MIGHT be some difference.