vintage humidors

[FireDragon]

Is anyone using a vintage humidor to store cigars?

I am surprised there is so little talk about this option. There are many being sold on eBay, often at prices that are comparable to the junky Chinese ones. They look well built.

Can someone tell me what exactly milk glass is? I see this a lot in old humidors. Many also do not much, if any cedar lining. I've seen many that have milk-glass or plastic bottoms and/or top liners. Some look like they use other woods for the baffle seals, such as walnut.

And of course, many have clay humidifier bars. How well does clay work- I would figure it would count on a steady release of humidity from the box to be OK? I can't see myself using one of those, I'd probably opt for a cigar-shaped humidifier stick if I were to use a vintage box, and a small digital hygrometer (I have several I got from an avian hatchery supplier).

 

[Avvatar]

gimme a sec and i'll try to get some photos of mine. i've got an old milk glass humidor that i restored. no humidity control in it when i got it, so i put a dual boveda holder on the lid. also, a digital hygrometer. Under the sheets of milk glass (it's glass that's...well...milk colored) i have put cedar strips instead of the pine or wtfe used to be in there. i really like it, but i could have bought a nice newer one that doesn't leak and such for the same price as this cost to purchase and get up to snuff.

 

[Lostmason]

gimme a sec and i'll try to get some photos of mine. i've got an old milk glass humidor that i restored. no humidity control in it when i got it, so i put a dual boveda holder on the lid. also, a digital hygrometer. Under the sheets of milk glass (it's glass that's...well...milk colored) i have put cedar strips instead of the pine or wtfe used to be in there. i really like it, but i could have bought a nice newer one that doesn't leak and such for the same price as this cost to purchase and get up to snuff.

Looks pretty sweet.You might have gotten one cheaper but not near as good looking.

 

[BuffaloPat]

I'd be a little tentative about a vintage humidor because you don't know if it was maintained well the prior owner. Be sure to take necessary steps to sanitize the humidor before you even consider putting your sticks in there. If the prior owner had mold, for instance, you could destroy your sticks as the spores could be in the wood now. Just not worth the risk unless you are willing to take the time to guarantee no contamination.

 

[Avvatar]

Buffalo pat is correct. I removed all the glass and hardware from mine, sanded the interior, filled cracks, replaced wood... It was alot of work and only worth it to me. I love her, but I'm already thinking of a new one due to sealing issues (not maintaining humidity).

 

[FireDragon]

That box looks well-constructed, why isn't it maintaining humidity?

 

[Master Shake]

That box looks well-constructed, why isn't it maintaining humidity?

Every humidor relies on the quality of the seal around the lid to maintain a stable humidity. The rest of the box might be solid but if the lid doesn't have a very snug and tight fit you'll leak humidity which makes maintaining your sticks in a stable environment very difficult.

 

[FireDragon]

I'm just wondering because I have a very similar humidor I got for a small amount of money, belonged to somebody with a dead father that smoked cigars and they just wanted to part with it. It fails the flashlight test through the sides to a small amount (I have to get real close to notice it), and the dollar bill test is very iffy all around, but it seems to hold humidity, at least for the past couple of days, I've been using the clay bar that came with it plus some PG/water solution and it seems to be holding humidity at least for a couple days and it seasoned up really quick (perhaps because there is less wood in it) .

How long should a humidor really hold humidity, what would be a good test?

If it fails the test I may just give the old humidor to my dad and get a small Chinese tabletop similar to what I currently have (that has an iffy seal, it passes the light test on two sides but the lid may be slightly warped and dollar bill test is iffy- I have a cigar box that does better on the dollar bill test!). my dad is a woodworker and he wants some plans for a humidor, so he could study it and help him learn how to build a good humidor.

I suspect humidors just get old and need serious restoration work. It's not like buying an old pipe where often times it will smoke better than a new one, they really do wear out.

One thing I'm noticing about milk glass, it is like Tupperware it doesn't hold humidity, when you open the lid there can be a big fluctuation in humidity vs. a wood humidor where the wood starts giving off humidity as soon as its opened. Still, I like the idea of forgoing so much Spanish cedar, I don't think the flavor particularly enhances cigars, which is why I'm only going to do long term storage in Tupperware (I have never noticed Spanish cedar stopping tobacco beetles, at least when I used it in Tupperware they ate my cigars as merrily as ever despite them sitting on top of a plank of Spanish cedar.

 

[BuffaloPat]

@FireDragon is there a reason it needs to be a humidor? Is it merely for looks? The reason I ask is, unless you are willing to dish out some serious money (several hundred dollars) for a handmade desktop, you are not going to find a humidor with a great seal. This is especially true because you mentioned that you don't particularly like cedar taste your humidor imparts on the cigars. Don't waste the money. Hefty makes an airtight "tupperware" that I picked up at my local grocery store for $10. It is full to the brim, and, using heartfelt beads, the humidity really doesn't fluctuate as much as you think. BTW, if you are having problems with beetles, you need to store your stash at a lower temperature. Never, ever, let the temp get above 75 degrees. Lower is absolutely fine, but higher causes mold and beetle outbreaks.

 

[FireDragon]

I do have some Tupperware for long term storage. But I'm looking for a humidor for day-to-day smoking. A big container lying out in the open would look messy and there's enough clutter in my apartment already. Probably a 10-20 count humidor would suit me just fine in terms of how much I smoke in a week.

Storing below 75 degrees is not an option most of the year. I live in Florida (we don't have basements and I live in an apartment anyways), and the electric bill would be insane, not to mention, uncomfortable (I'd have to start wearing sweaters in the summer). I hope keeping the cigar bundles broken up in zip-locks keeps down beetles but I guess I'll have to wait and see.

 

[BuffaloPat]

You would be much better off getting yourself a wineador then, @FireDragon. You can make one for about the same price as a good, handmade desktop. As difficult as it may be to store your sticks below 75, you will end up wasting a lot of money on sticks that are lost due to beetles and mold if you don't. Just my 2 cents .

 

[FireDragon]

I don't have a wine cooler but I do have a small fridge. I keep e-cig liquid, snuff, and various other tobacco products in there, e-cig batteries in the freezer compartment, and sometimes a soda or two or anything else that would benefit from being cool but that I wouldn't stick in a regular fridge. I don't run it really cold, usually in the upper 40's. But I'm pretty sure its not good for cigars.

When I had beetles before, it was no big loss. Only a few cigars were affected and I removed them and the infestation never spread. The cigars in question were factory seconds types. So any cheap no-name cigars, I plan to freeze.

 

[Avvatar]

Mine will keep humidity solid for a few days. The major problem is that whatever humidifier you use will dry out far more quickly. FL is humid, so you'll be ok. Utah winters are killing me. I recommend having 4 Boveda 65s-72s. That way you can rotate them every 2-3 weeks. Again, you're in FL, so you might last longer, but the principle remains. Also, SEASON VERY WELL. I think that is/was alot of my problem. Have you considered turning said fridge into a fridgidor? There's writeups around here somewhere...

 

[luckysaturn13]

I have a co worker that smokes occasionally and he just throws his cigars in a straight up fridge. Not sure if id do that but he said it works well for him. He only smokes about 10 a year and keeps em for a few weeks at most.

 

[FireDragon]

I might try storing some Zip-Lock containers with cigars in that fridge, especially ones that I think are risky for beetles, but I can't give up all the space to cigars.

Most of my cigar preferences are for inexpensive mixed-filler cigars (Rosa Cuba, and so on). It's not like I'd be devastated if a whole box got eaten by beetles. I don't want to go that crazy stockpiling. The only reason I'm moving into bigger humidor space is because I have to mail order a lot of those sorts of cigars now days, local shops only carry low-end cigarillos or super-premium cigars for the most part.

Boveda definitely seems the way to go for actual storage- I can turn any airtight container into a cigar humidor, which makes it very flexible.

 

[luckysaturn13]

you can get a plastic ammo box at wall mart for about 8 $ it has a seal and its air tight. you could get two of those and you would be fine. Maybe you could store in there and toss them in the fridge... idk

 

[FireDragon]

I plan to use a combo of a superpolymer gel bead oasis and a half ounce of silica beads in small paint jars with my wood humidors, and save the Boveda for Tupperware. I already know that the wood humidors are going to require maintanence a few times a week, based on past experience.

This past week has been brutal on my humidors, my cigar box for my sweet cigars (Swishers, Tampa Sweets, whatever the convenience store has) that was doing otherwise well dried out, the silica beads lost a lot of their moisture very quickly and I had to recondition it and that's still going on. During the winter its relatively dry here in Florida and it rarely rains. Its been cold too so the heat has run a lot and humidity this morning was about 28 indoors.

I'm currently reconditioning that Decatur 50 count. So far humidity is holding in the mid 80's. It may have the best seal of the three. Who knows it could turn out to be a decent humidor. But I do think it needs more wood in there. I may look into lining the bottom with some strips of mahogany or basswood.

 

[FireDragon]

I've had the humidor almost a week seasoning it. It doesn't seem to want to hold full humidity, despite having a shot glass full of water inside it for days. The wood no longer looks dry, but humidity is only 65%

I suspect the milk glass is working against holding humidity, and the seal is not great to begin with (the slot for the clay bar pretty much guarantees that).

 

[boltman]

I've had the humidor almost a week seasoning it. It doesn't seem to want to hold full humidity, despite having a shot glass full of water inside it for days. The wood no longer looks dry, but humidity is only 65%

I suspect the milk glass is working against holding humidity, and the seal is not great to begin with (the slot for the clay bar pretty much guarantees that).[/QUOTE
Lots of BOTL store their sticks at 65% rh (myself included). Is it maintaining that?

 

[Avvatar]

Mine is at 65%. Never tried any higher, so I can't be much help. I WILL say that I have put tape on the sealing surfaces.