humidor leaks

[FireDragon]

Hi. I have smoked cigars for decades but used to keep my smokes in tupperware, mason jars, or ziplocks and I made my own credo and used a weather hygrometer. I mostly smoked drugstore cigars and cheap hand made cigars. Now, I'm getting into smoking handmade petit coronas and panatelas, and I want a nice box to keep them in. I also plan to do tupperware for long term storage (not opening them every day to smoke).

I have a used Thompson cigar humidor but it seems to leak like crazy in the Florida winter, every day I have to add moisture. I got it off eBay. The felt is peeling on a corner and I notice its made with pressboard. The seal seems good so my guess is its losing humidity through the bottom. Lesson learned. I've seen a few old-time humidors on eBay with plastic bottoms and that seems like a good deal, only problem is that they are huge.

I have a cigar box I got for two bucks, it is a My Father's Cigars Toro box. Not very big at all, but it seems to work MUCH better as a humidor, I rarely have to fill it. Only problem is that it's a little small. But the fact its all cedar and finished on the bottom means it doesn't leak. I keep my tin of Punch and Gloria Cubana in there with a small stick humidifier and digital hygrometer.

I'm wondering if I should just look for a bigger cigar box, try to fix the Chinese humidor (maybe I could seal the bottom or replace it altogether, or invest in a good quality humidor (I know nothing about humidor quality). I wouldn't mind having an old-time humidor with a plastic liner and scratches on it, it would give it some character, but I don't want it to be huge, just something to put on an end table.

 

[ZippoGeek]

Invest in a good quality humi! To me, it's like investing in a TV. No one ever said, "Geez, the picture on my TV is too good," or "I wish my TV was smaller." My point is, buy the best quality humi you can afford and make it as large as possible for the area you want to put it in.

My $.02!

 

[danmdevries]

Preferably use a 2 way humidification system like Bovedas or Heartfelt beads in Tupperware. There's no functional reason to buy a high end wooden humidor to store cigars, two way humidification in a well sealed container will work perfectly

If you are set on using that Chinese humidor, I've had decent luck putting plexiglass on the bottom, removing the sealing slats and tightly glue back in place to hold tighter seal.

 

[Sirspanksalot]

Maybe I just got lucky. The very first humi I bought was a 40 count off cbid for like 20 bucks after shipping cost, and it worked great. I still have it and use to store cigars in my cooler

 

[SeaGarr]

I don't know what I would do were I you to be honest.

This Humidor would be a thing I would be proud to have hanging around - and I understand it's a quality product, but I can't tell you for sure.

Famous is selling em for a pretty penny - but were you to go to Cigar Auctioneer, they are selling for considerably less.

I bet were you to throw 1/2lb of Heartfelt beads in that sucker - I am pretty sure you could still keep 20 sticks comfortably (more considering the ring gauge you intend to put in it) with little need to rehydrate the beads often.

Good luck.

 

[jfettlol]

buy a cooler.

 

[danmdevries]

Here's my writeup. A little more work into this than necessary, but it's rock solid now. Gave it away around Christmas and he said it's still holding perfect with 1/2lb HF beads and one 65% Boveda, which is my preferred method. When the Boveda starts to shrink, or the hygrometer starts to fall (I trust the media more than the hygrometer - so when it's reading under 60%) I'll moisten the HF beads. The Boveda recharges itself on the overcharged HF beads, then everything is back to normal.

http://www.botl.org/threads/making-cheap-chinese-humidors-work.75440/

Personally I use two large airtight cases and a high end desktop with a couple tupperware boxes for overage. And I'm running out of space. A cooler is next.

ETA: I still plan to do another writeup with a glasstop, did rework one around Christmas but gave it to my father in law, forgot to take pictures until I was halfway done. But, I recently picked up another for $20 and will eventually get around to doing another photo writeup on reworking it.

 

[FireDragon]

I put most of my cigars into two small rubbermade containers and got some Boveda 65's at Corona Cigar Company here in Orlando. I'll check on them tomorrow but I think I will be OK. My weekly smokes went into the cigar box with the Humi-Stick and digital hygrometer. I'm not sure the cigar box will hold up long term but it's working for now.

My Chinese humidor is warped a bit though, and the seal at the bottom is broken a little, so no wonder I was having problems with moisture. It warped right around where the humidifier was (I'm using a Humi-stick filled with gel beads). I put some heavy bottles on top of the fiberboard and am going to let it sit overnight while it dries: I used alcohol to remove the glue from the felt backing. Tomorrow if its unwarped I may try sealing it with a penetrating varnish, then glueing it and clamping it.

I think I will go ahead and look on eBay for a vintage, American-made humidor. I did not pay alot of money for the Chinese humidor, otherwise I think I'd be a little more upset by the whole thing.

Perhaps the humi-stick is at fault, I notice it doesn't seem to handle moisture well. My homemade Denicotea humidifier holds the humidity of my Swisher Sweets at 65 percent- I just keep them in a small microwavable container, the type you carry to lunch.

 

[danmdevries]

2 way humidification in a tupperdor. Do It. Forget the gel beads and mold factory floral foam garbage.

If you spent money on your smokes, spend a few bucks to keep em safe.