CanuckSARTech's Custom Humidor Cabinet

[CanuckSARTech]

Brothers (and sisters) of The Leaf, I'd like to present you with a little story....

Once upon a time, there lived a big burly Canadian boy named Keith. He enjoyed cigars. He specifically enjoyed Cuban cigars. After smoking occasionally for about 7 or 8 years (anywhere from 10 to 25 cigars per year), he finally decided to pony up and get a humidor, way back a long time ago, in 2004.

But did he get a humidor big enough, boys and girls? Oh no, he didn't.

First, he got a 50-stick cherry-wood humidor box, from an online auction, with a nice little glass window. He got it, and didn't really like it. It worked fine for him (surprisingly). But in about 2 months, he had already filled it - in the words of Goldilocks, "it was TOO small!"

So, he started looking again.

So, in early 2005, he got a nice 150-stick black-laquered humidor, with nice brass hardware, and three different glass windows. He was happy. It was nice.

But, lo and behold, within a year, it was full. And, he then started to also use a giant 96-quart cooler to store his full boxes, and then his singles and immediate-smoking-stock in the desktop.

But, something was missing. Things just didn't have that....zing.

So, in early 2009 (after the thought had crossed in and out of his mind for a year or so), he finally decided to start looking at creating a monster of his own design. He decided....gasp....to build....a custom humidor cabinet!!!

Completed at the start of 2010, this creature has taken over his life. He gets excited when he sees it. His wife calls it, "furniture viagra" (no idea why). It has made everything just perfect, and fully allowed our Canadian hero to fully enjoy the greater things in life.

Now, he uses his cabinet for stock that is ready to smoke, and stuff that just needs to settle for a year or two (or less). He also still has the giant blue cooler as a "back-up", in case something goes wrong in the cabinet (gawd forbid). And also as for what will, no doubt after finally signing up on FOH/Czar, become his longer-term (5 years+) aging area for massive future stock of Habanos, for stuff that won't be into the main circulation for a number of years.

And....they all lived happily ever after. The end.

[CanuckSARTech]

So, I hoped you all liked my story. But, it isn't an actual fairy tale without some pretty pictures. So, here we go...

This was what my older/main desktop humidor was. It was/is a great humidor, and was a fairly inexpensive but well-functioning unit. I was very pleased with this one. I still have it set aside in my family room, and it can/will be used in the future as an office humidor, or something of the like maybe:

Now, after filling that puppy, as well as a giant freakin' cooler, I finally decided (aka - convinced my wife, the darling that she is) that it was time that I created a nice humidor cabinet, something that can take pride-of-place in our home.

Her one condition was that it wasn't gawdy, that it blend in with our styles and the design notes of our home. We have lots of browns and greens throughout our house, with dark brown leather furniture, and nice wood accents throughout (like a 19th-century upright grand piano, in a dark mahogany/walnut finish). A lot of the furniture we have is the rustic Mexican spiced-pine -type of furniture; there's a fair bit of Carribean inspired design notes, mixed with the modern and high-tech.

So, this was the cabinet that I decided would be my starting point:

It was a storage curio, from a Mexican furniture shop out of the Toronto, Ontario, Canada area. But, obviously, Mexican pine is ANYTHING but moisture resistant, and would not be able to hold humidity or temperature worth a crap. And, if/when I put my beauties in there, I wouldn't be able to see their loveliness.

So, working with a very talented and trusted contractor, I worked with him on the design aspects of what I wanted. He is an old friend of my parents, and is a well-known general contractor and renovator in our area (specializing in custom woodwork, furniture making, and Victorian-style renovation). During times of lay-off from an employer of mine, I've worked with him in doing some contracting work with him for a stretch. With me knowing and understanding what we needed to do for a proper humidor, we started disassembling and putting the needed additional materials in play. [Note - I'm sorry, but I don't have any "in-construction" photos.]

The Mexican pine cabinet has exterior dimensions of 29 1/2" wide by 19 3/4" deep and 33 1/4" tall. To start things off with the build, the drawer was removed. The entire interior was completely and hermetically sealed, using 1/16" thick fibreglass stiff sheeting - the same type of plastic-like panel sheeting that is used to line a shower, or, as in the case with this stuff, as sheeting for trailer roofs. This sheeting is fastened in place, using stainless steel hardware, where needed. All seams, joints, and edges of the sheeting was sealed with non-VOC clear silicone caulking. Then, after allowing that to open-air cure for about 3 weeks, just to be sure, the cabinet was then lined with high-quality 1/2"-thick spanish red cedar, custom ordered and cut just for this job. He finish planed the cedar down, and cut it all to completely fill the body of the cabinet, in an aligned but free-floating fashion. Fibreglass and cedar were also used in overlapping ways to seal all joints, the door interior (nailed/fastened in place), etc., for anything that would be exposed to the humid air within. The drawer was then completely taken apart, and rebuilt, using only the same spanish cedar - the only thing that was reused was the pine drawer face. The drawer bottom was cut out for air-vents for air movement. A shelf was made, and also with air-vents cut within the body of it, and with approximately 2 inches of air-movement room at the front and back. (There's also about 3 inches of air-movement space on the three open sides of the drawer, and about 3 inches to the glass up top). The fibreglass sheeting overlaps a bit around the 3-sides of the door opening, and with a slight lip so as to allow a quality hard-rubber older-automotive-style door seal gasket on it (rather than cheaper polyurethane foam, which doesn't create as good as a seal, as well as doesn't allow such a tight friction fit). The areas of removed wood, for the "windows", were then replaced with glass. It was flush-mount filled with 3/8" bronze-annealed glass (almost as hard as tempered, but smoother and with colouring options), to give it a nice, slight tone of colour, and to complement the wood colouring as well as the hardware (the top surface of the cabinet, with the glass flush-mounted and silicone-sealed on a cedar framing within the opening, is then smooth and level. The original ring-style pull knob for the door was replaced with an old-style, antique brass cabinet latch. This then closes into a notch cut into the side pillar, to better create a consistent and solid fit/close with the door and the door seal. The drawer opening is also lined with the same door seal, and then held firmly closed against the seal with a cabinetry friction-latch/clasp on the back of the drawer and the rear interior wall of the cabinet.

He did the majority of the work, as I wasn't available to be in his shop too often. I did the overall design aspects, custom wood arrangements, glass, and some other small finishing stuff.

I didn't write down the interior finished dimensions after we added all the materials and before we installed the glass. I could do it now if I really wanted to (the shelf and the drawer are removable if needed), but errrgh - I'm too busy writing this gawd-awful novel of a thread. We did measure it, but I just can't recollect the actual measurements. It ended up being something like 6.2 or 6.8 cubic feet of space within - 4.8 or so for the main box storage area in the bottom, and the rest for the drawer and sides. Total storage space ends up being about 100-sticks capacity in the top drawer, and then with room for about 30 to 35 boxes in the bottom area, depending on box size and configuration (there's actually a fair bit of room that you can't see in the pictures, to stack stuff up on the shelf and under the drawer).

Wow, that's a mouthful. So, here's an eyeful....

Upon completion, in about March of this year, I then vacuumed everything clean, wiping the whole interior down in a dampened cloth of distilled water, and then repeating this a few times. I then installed and wired in a Cigar Oasis Plus XL humidifier unit into this. I drilled a whole through the rear wall, and permanently wired in a wiring plug. There is about an 16" long wiring run on the inside to connect to the unit wherever works best for air flow, and then the unit's transformer-plug plugs into the back of the cabinet with a small matching-connector there, all siliconed and sealed. I put in the humidifier unit, with only pure distilled water, and allowed it to acclimatize and even out for a week. I found that everything was good with my numbers, so I then loaded it up with my wares - it easily achieved and held at any humidity range of my choosing, and the temp is a fair constant. I find I do not need a temperature control for this cabinet, as with where I live (southwestern Ontario, Canada) and for where the cabinet is placed in my home (basement family room, placed to avoid any sunlight path from a window), everything stays constant no matter the season, relatively. In winter/cooler months, the temp is approximately 65 to 69 degrees Fahrenheit. In summer/warmer months, the temp is within 67 to 71 degrees Fahrenheit. I have my Cigar Oasis Plus XL humidifier set at 67%, and it is fairly constant, with the upper drawer then being at about 65%. I find this unit works well for this cabinet. I'm finding that summer months (varied high humidity here, but held fairly normal by our home's HVAC of between 50 and 75% RH) only require a refill once during the summer stretch, and winter months (down to 20-30% RH, with no humidifier unit in our HVAC) require a distilled water refill once every 2 months - it still hasn't rolled through a full calendar year, so that may vary slightly, but it seems to be very consistent. It turns on only once or twice a day or so if left undisturbed. If I open the cabinet, and take a few minutes to decide what I want, the Cigar Oasis unit will have things balanced out again within about 5 minutes afterwards, I find, with it cycling on and off about twice a minute in 20-second operatings times or so.

In closing, things are lovely. My cigars are smelling, tasting, and smoking better than I've ever experienced. It was well worth it. This was all done relatively on my own - just with my own knowledge and research on what it needed to be, as well as potential materials, designs, etc. The ONLY slight regret that I have is that I didn't take the time and effort to router the slot openings on the shelf and the drawer bottom. This would have given these openings a nice, rounded, beveled edge, and just put a true finishing touch on the interior. I ended up just leaving these unfinished and somewhat rough in appearance due to time - I simply wanted to get this done and stocked up, to have everything mellow out for a few months ahead of the spring start to nice smoking weather.

The initial cost of the cabinet (around $200 CDN) and then of all the supplies and costs, including billed costs by the contractor, totalling about $400 more, were more than within the budget for this - a great piece of furniture, and an awesome talking piece. It will no doubt become an heirloom down the road for my currently-two-year-old son - that's my proudest statement about this unit, too.

So, that's my baby. Hope you enjoyed my story/novel.

Cheers.

[LeafLover]

Very, very nice! You're happy, and I'm sure your wife's happy with the addition of a nice piece of furniture.

[OZCUBAN]

Great post CanuckSARTech

Like bolivr said a mans got to have a hobby

One humidor can never be big enough

Keep the posts coming

Cheers OZ

[laficion]

Thanks for a great review and story.

Now that's what I call a fine looking humidor.

Congratulations on a job well done, I'm sure that you'll enjoy

for many years to come. Ciao.

[CanuckSARTech]

Thanks fellas. Like I said, I'm very happy with how it turned out.

I went for the size I did for looks and unobtrusiveness in the whole decor-sense of things. I figure that this cabinet (100+ singles plus 30-some boxes) mixed with the cooler (about 35-40 boxes) are MORE than enough for my long-term storage needs. With my smoking numbers (I'm not a 5-sticks per day smoker), the cabinet itself is more than enough. But, I want long-term (+5 years) storage capacity, to have enough room for my current smokes, but also with room to settle and age stuff for down the road.

I think the only way that I could/would ever out-grow this combination is if I started picking up mass quantities of stuff for investment and eventual re-sale, or 20+ year aging. And neither of those things are me - my smokes are for my personal enjoyment, I'm not looking to make a buck off of hording, and nor do I want to hold myself back from enjoying things in the 2-10 year range (knowing my luck, I'd store things for extreme long-term, and then end up getting killed on the job or something like that, and not have been able to enjoy some greats).

[PigFish]

That is very nice Amigo! There is little more satisfying that putting your cigars to rest in your own creation. Good job! -Piggy

[CanuckSARTech]

Thanks Piggy.

I also just got a thread all done up for my cigar collection/stash over in the "FOH Photo Gallery" area:

CanuckSARTech's Cuban Collection

Enjoy fellas. Cheers.

[Sefton]

Killer looking cabinet! Nice work. Gotta do something like this myself someday.

[samb]

Awesome humidor!!

[tdlfoto]

fantastic humidor and thread - thanks for sharing!

[bigfunkyg]

Wow, that is quite an undertaking. I have been looking to do somthing similar as my current humidor is overloaded and will likely become more overloaded in the future. I have generally heard that Spanish Red Cedear is very expensive so I'm suprised that your guy got it for as cheap as he did.

Regardless, very impressive humidor and collection.

G

[CanuckSARTech]

Wow, that is quite an undertaking. I have been looking to do somthing similar as my current humidor is overloaded and will likely become more overloaded in the future. I have generally heard that Spanish Red Cedear is very expensive so I'm suprised that your guy got it for as cheap as he did.

Regardless, very impressive humidor and collection.

G

The wood alone ended up being about $150. It was 22 board feet, or something like that, so it ended up being around $7 or so a board foot (the builder had a couple of board feet of spare stuff already, from another job he did - we were able to use that for some of the little stuff). We got 5/4ths raw spanish red cedar, and then cut it in half with a lateral bandsaw, and then did a quick/thin planing to a smooth finish. Ended up with about 3/8" boards - very good quality wood ordered in by/at the local sawmill.

Worked out tremendously.

[thechenman]

Very impressive Canuck. Good work.

[Traz]

Sen-bloody-sational. I think I better stop looking at all these awesome pictures of other folk's collections due to the increasing envy. >_> Anyhow, top work there, Canuck. I don't want to alarm you though, but the top of your humidor has been contaminated with non-cigar decor.

[CUBANO]

Canuck,

Very impressed of the work to convert the furniture to a humidor, and just imagine how proud your son is going to be when he inherits the humidor. Congrats.

[MIKA27]

I just came across this Keith, I must say, very nice work indeed.

It is something that I'd love to make myself and as already stated by a few as well as intended by yourself, it is a humidor that actually blends well with your decor.

Again, great stuff.

[CanuckSARTech]

Thanks fellas. I only wish I was able to do 100% of the work by myself - I was just too busy at the time to do it solo, and I didn't have some of the required equipment (thickness planer, giant table saw). I really do give a huge kudos to my builder - he was a major help in putting my thoughts into reality, and to assisting me with the build.

And, thinking about it now, 1/2 a year on or so, I only have one regret - that the door hinges weren't on the other side. As you can maybe see from the cell phone camera picture of the original cabinet in the store, it's a slightly different cabinet from the one that I converted. That one was a display - they brought me out a nice freshly wrapped one from the back storage room. I inspected it to make sure it was all kosher, and I was happy. I just didn't notice that the hinges for the door were on the opposite side from what I expected. And nor did I notice it during the whole build process, that it was the opposite of what I originally saw. Well, as you can maybe see in that one picture of the cabinet in with the rec room furniture, it makes it a little tough - you have to get right in between the furniture to be able to get down in there when the door is open. If it opened the other way, towards the furniture, it would just work a little better.

However, that's only a very minor issue, and more than easy to work with.

And, I knew the most daunting aspect would be to basically create a box-within-a-box with this humidor, to be constructing something within a pre-existing piece of furniture. That's never an easy conversion. But, when I explained the aspects of it to my contractor, I explained to him the need to isolate and essentially "water-tight" the interior from the spiced pine. That's when he brought up to me about some spare materials he had from a trailer build of his own, and he asked me if I thought some fibreglass sheeting would work. From that point on, and with ensuring that we did everything with non-VOC's and pure silicone, I knew we'd be good to go. Things are perfect with this right now. I know I still need to roll around through a full calendar year, and work with the results from a low-humidity Canadian winter, but I have no concerns coming up to this.

Very happy overall. Thanks for the kudos fellas.

[adic88]

Grrrr... you've inspired me to spend more money nowwwwwwwww

wtb woodworker in Malaysia.

[cigcars]

* Ooohhhh, MA-A-A-A-N-N-N! That is al-l-l-l-r-i-i-i-ght!

[CanuckSARTech]

Hi all. I've had a number of PM's now in the last few weeks and months, asking me about my humidor. While mine wasn't necessarily the undertaking that Piggy's wine cooler project was (I definitely recommend everyone checking out his thread on that), this is more of the "furniture" side of a humidor project.

No, mine isn't nowhere as nice as a Staebell / Aristocrat unit. Hell, I just essentially worked on building a "box-within-a-box" for this. But, there were a few aspects of this project that I either researched about and discovered, or that I learned the hard way through trial and error. A lot of these items I've been getting asked about, for any hints or thoughts on helping others build their own humidor.

So, hopefully these are a few things that I can add. If you're wanting to go with a chilled/wine-cooler type humidor, then check out Piggy's thread. But, if you want to convert a pre-existing piece of furniture, here are some further thoughts then:

• LOL. Prepare for double the cost, and double the expected construction timeline! LOL. Even though mine fell "within the budget", it was still almost 50% more what I was hoping to spend on it. But, it was well worth it. It's storage for more than about 1000 cigars, at less price than some 1000-cigar ready-made imported-furniture cabinets out there that might not work as well.
  
  
• Use good quality wood and materials; don't cheap out on these.
  
  
• If building a humidor "box" within a pre-existing piece of furniture, make sure you have a moisture seal/barrier material in place, hard plastic or the like (more on these options later on below).
  
  
• Use low- or non-VOC compounds, be it silicone, glues or adhesives, stains, etc., etc. Make sure these are water-resistant / waterproof compounds, to resist the effects of the high humidity down the road. And.....DON'T apply ANYTHING to the interior surfaces of your spanish cedar. All of the inside surfaces (any surfaces that touch the air that houses your cigars) should just be plain, naked, sanded smooth, cedar.
  
  
• After using any of these low- or non-VOC compounds, let everything stay open and "air-out" for a few weeks or even a month or two. The extra time used is well worth it. Even if it delays completing your project, it prevents any potential resisdual odours remaining, and thus affecting your cigars in a negative way.
  
  
• Shelves must be slotted in order to allow for a constant and consistent internal humidity level and disbursement of air volume.
  
  
• Although I didn't do it (but I do have some wood left over, and plan to do it in time), it's a good idea to make slats or another slightly raised tray base, to put on the bottom of the cabinet interior, to lift the bottom boxes up for air circulation / air movement under and around them as well.
  
  
• Spanish cedar (specifically, red Spanish cedar, botanical term “cedrela odorata” and/or “C. mexicana” varieties) is preferred for the internal compartment, drawers, and racks, as this is the best at maintaining humidity levels while also adding a richer, luxuriant flavour to the cigars. [thickness recommendation is 1/4" minimum to 1/2" thick maximum, with 3/8" being the approximate thickness favourite, cost dependent]. Use wood that has been previously dried, potentially “kiln” fired/dried, so as to lessen the chance for resins to bleed out of the wood once it is in use in the humidor. Be sure to request the “non-weepy variety”.
  
  
• When working with Spanish red cedar, such as cutting, planing, or sanding, wear a dust mask as the wood dust is toxic, and a major throat irritant.
  
  
• For any glass, be sure to adequately seal with clear low-/non-VOC silicone.
  
  
• Do not glue, adhere, nail, or fasten the interior cedar box to the wood of the outer cabinet structure. It must “float” within the outer box – like a box within a box – to allow for expansion and contraction with the moisture level inside.
  
  
• Make sure however that you seal the outer surfaces of the inner cedar box, from the "outside" furniture piece. I used a hard fibreglass panelled sheeting. I don't recommend using a "vapour barrier", as they're still semi-permeable, and can tear and rip anyways. Either use a hard plastic-like lining between the two wooden layers (you won't see it anyways), or spray a clear acrylic sealant spray/varnish, or a clear polyurethane sealer. Best to do this on the outer surface of the inner cedar box. This is to better help the moisture to be retained within the cedar-lined interior. However, the clear acrylic spray should only be applied to the outside of the cedar (the side to go against the other wood), and not to any of the interior and/or showing edges of the cedar. It is also imperative to use a low-odour / low-VOC spray/sealer, and to allow it adequate time to fully dry prior to installing in the ready wood structure, so as to prevent the spray odour from permeating the interior of all the wood.
  
  
• Another option is to use oil-based clear polyurethane (and/or lacquer), and to coat the inside of the wood of the original cabinet itself, prior to putting in the Spanish cedar lining. That way, a moisture seal is in place, but nothing is done to the Spanish cedar itself. It all depends on your construction options.
  
  
• For larger side panels, 1/2" is a better thickness to use, to make it less prone to warping and splitting.
  
  
• Any hardware should be only brass or stainless steel.
  
  

Well, I hope this helps some. I'm in no way a professional carpenter or furniture builder, but I more than know my way around fabrication and the needed tools and such. These are just the observations of a semi-skilled / do-it-yourselfer, I guess. They're things to help if you wish to use them. It's what's worked for me and some others I know.

Thanks to all for your interest in my project.

Cheers.

[PigFish]

Good tips mate. Thanks for sharing the project. Crafting a good humidor is not really an easy task. Time to reflect and smoke a few! Cheers... -'y

[thechenman]

Thanks for the update Canuck. It looks to have been quite an undertaking.

[jnt]

WTF... I see some Guantanemera's co-mingling with Padron's. Tisk Tisk

[Ghabanos]

OMG - this is a dream...fits in nicely in the home. Looks like another piece of furniture, but open it up and enter the BATCAVE for your cigars...I stare in amazement...

AWESOME....

I want to build my own too...