Humidor Cabinet - getting a good seal

[Scott Thornton]

All:

Hopefully someone here has tried this before or knows a good technique. I would like to make a cabinet, with pull out shelves for use as a humidor. The problem I am having is making one with a good seal where the doors are. The typical cabinet / hinge doesn't close tight enough to maintain constant temperature and humidity.

Does anyone have any experience or advise for this?

Thanks.

[Jim Becker]

Ok...humidors are not my thing, but it sounds like you need to have the door(s) mate to an interior frame that can provide a seal or accomodate some form of stripping that does the same. This takes the responsiblity totally away from the hinges and relies on physical contact behind the door to do the job. I am thinking that careful fitting will be required. Perhaps those Bruso knife hinges that Mark Singer uses would be a nice touch, too.

[Scott Thornton]

Thanks Jim. Do you know of a source for those hinges?

I think you're right though. I need to figure a way to get the door tight to the frame and then have some type of seal mate...hmmm

Any chance anyone can tell how this company does their's?

http://www.aristocrathumidors.com/aristocrat-MxTHC.html

[Jamie Buxton]

If you want the seal to be really air-tight, look into magnetic seals. These are what's on your refrigerator door. They seal way better than any conventional weatherstrip. Pretty much the same stuff is used for weatherstriping on steel exterior doors, and is available in builders stores -- for instance, http://www.mdteam.com/products.php?category=215

[Greg Peterson]

I may be wrong, but I have heard that you don't neccessarily need or want an air tight seal.

If the box is opened regularly, then an airtight seal will help retain the moisture and regulate temperature fluctuations. But if the box is opened infrequently, the air can get 'stale'. Just what I've heard.

When I smoked cigars, I would let them sit in my humidor for at least a month before smoking them. The humidor was opened once a day and temperature/humidity was regulated. They smoked great after stewing in the humidor for 30 days.

I do miss them sometimes.

[Ben Abate]

I have made quite a few humidors my technique may not fit your style but here is how I look at it. If the humidor has drawers then make that your task to seal the drawers and not the doors. Some of the free standing ones have doors that open, once open there are drawers to open to access the cigars. I make my drawers seal as nicely as possible, usually with a mechanical seal. The mechanical seal looks like a rule joint. Once the drawer is closed it is sealed. If you have a large humidor I have found that one humidifier is not enough. I use one for each drawer unless you want to spend $500.00 to $1000.00 for a top of the line humidifier. This is one thing to consider when building a humidor, how are you going to bring the mositure in and keep it stable. Another is especially this time of the year with home heating being what it is. If you don't have a humidifier in your home you take the chance of blowing the humidor apart. Been there done that. I let the humidity in the house fall to 24% and the humidor I kept at 70 % inside. To forces fighing against each other. The 70% won and the entire side of the humidor blew out and sounded like a 22 cal. pistol when it did. I now make sure when winter heating season comes along that I turn the humidifier on, on the furnace. Making large humidors is a lot bigger challenge than making desk top ones. When making ones that have drawers it becomes a bit of thinking. You can use one humidifier for about 3 drawers, just have a series of holes in the bottom of the drawer trays. This way the moisture will fall to the lower level. I would not go more than 3 drawers, leave some room for the moisture to pass thru. As you know every time you add another way for the moisture to escape creates another place you have to seal. Use only distilled water, no tap water. There are a few types of Spanish Cedar, the one you want is Cedrela Odorata. The others have pitch pockets and seem to never dry, they leave the inside of your humidor sticky. I usually buy it in 4/4 and resaw it as needed. A nice feature of resawing it to 3/8 or 5/16 and lining your box with it is; years later it will still give off that pleasant smell

Good luck.
Ben

[Joel Schnedler]

I've had an Aristocrat cabinet humidor for about three years. It's constructed of walnut, with double doors. The inside is completely lined with Spanish cedar. They use regular cabinet hinges and all the door seams are sealed with foam weatherstripping. It has electronic humidity control with two fans to maintain even humidity throughout the cabinet. Overall size is about 4'H x 3'W x 18"D. It holds around 2500 cigars. Good luck.

[Mike Wilkins]

You can do what I built for my shop stereo cabinet. Place a frame just inside the cabinet behind the doors. Allow enough room for a good weather strip or foam seal to keep humidity/moisture inside the cabinet, and allow a snug fit for the door. In your case you are keeping the inside at the correct temp. and moisture inside; in my case, I am keeping dust out of the cabinet.
Has worked well for me, even using some cheap foam weatherstrip.
I have a seperate inexpensive humidor for my smokes. In the shop of course.
Too cold outside, and the wife would murderize me if I lit one up in the house.

[Joel Schnedler]

Thank God I have a wife that tolerates some of my obnoxious habits.