Second hand humidor.

[John Ellefsen]

Hi!
So, I guess it's time for my first post in here.
I'm pretty new to cigars, at least new to the fact that I never had my own humidor before.
So when I got a box of some really nice cigars for my birthday I finally got the reason I needed to buy myself a humidor. I went "all the way" and got me a Adorini Chianti Deluxe. It's a really sweet humdior and it's supposed to hold 100 sticks.
Wel,, it's up and running and everything is honky dory.

Then...I found this online cigarshop that has some really good deals on cigars and I start buying boxes of cigars instead of singels. The Adorini can't hold boxes of cigars so I went and bought a second hand humi on the Norwegian version of ebay.

I got the humi in the mail today, and man have I been screwed!

Here's some pics of the humi:







Looks great huh?

One thing is for sure. I can season this for years, but I would never put my sticks or boxes of sticks in this one.

Problem numero uno: The humi is far from airtight. I can actually see through the gaps that appears when I close the door.

Problem 2: This box really smells. And I'm not talking about the sweet smell of cedar or cigars. the old humidificationsystem was still inside it and it contained a wet spunge. The humidor has been stored with this wet spunge inside it for years I reckon and hence the smell.

I have aired out the humidor and also placed a cup of bakingsoda inside it. Maybe I can get rid of that awful smell.

So what do you fine folks think? Is there any hope? Is there a good way to get this thing airtight again and finally, is there any good way to actually find out if the interior is cedar at all?

The brand of this humidor is Humidor Stars.

I have a feeling this humidor is beyond fixing, so right now I have a few of my guitars up for sale so I can get my hands on this one:
http://www.augusto.no/Shop/Product/A...luxe/NHA-CABAF

[fencefixer]

Problem #1: Use painters (masking) tape on the lips to create a good seal. If it's very severe, you can try weather stripping.

Problem #2: I learned this trick from Shilala: Pour ammonia in a cup and let it sit in there for a week or so. It resurrected my ACID infested humidor. Good luck!

[ApexAZ]

Welcome to the forum, John. I don't know anything about the second humidor you linked to, but in my limited experience, I would avoid the glass.

[68TriShield]

Go with a good cooler until you figure things out.They work excellent.

[OLS]

I have to echo what Tri-Shield said, I would get an ice chest and think about it for awhile.
Every smoker needs a good desktop humidor to house his cigars that are ready for smoking.
What they should use to store their boxes, and those cigars not intended for smoking in the
upcoming weeks and months is a good-sealing ice chest. You can store the full size boxes
or some nice cedar boxes of singles. This is not just a cost-effective solution, it is a sensible one
as well. It is distilled from the knowledge of years of spending on humidors and the eventual
realization that you only really need one good desktop, unless you also want a small one for
the office.

[kelmac07]

I don't see the pics.

[John Ellefsen]

Originally Posted by kelmac07

I don't see the pics.

I see them. Could it be an option/add-on in your browser that prevents them from showing?

[John Ellefsen]

Thanks for the advice people.
I'm seriously considering the coolidor option or maybe the wineodor option.
So I'll just try to give this humi lots of fresh air, season it and just see how it goes.

[Cigar Mike]

Originally Posted by John Ellefsen

I see them. Could it be an option/add-on in your browser that prevents them from showing?

Neither ECJ nor I can see them, either. Two different computers, different browsers, different operating systems, different ISPs. I'll poke at this for a bit longer and see if I can figure out why not...

[John Ellefsen]

Computers, browers and ISP works in mysterious ways
You can also check out my photoalbum I have here, perhaps you can see the pics there?

[Cigar Mike]

Originally Posted by John Ellefsen

Computers, browers and ISP works in mysterious ways
You can also check out my photoalbum I have here, perhaps you can see the pics there?

True dat, brother....

Well, going to your album, I could at least see the thumbnails, although not the full-sized versions. I'm chalking it up to some voodoo going on with the forum software.

Overall, that looks like a handsome humidor, but I can't see enough detail to really lay eyes on the problems you described.

If you're feeling adventurous, it might be possible to build a new ceder lining on the inside and seal things up a little bit with some felt, weatherstripping, or adhesive magnetic strips, depending on what you think might work best. Thin ceder panels can be purchased through specialty wood shops. (I was about to throw a bone to my favorite online retailer, but they don't seem to have spanish ceder on their webpage anymore.) I like to resurrect things like this, though, but it might turn into more work than it's worth, depending on how bad things really are.

Also, I know there's some pretty strong opinions out there about the use of glass panels on humidors, and most of them seem to lean to the "don't do it" direction. I'm curious, though....if you were already committed to doing a rebuild on this, maybe take the glass out, and have a UV-blocking layer added by a local tinting shop? I wonder if that might help alleviate some of the problems people describe about using glass? Don't know, just guessing...

[jluck]

Originally Posted by Cigar Mike

True dat, brother....

Well, going to your album, I could at least see the thumbnails, although not the full-sized versions. I'm chalking it up to some voodoo going on with the forum software.

Overall, that looks like a handsome humidor, but I can't see enough detail to really lay eyes on the problems you described.

If you're feeling adventurous, it might be possible to build a new ceder lining on the inside and seal things up a little bit with some felt, weatherstripping, or adhesive magnetic strips, depending on what you think might work best. Thin ceder panels can be purchased through specialty wood shops. (I was about to throw a bone to my favorite online retailer, but they don't seem to have spanish ceder on their webpage anymore.) I like to resurrect things like this, though, but it might turn into more work than it's worth, depending on how bad things really are.

Also, I know there's some pretty strong opinions out there about the use of glass panels on humidors, and most of them seem to lean to the "don't do it" direction. I'm curious, though....if you were already committed to doing a rebuild on this, maybe take the glass out, and have a UV-blocking layer added by a local tinting shop? I wonder if that might help alleviate some of the problems people describe about using glass? Don't know, just guessing...

The problem with glass is not actually the glass its self but most inexpensive or poorly made humidors have no sealant between the glass and wood frame leading to a bad seal.
A bad seal can look like this.

[Cigar Mike]

Ha! I'll bet the really bad ones have lots of bad tats and an unhealthy interest in your daughter.

[Stinky]

good to use baking soda first. Do not use ammonia. You'll just have another smell to get rid of. Best way to bring back the nice smell of Spanish cedar is to lightly sand all the interior surfaces with a very fine 200+ grit sandpaper. Lightly sanding all the surfaces of the Spanish cedar will remove the oxidized wood fibers and allow the natural oils to be smelled again. See if that works for you. LMK

[John Ellefsen]

Update:
I tried the ammonia. Now I have two kinds of odors I'm up against
So, now I'm going to turn this humidor into a project. It's time for a serious overhaul. First I'll try to sand it down a bit and I wil also tro to make the box more airtight. It's always good to have something to do besides smoking cigars right?

I reckon it's going to take a while before this humdior is up and running again (if ever) so I just got hold of another Adorini where I can store my babies.
Look at this sweet thing:



This one stores about 300 sticks and should do just fine until I have a cooli or wineador set up.

Keep on keeping on folks!

[fencefixer]

Aye, after the ammonia treatment I aired it out for a day and was good to go. Thread is here: http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/showthread.php?t=53328

Good luck.

[kelmac07]

John...I have one similar to that which I use as my desktop (in addition to the three vinos) and it holds up like a champ. Throw some Shilala beads in it and she's good to go.

[John Ellefsen]

Looks like a really nice humidor

So heres a new update on the the "old" humidor.
As you all know I tried the ammonia trick yesterday. Today I sanded it lightly with 200 paper. It actually revealed some good cedarsmell, but after a short while the good ole smell of ammonia came back.
I'm letting it vent out for a couple of days now, but I think this humidor can be fixed. I don't know if I'm ever going to use this one, but I just can't seem to leave broken things alone. If it's broken, fix it

Oh, I took out the hygrometer today. The glass is broken and it looks really bad. I took the old salt-test on it and I have never seen a more accurate reading. It was reading 75 after 9 hours in a ziplockbag with salt and water.

[pedro]

Humidoro is a not bad supplier for Humidors and based in germany, deffo well worth a look I have a 300 count 7 drawer on the way from them just now.

[RWhisenand]

Originally Posted by kelmac07

John...I have one similar to that which I use as my desktop (in addition to the three vinos) and it holds up like a champ. Throw some Shilala beads in it and she's good to go.

Hey Mac, so much for bringing back a dead thread huh? My wife bought me one of these humidors for Christmas, I'm glad to hear you're happy with it. I'm thinking it might need a hand sealing up though. There is a small gap around the door, maybe the latch wasn't installed properly? I don't know, also the weather stripping has a gap where the latch is. Both of these I plan on fixing by installing better, thicker weather stripping. I'm also thinking about running some silicone around the glass to insure it seals well.

It's good to hear you're happy with your humidor, it certainly is a nice looking unit.