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New Wineador Project

kent1146kent1146 Posts: 86
in Cigar 101
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With the summer months coming, I knew that my regular desktop humidor wasn't going to cut it anymore.  I couldn't reliably keep the temperature below 70F, and I can't risk losing my precious cigar collection to beetles.  So I went out and got a used wine cellar from Craigslist for about $50.

The next day, I went out to Home Depot to buy a bunch of supplies.  The goal was to build a complete shelving and drawer setup for direct storage of my cigars.  I couldn't find cedar planks, so I decided to go with red oak instead.

I just finished building the shelves and drawers.  I have yet to season the wood inside the wineador, and stabilize the humidity.  The temperature inside stabilizes at 66F.  I will probably throw in some 67% Heartfelt beads when I get around to it.  I'm thinking about waiting a full week for the temperature and humidity to stabilize before I actually put my cigars in there.

Anyway, here are some porno pics for the group.  Enjoy!


The Original Wine Cellar - Heier 12-Bottle
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A Bunch of Materials from Home Depot
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A Work In Progress
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The Shelves Are Completed!  Almost There!
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An Empty Drawer.
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A Drawer, Full of Cigars as a Test.  The Small Drawers Hold About 40 Cigars Each.
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The Completed Project
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Comments

  • alienmisprintalienmisprint Posts: 3,964 ✭✭✭
    Very nice set-up, is that Spanish cedar? I didn't know they sold it at home depot.
  • kuzi16kuzi16 Posts: 14,633 ✭✭✭✭
    how many fit a shelf?
    what did the fridge cost ya? (if you dont mind me askin)
    Kuzi's Forum Links Page
  • mustluvcigarsmustluvcigars Posts: 686
    You got some fine stogies there in the pic, looks like you have built them quite a worthy home, NICE JOB!!
  • smbrinksmbrink Posts: 406 ✭
    Hey if you need to find some Spanish cedar you can always hit up a local B&M and ask if they have any empty boxes. They are usually pretty cool about stuff like that if you buy a smoke or two. All you really need is enough to line the drawers.
  • KriegKrieg Posts: 5,188 ✭✭✭
    Wow, looks great! Good job! I am jealous :)

    "Long ashes my friends."

  • kent1146kent1146 Posts: 86
    Thanks for the comments guys.  The drawers are made of red oak (they didn't sell Spanish cedar at Home Depot).  I'll probably follow smbrink's suggestion, and get some spare cigar boxes from my local B&M.

    And kuzi... I paid $50 for the wine fridge off of Craigslist.  The materials, tools, parts, etc for the shelves and drawers added another $60 on top of that.  I'll probably need another $20 for half a pound of heartfelt beads, too.  But overall, I'm happy with it.  I needed a larger humidor anyway (my 25-50 count is WAY full), and $130 is probably what I would've spent on a nice large desktop humidor anyway.


  • phobicsquirrelphobicsquirrel Posts: 7,347 ✭✭✭
    cool pics, glad it's working for ya.
  • gmill880gmill880 Posts: 5,947 ✭
    Good deal
  • Jetmech_63Jetmech_63 Posts: 3,451 ✭✭✭
    Nice work and a sweet deal! I've always thought about getting something like that..
  • Matt MarvelMatt Marvel Posts: 930 ✭
    Nice job! The enjoyment you get out of building it and being able to say you did it yourself is worth more than any larger humidor you could've bought, in my opinion. I might see what I can find on Craigslist now!
  • gmill880gmill880 Posts: 5,947 ✭
    This is a good looking setup. Only question I have is will the red oak have any effect on the cigars ? Any thought guys ...?
  • kuzi16kuzi16 Posts: 14,633 ✭✭✭✭
    im sure it will. EVERYTHING effects cigars. if you notice it or not is the real question. ... and if you do, is it bad or good?
    Kuzi's Forum Links Page
  • gmill880gmill880 Posts: 5,947 ✭
    Thats what I,m wondering ...
  • kent1146kent1146 Posts: 86
    kuzi16:
    im sure it will. EVERYTHING effects cigars. if you notice it or not is the real question. ... and if you do, is it bad or good?


    Bleh.  So, the shelves and drawers was a total failure.  I couldn't get the smell of the red oak out.  The wood wouldn't hold humidity, and the wood began to warp as I tried seasoning it.

    So I took all of those out, and just went with standard cigar boxes stacked together.  Each box has its own small jar of beads, plus an extra 1.0lb of beads in the back of the unit to keep overall humidity in the environment.

    image
  • madurofanmadurofan Posts: 6,219 ✭✭✭
    That sucks kent. Here is where you need to go to find some spanish cedar to recreate those shelves. www.woodfinder.com
  • jeff_connorsjeff_connors Posts: 483
    I just bought pretty much the same unit this evening.. then tonight i ordered 65% heartfelt beads one pound.......with your unit do you find that the humidity stays at your setpoint with 1lb of beads?
  • niz33niz33 Posts: 83
    You should cancel the order and replace it with 70% beads.
  • LukoLuko Posts: 2,003 ✭✭
    Or stay with 65 percent...that's where I like it.
  • brsmith21brsmith21 Posts: 207
    I keep 65% beads in my coolerdor and it stays around 70% consistently.
  • kent1146kent1146 Posts: 86
    jeff_connors:
    I just bought pretty much the same unit this evening.. then tonight i ordered 65% heartfelt beads one pound.......with your unit do you find that the humidity stays at your setpoint with 1lb of beads?


    Yes, 1lb of beads is plenty, especially if you fill up most of the empty space in the humidor with cigar boxes like I did (a lot of the boxes were empty when I took the pic... I only had about 40 cigars total at the time, across 2 boxes).

    I would actually recommend that you follow the advice of another poster, and get the 70% beads.  You need to remember that the unit won't give exactly 65F temperatures all of the time, and will sometimes dip below 65F.  Since my ideal target is 67F / 67%, I went with 70% beads to compensate for the fact that my temps are a little below 67F.

    So far, the sticks I've placed in there have been humidifying well.  I'm hoping to keep 3 of those boxes as "aging cabinets" and let the cigars in those sit for a while before smoking them.  Good luck on your fridge, and don't forget to post the porno pics once you've got it all set up!


  • niz33niz33 Posts: 83
    brsmith21:
    I keep 65% beads in my coolerdor and it stays around 70% consistently.
    I'm the other way around I had 65% beads and my humidity was to low, so I just bought 70% and now its around 65-67%.
  • madurofanmadurofan Posts: 6,219 ✭✭✭
    niz33:
    brsmith21:
    I keep 65% beads in my coolerdor and it stays around 70% consistently.
    I'm the other way around I had 65% beads and my humidity was to low, so I just bought 70% and now its around 65-67%.
    THis all depends on the method you use for charging and what percentage of beads you are charging. Heartfelt tells you around 2/3 of the beads should be charged. I've found in the winter I have to charge damn near all of them to maintain 67-70%RH and decharge all of them in the summer.
  • LukoLuko Posts: 2,003 ✭✭
    madurofan:
    niz33:
    brsmith21:
    I keep 65% beads in my coolerdor and it stays around 70% consistently.
    I'm the other way around I had 65% beads and my humidity was to low, so I just bought 70% and now its around 65-67%.
    THis all depends on the method you use for charging and what percentage of beads you are charging. Heartfelt tells you around 2/3 of the beads should be charged. I've found in the winter I have to charge damn near all of them to maintain 67-70%RH and decharge all of them in the summer.
    Good point...I didn't go to heartfelt beads till last fall so my experience is very limited, but this is what I've seen through the winter up until now. Eh, as long as i'm between 65 and 70 humidity, I'm happy. I don't stress about it too much.
  • madurofanmadurofan Posts: 6,219 ✭✭✭
    Luko:
    madurofan:
    niz33:
    brsmith21:
    I keep 65% beads in my coolerdor and it stays around 70% consistently.
    I'm the other way around I had 65% beads and my humidity was to low, so I just bought 70% and now its around 65-67%.
    THis all depends on the method you use for charging and what percentage of beads you are charging. Heartfelt tells you around 2/3 of the beads should be charged. I've found in the winter I have to charge damn near all of them to maintain 67-70%RH and decharge all of them in the summer.
    Good point...I didn't go to heartfelt beads till last fall so my experience is very limited, but this is what I've seen through the winter up until now. Eh, as long as i'm between 65 and 70 humidity, I'm happy. I don't stress about it too much.
    Thats my philosophy too. After not paying any where near enough attention to my humidors the past couple of months they've shot up to over 75%, one is hovering at 79%. I've completely dried out all my beads and stuck them back in the humidor decharged and that didn't help much. I've ordered a couple of the heartfelt sheets and just this morning I opened up the one thats been hovering at 79 and I'm letting it sit partially open all day to try to get it back down to within reason. Pisses me off that I let them get like that. I was checking the hygros at least once a week but I was not looking at my beads. You really need to check the beads from time to time and see how many of them are charged, almost all of mine where.
  • jeff_connorsjeff_connors Posts: 483
    oh the pic will be up whenall the materials arrive!! look out!!!!!! sometime in the next 2 weeks
  • jeff_connorsjeff_connors Posts: 483
    can someone post a pic of the condensation drain in the wine fridges, im not really sure what it looks like thanks in advance
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