Expert: M J Robbins - 12/25/2009

Question
As my question subject states, I want to try my hand at building my own cabinet humidor. I've always wanted one just never been able to shell out $1000 for one.

My plan was to buy a curio cabinet, maybe about 6 foot tall, line it with spanish cedar and make spanish cedar shelves to replace the glass ones (since most have glass shelves). For the seal I was thinking about buying 1 inch thick strip magnets and lining the entire door with them, top to bottom and along the top/bottom of the door...but I didn't know if the humidity would cause a problem with the magnets, or if they would even work at all.

One of my problems though is that I don't think I'll be able to afford the spanish cedar to line the entire thing with, I read that american cedar works, but because its more aromatic it would put more cedar taste in my cigars. Now I've never had a cigar with too much of a cedar taste, I actually don't even think I've ever noticed a slight cedar taste from cigars in my desktop humidor.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

-Andrew

Answer
My commercial cigar humidor for 25,000 cigars is Spanish Cedar from top to bottom.
But you do not need that much cedar, just make the shelves out of Spanish cedar and you will be like 99% of the cigar stores in the USA.
Use good humidification that is important. Many boxes come with cedar strips you could layer them in, also leave the cigars in the boxes they come in to retain the flavor. Keep the boxes closed for true stability. Leaving boxes open is only for display in a cigar store as they are best kept closed.
You must seal the windows on the display better some how.
Magnets and rubber like you would seal a front door seems logical.

Mike