Expert: M J Robbins - 9/30/2009

Question
QUESTION: Dear sir or sirs, I am making a humidor out of a Danby 45 bottle wine cooler using the Oasis electronic Humidifier. Should I leave my cigars in their original boxes or set them loosely in the wood trays that come with the cooler? Should I line the cooler with cedar or just leave the plastic as it is? Thanks for you input. Jeff

ANSWER: Always leave the cigars in the original boxes if you can.
Replace all wood in the cooler with Spanish cedar shelving and more around the sides if you can afford it.
Spanish cedar only. You need a wood speciality store to get good Spanish cedar as much will have sapping bought at a hardware store. Pick it wisely, but at a good wood speciality store you will have no problem. You could have the wood split and milled to certain dimensions but this will cost hundreds of dollars for a small amount.
Best at
65 degrees 73% humidity

Enjoy
MJR

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: MJR, ok I just bought some spanish cedar veneer to line my wine cooler. Do you think it will be ok to keep using the wire shelves that came with the cooler as finding 1/4 inch cedar 11 1/4 X 13 1/4 is hard to do? Also should I take the lid off of my cigar boxes before I put them on the shelves so moisture will get to the cigars easier? Thanks again for your help. Jeff

Answer
The more cedar the better but you are already 1,000 miles ahead of the coolerdore (a big plastic cooler filled with cigars) crowd as you stand.
You are there with most stores in the USA or better...
I saw glass and metal shelves in a Davidoff store.
Always leave your cigars in the boxes and the boxes closed. The wood of the boxes absorbs moisture and helps keep an even humdity in the cigars. NOT having the boxes open is always the best way for stability.

Enjoy
Mike (MJR)