Problems with new humidor (pics)

Hi Guys,

I purchased a new humidor on ebay (€60 inc postage) a week or two back to replace my small 50cap. It's a really beautiful cedar lined mahogany box, but unfortunately the previous owner removed the cedar rim which forms the seal - this is my first problem. I don't fancy myself as much of a carpenter and cedar lumber is pretty much unavailable. Any suggestions (most advice I've read seems to assume the presence of an inner rim)?

Secondly, when I received the humidor I noticed that the lid didn't make great contact at the front. I assumed this would improve with seasoning, however I returned from a weeks holiday on Monday and I could practically see inside the seal was so bad! It seems to bend up and out at the front almost imperceptibly.

Lastly, the humidor seems to be constantly over-humid which I can't understand given the bad seal. When I received it humidity was in the high 70%, after adding humidification crystals to season humidity jumped to the high 80's!
Its currently at high 60's with NO humidification device.

I've taped down the lid tightly with packing tape and removed all humidification to see if I can force the shape of the lid.

I'm quite perplexed with the amount of issues I'm having, none of which I had with my very basic laminate box (also pictured)!

Your 50cap is pictured with cigars in, right? The new one you got is going to replace it? It looks even smaller.

Um, I think you're going to have a hard time trying to unwarp whatever happened to that one, and I think it would work better if it had the inner sealing "lip" of cedar.

Spanish Cedar isn't that hard to get / find. Go to Rockler.com or some other woodworking place and you should be able to find it.

If without humidification, it's "dry" at 60, was at 70, and then you add crystals and it jumps to 80, I would guess that your hygrometer is not functioning correctly, or at least needs to be calibrated.

Will

Looking at pic 2 I dont think it came with a rim seal of any sort. No offense but it looks like a cheap box from the boom era 25 $ tops. One of the best cheap 50 ct I have is a 30 dollar from CVS in the mid 90's and its an Abbey brand.

It's hard to get a feel for the scale (slightly larger than 19"x19") from the pics, but the new humidor is at least 3/4 times the size of the old one - its absolutely massive. The filled humidor comfortably occupies half a drawer in the storage locker the new humidor is sitting on top of.

The hygrometer should be ok, I've had it about a year in my old humidor and its always been around 65%-70%.

Its this one here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Caliber-Digi...2899220&sr=8-2

Spanish cedar seems to be difficult to find from sellers in Europe for some reason.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kevin7

Looking at pic 2 I dont think it came with a rim seal of any sort. No offense but it looks like a cheap box from the boom era 25 $ tops. One of the best cheap 50 ct I have is a 30 dollar from CVS in the mid 90's and its an Abbey brand.

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Yep, the seal was removed - I can see the marks were the seals were originally located. The box was apparently converted from a humidor to hold a window display for some business.
1st pic is my old humidor, which was about 25 alright.

The new one pictured was made by http://www.hillwood.co.uk. Everything looks to be quality, I just think its had a hard life not fulfilling its original purpose.

Spanish Cedar is code speak for any of the twelvity five varieties of Mahogany. Sorry you got a defective box . Many Chineese made boxes are pretty good if you dont want to spend Manning or Elie Blue $

Perhaps contact Hillwood and get them to repair it.