Cigar Box and Varnish

[mrtr33]

I bought a vintage cigar box today (cedar inside and out) and it will be used as a humidor. I am debating if I should treat yje outside with oil or varnish. I was thinking varnish may help seal in the humidity but I am concerned it may infiltrate the wood and create an issue with how the wood interacts with the moisture. Any thoughts?

This is not a good idea at all. For one thing, a cigar box is not a humidor any more than a portable cooler is a refrigerator. Sure, it will keep your beer cold - for a day. But that cigar box (even vintage ones) don't have the seals like a humidor would (which is much more important than the density of the wood) and like has been said previously, would really only work for maybe a long weekend, if you had a good humidification device inside. Instead, I'd still keep the box, wouldn't 'varnish it' (as a woodworker, the thought of doing this to wood actually turns my stomach), but build a coolerdor and include this box in my collection. Why destroy something that's vintage? Would you paint a '67 Mustang a neon green color? Of course not.

That's not helpful at all. It is working fine, I just wanted to improve the aesthetic appearance without messing up the wood. Hence the specific question to varnish. I was hoping for a constructive response considering this was a well thought out gift.

Was it?