Desktop Humidor Recommendations

[Martin_F]

Great looking humidor you got there. Can't beat the price...

[earthson]

Couple things I've learned:

1) if you go cheap, make sure it doesn't have a glass top!   Those things take a bit of epoxy and food-grade silicone to seal.

2) resale sites like flea-Bay are good resources - I have a handmade humi that I'm going to be getting rid of soon that I bought used there 8 or 9 years ago. It works like a champ and I looked the guy up (he imprinted his name on the bottom) - he's apparently a master carpenter/craftsman who doesn't do a lot of cigar stuff, but it's been old faithful for like $30

I also scored a beautiful Gentili there around the same time for about $100. It is sold on their website for $500 and holds humidity perfectly.

The main thing buying used humis is making sure there are enough pictures with good resolution so you can see the joints, condition of the wood, etc. A good seller will take extra pics if they're warranted.

3) Cheap humidors ain't so bad! My smoke-now desktop for Havanas is a cheapo from one of the larger NC merchants. It's not big and it's not pretty and it came with 20 absolutely awful cigars in it.  It took a few years to be truly seasoned, but is actually my most reliable - it holds from 59-64 RH and I only touch up the beads with water once or twice per year. The 65% Boveda that's been in there for a couple years is soft and supple.

4) Finally, I live in a temperate area that doesn't get very cold at all, gets moderately hot and is moist almost all the time. With A/C, I have an easy time keeping my humis and cooler right where I want them.

My buddy who lives in the snowy, white north (and heats with wood fire) has a cuntint of a time keeping the humidity above 30% in his humi during the winter. We discovered that from October to April, his humis are best kept in nested ziploc bags to prevent too much humidity loss.

 

Anyway, happy hunting!  If you're spending a little money, Daniel Marshall and Diamond Crown make some good humidors (or so I've been told).

In all cases, I would recommend humidifying with any of the humidity beads sold for cigar purposes.