Advice please: Wine fridge "coolidor"

[Jamie117]

Hi guys,

I have recently purchased a good sized wine fridge with a broken compressor, with the intention of adding thermoelectric cooling later. However the more I look into it, the more I think it will be a money pit which may still not be efficient enough.

For those reasons I have been looking into buying either a purpose-built coolidor, or a working wine fridge. Where I live, shipping on the Amazon cigar coolidors is often more than the purchase price so those are basically out. However I have found some very reasonably priced wine fridges, even some with wooden shelves preinstalled.

The problem is, anything bigger than 8-12 bottles seems to be compressor cooled. I know thermoelectric is much more inefficient, but I've always read that you don't want compressor cooling for cigars as it draws humidity from the air and will dry out your cigars. But then I'm reading other information that says the average humidity in a fridge is 65%, which is perfect for my usage. I have several tupperdors currently, it has been suggested to keep them in the fridge, but for me the whole point of getting a unit like this would be to keep them just in their boxes or in trays for singles, so I want something that keeps cigars pristine as-is, just with large bovedas for humidification.

I guess the bottom line is; what are the implications of keeping cigars in a compressor-cooled fridge, keeping in mind it will be humidified with Boveda? Does it draw humidity from the interior as much as the exterior? Does this mechanic work differently in a wine fridge? I really appreciate any advice this awesome community can give me, cheers guys!

[El Presidente]

On 5/25/2024 at 10:40 AM, Jamie117 said:

Hi guys,

I have recently purchased a good sized wine fridge with a broken compressor, with the intention of adding thermoelectric cooling later. However the more I look into it, the more I think it will be a money pit which may still not be efficient enough.

 

You called it right. 

On 5/25/2024 at 10:40 AM, Jamie117 said:

I guess the bottom line is; what are the implications of keeping cigars in a compressor-cooled fridge, keeping in mind it will be humidified with Boveda? Does it draw humidity from the interior as much as the exterior? Does this mechanic work differently in a wine fridge? I really appreciate any advice this awesome community can give me, cheers guys!

I know a lot of people keep their cigars happily in a compressor cooled fridge. Temp generally,  18-19 degrees Celcius and they freeze all their stock. Some have put in fan circulation and they all use beads/boveda. 

If you are prepared to freeze your stock.....all of it.....then I wouldn't be concerned about even buying a refrigerated unit or at least an expensive one. If you don't want to freeze, put your boxes individually in a ziplock with a cheap boveda. Same with singles. They will be fine. 

 

 

[traveller]

On 5/27/2024 at 7:36 PM, El Presidente said:

You called it right. 

I know a lot of people keep their cigars happily in a compressor cooled fridge. Temp generally,  18-19 degrees Celcius and they freeze all their stock. Some have put in fan circulation and they all use beads/boveda. 

If you are prepared to freeze your stock.....all of it.....then I wouldn't be concerned about even buying a refrigerated unit or at least an expensive one. If you don't want to freeze, put your boxes individually in a ziplock with a cheap boveda. Same with singles. They will be fine. 

Why does one have to be prepared to freeze their stock when using a compressor driven fridge? How is it different then a non-actively cooled humidor?

[Jamie117]

On 6/24/2024 at 10:02 PM, traveller said:

Why does one have to be prepared to freeze their stock when using a compressor driven fridge? How is it different then a non-actively cooled humidor?

I think what Rob was saying is that if you're freezing all your stock, then you don't need to worry about using any kind of refrigeration at all, because beetles can't be an issue in theory. However, for my purposes it's not because of beetles, it's because I live in a hugely variable climate and want better humidity control by way of temp control.