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Keeping Cigars cool this summer

P

Pyre

Back with a vengeance
Joined
Mar 21, 2005
Messages
739
I have a good sized cabinet humidor with a glass door. The place I'm living in now has a basement, and stays 65-72 degrees year round.

I'm moving in a few weeks to a house built on a crawlspace, so I won't have a basement. Missouri summers get hot, so I'm wondering what I might need to do to keep my humidor under 72 degrees this summer?

I'd rather not spend too much money if possible. I'm looking for any ideas. Maybe a wine cooler, an old refridgerator or freezer? Do they sell something that I could attach to my humidor to cool the inside of it? My humidor has a slot in the back to run cords inside, I guess if I had that type of humidifier inside.

Or maybe I can just put a window AC unit in one room of the house and keep the one room cooler. Sounds like a big hassle, I know, but I already have a sizable investment in my cigar collection. I'd hate to ruin them all.
 
Pyre:

I'm in the same boat! I'm thinking about trying to find a freezer at a scratch & dent sale and using the Jhonson Temp control to keep it under 70 degrees in the summer. Then just use beads and/or an active system to keep the humidity at 65%. I think I could get the whole thing done for under $300.00. Not cheap, but not too crazy either.
 
I believe you can buy a "chiller plate" for fairly cheap. I know nothing other than it is a small plate and it chills somehow. Then you would need a couple small brushless fans to move the air across the plate. Brushless produce a lot less heat that the brush type. Then you need a small transformer to power the fans. An old cell phone charger, appliance traformer will do the trick. Preferably rated at 600 mA to be safe. Then plug both the transformer and the plate into a timer.

You'll have to play with the timer a little bit using a fridge thermometer. Also, you'll want to use the fans in a push/pull type of configuration. If we knew the interior volume, it would be easier to recommend the right fans. Ultimately, you'd like the fan combination to move the entire volume of air inside your within 2-3 minutes.

If you dig around you might find allofus post in the humidor section about his cabinet. I know that he set up his cabinet w/ several tiny computer fans on a timer. Be sure and fire away with your questions. I am sure there are plenty of people who have outfitted their cabinets with power accessories.

Emo
 
I'm in the same boat. Here in the PacNW it doesn't get hot enough to warrent AC in a house (IMHO) but it does get too warm for cigars for two, maybe three months. I found a closet in the center of the house, away from any exterior walls, that stays mid 60's when it's 85+ degrees outside. That's where I put my cooler and humi during the summer months.

Been looking around for a more permanant solution, though. I'm thinking this would solve the problem, pretty well.... :cool:

Regards - B.B.S.
 
I would just turn on the AC and keep my whole house cool during the summer, but that's probably not the answer you were looking for.
 
I've been using blue ice when it gets really hot at my apt.
I know it's ghetto...but I read about it somewhere.

Sometimes it gets up to 90 degrees...indoors!

I place the blue ice pack, in a towel, in one corner of my coolidor...and all my cigars in the other.
The humidity drops a little...but as soon as I get home, I remove the blue ice.
I put the blue ice back in the freezer and do the same bit before I leave in the morning.
I have 2 packs of blue ice, just in case the other isn't ready.
 
That sounds like a good idea chewbacco. I often thought that with beads and their control of humidity you could probably just add an ice cube made of distilled water into the mix and the beads would just soak in/release the distilled water as normal. And if you have a cooler, it's going to take a while for that ice cube to melt anyway. I'm not sure if a single ice cube would be enough to cool a 50 qt cooler as I've never gone into the science/practice of it...but I thought about it if the cooler gets too warm.

Jason
 
I stay in a tropical country. I keep all my Cubans around 80's F (normal day time ambient temperatue over here) with humidity around 63-65% in my coolidor. No AC. No bettle so far. All the sticks are in good shape.
 
You are very lucky Gaman. I'm not sure how long that luck will last. That's a dangerous game to play. I hope you can find a way to keep them at least 5 degrees cooler just to be safe.

Jason
 
Hi Jason,

Yup, I know I am lucky so far. But storing cigars at 70F over here is just too costly. I couldn't able to turn on AC 247. Electrical bill will shoot up to the sky. Not a pratical way.

Some how there is another way to keep those bettle at bay is to use quarantine method. Everytime you buy a box of cigars, rather than putting it together with the rest of your collection you put it in a tupperdor for two weeks to one month at higher tempeture (> 75F) & 65-70% RH. If there is a bettle in that box cigars, it will hatch within that time frame. Since it is isolated so the rest of the collections are safe. On the other hand, if there is no sign of bettle then the box should be free from bettle at any storage temperature later. Thats my 2 cents.
 
I was under the impression that beetle eggs were present in all cigars, and even the most anal of cigar manafacturers are unable to control the beasties.

Doc.
 
MichiganM said:
That sounds like a good idea chewbacco. I often thought that with beads and their control of humidity you could probably just add an ice cube made of distilled water into the mix and the beads would just soak in/release the distilled water as normal.
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i have the same problem living in dallas (where the high is supposed to be 80 today). i have a closet humi on an outside wall that gets pretty warm. i have a humidifier that holds a gallon of water. ive thought about adding distilled ice cubes in there to see if it would cool it down. but i do like the "blue ice" idea. ill have to try that too.
 
The blue ice idea isn't bad, but it might be a hassle to mess with every day. And like someone else has said, keepign the thermostat at 70 through the whole summer would cost more than the cigar collection I'm trying to protect.

I'm looking at some thermoelectric cooling options. They look pretty inexpensive, but would require a little electrical knowledge and soldering to put together. I'm still looking. I'm hoping to find something already assembled that I could just fit into the back wall of my humidor, or run tubing to in order to deliver the cool air.

I'll keep updated here for anyone else who was interested.
 
Does Freezing the cigars completly kill the beetles?

If so, then freeze the cigars for a week before you put them in the humi. Right?

Todd
 
toliver said:
Does Freezing the cigars completly kill the beetles?

If so, then freeze the cigars for a week before you put them in the humi. Right?

Todd
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I dont have the expertise to comment on this, but a seach might pull up some good info.

Emo
 
I've never personally froze my cigars, but many people with extensive collections do. You should put them in an airtight baggie, freeze them for 24-48 hours, then place them in the refrigerator for 24 hours to bring them down to a warmer temperature delicately. After that they should be able to *slowly* regain RH. This would be my way to do it, but there are varying timetables everywhere on the internet. Freezing is done before you expose the cigars to the rest of your collection to protect against eggs hatching.

Jason
 
The "blue ice" method works, and its really not all that difficult. I had two of the larger blue ice blocks. Put one in the coolerdor and would rotate them out every other day. Even with my house sitting at near 80 degrees inside during the heat of summer, inside of the cooler stayed well below 70 most of the time(usually 63-71 depending on how much i opened it and the ambient temp). Its really the only "cheap" way to do it and since im using vipers beads, it really doesnt affect humidity. Kind of a pain in the butt, but its worth it to save your stash without breaking the bank with outragous central air bills!
 
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