deanrantala
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 20, 2025
- Messages
- 8
- First Name
- Dean
Only my second time posting here on the forums... but I figured I would post a quick review regarding the Manastin 40L humidor since my journey thus far with this unit has led me to discover that the review likely applies to many other similar units.
I am not going to post any links, etc. Anyone can do a google search for 'Manastin 40L cigar humidor' and find the model.
TLDR;
Took 2 weeks to settle out and hold humidity (set at 65/65). Loaded it up with 150 cigars over the course of a few days and it held a perfect 65/65 (variance of only a couple degrees humidity) for over 2 months. Rainy season here (central Mexico) started, ambient humidity spiked and this unit fails horribly at humidity reduction internally. Otherwise, built well and rock solid temp control. Had a sensor fail last week.. found a replacement on eBay for $40. Same sensor used in many GE and LG fridges.
In depth:
This unit has adjustable temp and humidity. The temp ranges from 60 through 80 (increments of 1) and the humidity control is 60 through 75 (increments of 5). So you are not going to be able to set the humidity specifically at - say - 62%.
The temp control works two ways: a compressor-driven heat pump for cooling and a simple 110v resistive heating element (just above the evap coil) for heating.
This unit has absolutely zero issue keeping the temp within a degree +/- at any given moment regardless of ambient temp.
The humidity control is where things get sketchy.
While you *CAN* set the humidity on the front panel, from my debugging (yes, more on that shorty) - this unit is only reliable for active humidification. I noticed that when humidity starts to crawl OVER the set point... it typically has to climb well over 75% before the compressor kicks on (which dehumidifies). Even then, I noticed that the temp has also climbed a degree and a half over the set temp as well and so.. my suspicion is that the microcontroller is not programmed to kick the compressor on for dehumidification - only for temp control.
The active humidification works by means of a simple tank with corrugated evap elements in the bottom and a fan on top. When humidity reaches 3-4% of more UNDER the set point, the fan kicks on and forces humid air from the bottom upwards.
A couple months into using this unit... the temp/humidity sensor started failing intermittently. I was getting E2 error that would flash on the screen for a second and then go away. I started tracing the connections down and attempting to understand how the electronics work a bit more (I myself am a software engineer by trade).. the sensor is a 4-pin analog style device that uses a capacitive/resistive RH sensor and resistive Temp sensor. I can only imagine the variance in manufacturing and how reliable each unit must [not] be unit-to-unit as such a sensor requires per-unit calibration which I hightly doubt the china factory has done.
After replacing the sensor, I found that it still very rarely flashes that E2 error - mainly when the compressor first kicks on. Running 5 volts to the sensor (from the control board end) and measuring the voltage difference.. the new sensor reads the same (1.7 v) as the old sensor. Which makes me think that the code written for the microcontroller has a bug of some sort.
The function of bringing back up humidity NEVER kicks on while compressor runs.. that part of the cycle only activates AFTER the cooling cylce. So if it take 3 or 5 minutes to bring the temp down... the entire humidor will drop to 35 or 40% RH until the cooling cycle finishes and the humidification cycle then activates. It only takes a minute or so to bounce back to 65%.. but still. Why could they not have written the firmware to activate the fan while the compressor runs?
Also.. the lack of dehumidifying puzzles me. In theory.. they should be able to activate the compressor AND the heating element at the same time to simply dehumidify. Yeah, I am sure one would have to stay on longer than the other for temp control after the dehumidify cycle - but nothing that can not be programmed in.
Internally, this unit is CLEARLY a wine cooler that has been modified for cigars. You can tell that the factory basically retro-fitted the design of their wine coolers to ALSO have heating and basic low-humidity control.
I have another similar unit at home that came from China and my experience with it is the same. In fact, many of the components look VERY similar, and the behaviour is virtually the same.
That all brings me to some realizations about these cigar cooler/humidifyers.
1) They are dead reliabble for temp control
2) They can maintain decent humidity control IF the outside ambient humidity is LESS than your set point.
3) Humidity sensors in the FRONT of the shelves often shows LESS humidity than the REAR. This seems to be common in these style units.
4) As with most cheap electronics from China... the firmware (software) is horrible.
5) My next step early next year will be to build out a proper walk-in humidor.
I am contemplating breaking out a Arduino Pro Mini and retro-fitting it in place of the existing microcontroller in order to gain better control of things. In fact, I may even physically modify where the bottom tank is and install a mini dehumidifyer - so it can have a DEDICATED dehumidify cylce independant of the heating/cooling. All of this would also allow me to replace the existing analog sensor with a proper digital one that is properly caibrated.
Here in central Mexico, we are in the rainy season. Temps average in the mid-60's (no need for AC - which usually de-humidifies). But humidity is north of 75%. I put a dehumidifier in the office here with me to keep humidity at 50% or less - no more issues with the humidor. No more E2 flashing, no more overshooting the humidity internally. As long as the humidity is 10% or less than the set point - it keeps perfect humidity.
But yeah... I think I will soon be building a formal walk-in humidor. Spanish cedar here in Mexico is almost dirt cheap. I have heard from a handful of producers locally now the same: the larger a humidor, the easier and more steady it can be maintained for temp/humidity.
I am not going to post any links, etc. Anyone can do a google search for 'Manastin 40L cigar humidor' and find the model.
TLDR;
Took 2 weeks to settle out and hold humidity (set at 65/65). Loaded it up with 150 cigars over the course of a few days and it held a perfect 65/65 (variance of only a couple degrees humidity) for over 2 months. Rainy season here (central Mexico) started, ambient humidity spiked and this unit fails horribly at humidity reduction internally. Otherwise, built well and rock solid temp control. Had a sensor fail last week.. found a replacement on eBay for $40. Same sensor used in many GE and LG fridges.
In depth:
This unit has adjustable temp and humidity. The temp ranges from 60 through 80 (increments of 1) and the humidity control is 60 through 75 (increments of 5). So you are not going to be able to set the humidity specifically at - say - 62%.
The temp control works two ways: a compressor-driven heat pump for cooling and a simple 110v resistive heating element (just above the evap coil) for heating.
This unit has absolutely zero issue keeping the temp within a degree +/- at any given moment regardless of ambient temp.
The humidity control is where things get sketchy.
While you *CAN* set the humidity on the front panel, from my debugging (yes, more on that shorty) - this unit is only reliable for active humidification. I noticed that when humidity starts to crawl OVER the set point... it typically has to climb well over 75% before the compressor kicks on (which dehumidifies). Even then, I noticed that the temp has also climbed a degree and a half over the set temp as well and so.. my suspicion is that the microcontroller is not programmed to kick the compressor on for dehumidification - only for temp control.
The active humidification works by means of a simple tank with corrugated evap elements in the bottom and a fan on top. When humidity reaches 3-4% of more UNDER the set point, the fan kicks on and forces humid air from the bottom upwards.
A couple months into using this unit... the temp/humidity sensor started failing intermittently. I was getting E2 error that would flash on the screen for a second and then go away. I started tracing the connections down and attempting to understand how the electronics work a bit more (I myself am a software engineer by trade).. the sensor is a 4-pin analog style device that uses a capacitive/resistive RH sensor and resistive Temp sensor. I can only imagine the variance in manufacturing and how reliable each unit must [not] be unit-to-unit as such a sensor requires per-unit calibration which I hightly doubt the china factory has done.
After replacing the sensor, I found that it still very rarely flashes that E2 error - mainly when the compressor first kicks on. Running 5 volts to the sensor (from the control board end) and measuring the voltage difference.. the new sensor reads the same (1.7 v) as the old sensor. Which makes me think that the code written for the microcontroller has a bug of some sort.
The function of bringing back up humidity NEVER kicks on while compressor runs.. that part of the cycle only activates AFTER the cooling cylce. So if it take 3 or 5 minutes to bring the temp down... the entire humidor will drop to 35 or 40% RH until the cooling cycle finishes and the humidification cycle then activates. It only takes a minute or so to bounce back to 65%.. but still. Why could they not have written the firmware to activate the fan while the compressor runs?
Also.. the lack of dehumidifying puzzles me. In theory.. they should be able to activate the compressor AND the heating element at the same time to simply dehumidify. Yeah, I am sure one would have to stay on longer than the other for temp control after the dehumidify cycle - but nothing that can not be programmed in.
Internally, this unit is CLEARLY a wine cooler that has been modified for cigars. You can tell that the factory basically retro-fitted the design of their wine coolers to ALSO have heating and basic low-humidity control.
I have another similar unit at home that came from China and my experience with it is the same. In fact, many of the components look VERY similar, and the behaviour is virtually the same.
That all brings me to some realizations about these cigar cooler/humidifyers.
1) They are dead reliabble for temp control
2) They can maintain decent humidity control IF the outside ambient humidity is LESS than your set point.
3) Humidity sensors in the FRONT of the shelves often shows LESS humidity than the REAR. This seems to be common in these style units.
4) As with most cheap electronics from China... the firmware (software) is horrible.
5) My next step early next year will be to build out a proper walk-in humidor.
I am contemplating breaking out a Arduino Pro Mini and retro-fitting it in place of the existing microcontroller in order to gain better control of things. In fact, I may even physically modify where the bottom tank is and install a mini dehumidifyer - so it can have a DEDICATED dehumidify cylce independant of the heating/cooling. All of this would also allow me to replace the existing analog sensor with a proper digital one that is properly caibrated.
Here in central Mexico, we are in the rainy season. Temps average in the mid-60's (no need for AC - which usually de-humidifies). But humidity is north of 75%. I put a dehumidifier in the office here with me to keep humidity at 50% or less - no more issues with the humidor. No more E2 flashing, no more overshooting the humidity internally. As long as the humidity is 10% or less than the set point - it keeps perfect humidity.
But yeah... I think I will soon be building a formal walk-in humidor. Spanish cedar here in Mexico is almost dirt cheap. I have heard from a handful of producers locally now the same: the larger a humidor, the easier and more steady it can be maintained for temp/humidity.