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Full Disclosure: Newair reached out to me asking if I would be interested in trying out their humidors. These were sent to me, in exchange for pictures and my honest review. I did not pay for them. All they wanted was my honest opinion and how they might improve them moving forward. I’ve had both of these now for about 3 months so here is my 3 month review.
I live in sunny SoCal, and where I live is typically warm. It's not uncommon for it to be in the 90s throughout the year and 110+ in the summers. So, having a temperature controlled thermoelectric humidor keeps my mind at ease and I don't have to worry about my prized sticks baking in the heat.
These are kept in my office studio, and while I’d love to keep it at a cool 70° all year round, it often can be 75-80° in there when I’m not home. I’ve used tupperdors, coolers, acrylic humidors, wooden desktop humidors, and other brands of thermoelectric humidors in the past. I’ve never really had an issue with holding RH in any of my setups (sans that stupid glass top humidor I bought because I thought it looked cool). However, in the past I’ve had issues with keeping optimal temps in most of my setups because of the room's ambient temperature–-with the exception of my thermoelectric humidors and coolers of course. So, these have been handy to have.
Summary: This is your pretty standard thermoelectric humidor. Included are 2 shelves and 1 drawer with a hygrometer, and a rectangular cup for distilled water/beads. It has touch buttons on the face of the dual pane glass door to raise and lower the set temperature. It’s not too heavy or difficult to move if need be. It comes with keys to lock it if you want/need to.
What I like about it:
It works well. After 3 months, I’ve had no issues with holding temp or RH.
It’s relatively quiet. I have an Audew 100 that must have an old computer fan motor in it, because it’s so much louder than it needs to be. If the Audew fan noise was level 10, I would say this is level 3.
It looks nice. The brushed aluminum on black looks great in any room, but really nice in my office.
Easy to clean. The interior is mostly plastic. When I got it in, I wiped it down with distilled water and paper towels.
Easy to season. Took about 3 days to get it up and running. No issues since.
What I don’t like about it:
The shelves aren’t my favorite. I’ve dropped a few sticks now because they have a tendency to roll off the sides. I wish they had an option for all drawers instead.
The light is a joke. They have 1 tiny LED light at the top of the humidor and while it looks great when the humidor is empty, it’s completely useless when it’s not.
The hygrometer sucks. I never trust these included hygrometers, and this is no different. I found it running about 7-10% high. Use different hygrometers.
They claim it holds 250 cigars, but it’s probably close to 175-200.
The negatives about this humidor aren’t deal breakers by any means with the exception of the last one if you’re really needing the space. I’m sure they base it off of interior volume, but still, if I bought this thinking it would hold 250 cigars, I would expect that. Overall though, I’m a fan, but wouldn’t necessarily say this is better than most of the cookie cutter thermoelectric humidors out there.
Summary: There’s a lot to love about this thing. A lot of the “issues'' I had with the 250 have been addressed and upgraded. This unit is heated and cooled and includes a built-in humidifying system–both of which are controlled by touch sensitive buttons on the inside of the humidor. This includes 3 drawers and 1 small cubby at the bottom. It features a really nice LED lighting setup. It's a chonky boi, and pretty heavy. Not something you’d want to move around a whole lot, but if you need to, I’ve got a solution for you below. It comes with keys to lock it if you want/need to.
What I like about it
It works really well. After 3 months, I’ve had no issues with holding temp or RH.
The humidifying system is great. Fill it with distilled water roughly once every couple of weeks and you’re golden.
It’s relatively quiet and at times quieter than the 250.
It looks really sleek and modern. The black on black looks great in my office, but probably not so much in our rustic looking living room.
Easy to clean. The interior is mostly plastic. When I got it in, I wiped it down with distilled water and paper towels.
Super quick to season–about 24 hours for me. I let it stabilize for a day to make sure the RH was holding where I wanted it, and it was. Loaded it up and it’s held up just as it should.
We have drawers instead of shelves! No more needing to worry about cigars rolling off the sides (unless you overload them).
The lighting is great and actually usable! It’s got an LED light strip on top, and then lights on both sides for each drawer. They’re also programmable. You can leave them on/off or have them turn on when you open the door.
The humidifying system works really well. Be sure to check the levels every couple of weeks and top it off.
I like that the touch controls are on the inside of the unit. It wasn’t really an issue before, but I like that it's on the inside and near impossible for me or anyone else to accidentally change a setting by accident.
It features an open door alarm system. If the door is left open for 5 minutes, the humidor will beep and the lights will begin to flash.
It’s big! It’s large enough to easily stack boxes and have enough breathing room to circulate air and move things around if need be.
What I don’t like about it:
It’s heavy! Weighing in at just under 100 lbs, this thing is no joke and was not an easy task bringing it up our stairs by myself. Don’t be dumb like me and ask a friend for help.
It’s big! It’s roughly 24” deep, 20” wide, and just over 32” tall. This isn’t something I hate about it, but it should be noted if you’re looking into buying one. Make sure it’ll fit where you want it!
The humidification systems’ hygrometer sucks. As stated previously, I never trust them, and this is no different. I found it running about 5-8% high. So I have to adjust the humidification system accordingly. I’ll set it at 72% to get a 65% internal RH.
They claim it holds 840 cigars, but it’s probably closer to 750-775.
The drawer/cubby is really small due to the humidification system. I’m able to fit smaller boxes in there, but honestly, I wish it were bigger.
Filling up the humidification system is a bit odd. You have to pull out the drawer and pour it into a hole in the cubby. I wish it had something on the outside for you to fill it with. I hate having to get on the floor to fill it up and keep the door open for extended periods of time. There has to be a better way.
It’s expensive. It runs about $1800 retail, but can be found online for about $700-800 less if you find it at the right time.
Overall, I really love the 840. It’s well thought out and will be my gold standard to compare others to. A lot of the issues I had with the 250 had been addressed in this newer and larger model. However, it’s really big. Definitely larger than I anticipated–my fault for not checking the specs beforehand. Due to its large size, I keep mine on a furniture dolly that I picked up online. It fits perfectly and helps me move it easily when I need to make room in the office studio. I would highly recommend this, especially if you can find on sale.
