Redford Electronic Cabinet Cigar Humidor

[whylieineedacigar]

Hello everyone, I ordered a 3,000 cigar humidor tower a few days ago (not from cheaphumidors.com), the website had what I thought was a great deal with free shipping and 10% off the regular price, but today I ended up getting an E-Mail asking me to contact them. When I called them they told me I had to pay an extra $350 dollars for shipping. Needless to say I cancelled that order.
 
Now I am looking around to see what would fit my needs and came across this humidor which includes temperature and humidity control all in one but only holds about 1,250 cigars. What do you guys think about this and has anybody ever owned one or know someone that does? Would you buy this?
 
Here is the link to the humidor.
 
http://www.cheaphumidors.com/p_store-humidors_PHUM-RDFD.html
 
Thank you for your input! I really need to get a new humidor as I have been ordering boxes thinking that 3,000 humidor was going to arrive early next week! I prepared a coolidor in the meanwhile to keep these boxes in good shape till I do.

 

[Rod]

I'm not sure who the mfgr is of that unit, but be careful. Others have tried to design an all in one unit with temp control and failed.  Personally, you're better off buying a larger cabinet and an Avallo humidifier.  IMO, the temp control just isn't worth it, and it's one more thing to break.  
 
Talk to Tom (BBS) - I think his humi is temp controlled, but it's all aftermarket (if memory serves me right).

 

[whylieineedacigar]

I'm not sure who the mfgr is of that unit, but be careful. Others have tried to design an all in one unit with temp control and failed.  Personally, you're better off buying a larger cabinet and an Avallo humidifier.  IMO, the temp control just isn't worth it, and it's one more thing to break.  
 
Talk to Tom (BBS) - I think his humi is temp controlled, but it's all aftermarket (if memory serves me right).

 
Hello Rod, thank you for your suggestions, I was under the impression that this one was made by Quality Importers but I might have been wrong as a search revealed another retailer "Prestige Import Group"

I was really happy with my initial purchase of the 3000 cigar tower and was planning on adding the Avallo system. I was already doing research on DIY temperature control units. I really need to get the temperature under control as my apartment gets really hot during the summer and I do not have air conditioner where the humidor will be placed at (and even if I did, my electrical bill would be outrageous, I’m out of the house at least 14 hours a day so leaving an air conditioner on is no option). I guess I will have to reconsider and just pay that extra money for the shipping but I might just get it from cheaphumidors as I already got stuff from them with good results. I’m just going to kick myself because for black friday they had 25% off on everything and then I saw this other website and missed out on the deals.
 

 

[personal User]

 


gets really hot during the summer and I do not have air conditioner where the humidor will be placed at

 
 

If the ambient temperature is quite high, it might not reach the internal temps you are hoping for.
 
This sort of equipment is designed with a range in mind. The only way to be sure that it will handle an excessive load is to contact the manufacturer and see if in fact it will handle the conditions. The last thing you want to do is buy something, pay the shipping and not get what you are hoping to have.

 

[whylieineedacigar]

 

 


gets really hot during the summer and I do not have air conditioner where the humidor will be placed at

 
 

If the ambient temperature is quite high, it might not reach the internal temps you are hoping for.
 
This sort of equipment is designed with a range in mind. The only way to be sure that it will handle an excessive load is to contact the manufacturer and see if in fact it will handle the conditions. The last thing you want to do is buy something, pay the shipping and not get what you are hoping to have.
 

 
Yea, that is exactly what I was thinking about and the reason I was hesitant about this humidor, also, I do not see any reviews at all from regular users so who knows how reliable it really is. I know a wineador might be my best option but I don't like the idea of having a wine cooler in the middle of my living room, I know some of them look really nice but nothing beats the look of nice wood (and then again, it's not just about the looks but also the functionality). I think I’ll just get the regular tower humidor, it's winter, I'm sure that by summer I will have something figured out on how to control the temperature aspect of it.

 

[personal User]

Humidity control is relatively easy.
 
temp not so easy.

 

[bucfan444]

Whylie
I have actually looked in person at this unit a few times. I live in south Fla and Prestige Imports has their warehouse in Pompano Beach not far from me. They sell online as 1st Class Humidors. Not sure if that is who tried to hit you with the steep shipping charges, but 1st Class is one of the few Redford Humidor retailers I have seen.
As far as the humidor goes...it's very nice to look at but has a couple of issues that turned me off at the time I saw their latest model about 3 months ago.
1) it's not cedar lined as website shows. Only shelves are cedar. Interior is actually a black plastic similar in composition to of all things a wine cooler. The humidor is basically a large wine cooler interior with a wood outer finish.
2) Prestige is clearly an overseas import. Not bad in quality, just "mass assembly line" quality.
3) I was not thrilled by the distilled water reservoir. It appeared low quality and it's durability was questionable.
With that said, the unit is visually very appealing. Also the newer models, released about 3-5 months ago include some additional features the last version lacked such as condensation free glass and improved RH settings.
in the end it's basically a great looking wineador but unfortunately an unproven track record that only time will tell. I held off my purchase for now.
Let me know if you need specifics to make your decision. I drive by the warehouse at least once a week and can pop in there if need be.

 

[whylieineedacigar]

Whylie
I have actually looked in person at this unit a few times. I live in south Fla and Prestige Imports has their warehouse in Pompano Beach not far from me. They sell online as 1st Class Humidors. Not sure if that is who tried to hit you with the steep shipping charges, but 1st Class is one of the few Redford Humidor retailers I have seen.
As far as the humidor goes...it's very nice to look at but has a couple of issues that turned me off at the time I saw their latest model about 3 months ago.
1) it's not cedar lined as website shows. Only shelves are cedar. Interior is actually a black plastic similar in composition to of all things a wine cooler. The humidor is basically a large wine cooler interior with a wood outer finish.
2) Prestige is clearly an overseas import. Not bad in quality, just "mass assembly line" quality.
3) I was not thrilled by the distilled water reservoir. It appeared low quality and it's durability was questionable.
With that said, the unit is visually very appealing. Also the newer models, released about 3-5 months ago include some additional features the last version lacked such as condensation free glass and improved RH settings.
in the end it's basically a great looking wineador but unfortunately an unproven track record that only time will tell. I held off my purchase for now.
Let me know if you need specifics to make your decision. I drive by the warehouse at least once a week and can pop in there if need be.

 
 
Thanks a lot for this review! You actually answered a lot of questions that were going through my mind! The only review I found on amazon.com actually mentioned something about the water reservoir that was a little odd. I didn't order from them, I didn't want to say the name of the website I ordered from because I'm not the kind of person that like to talk negatively about other businesses, as long as they return my money I'll be ok, just add it to my do not order from list. If you are interested in knowing the website I ordered it from you can send me a PM and I will tell you.
 
I wonder how much it would cost to build a custom wood outer finish to a wine cooler, maybe that would solve my problems of looks and functionality.

 

[Tall Paul]

Almost every online retailer offers free shipping from time to time and there is almost always a disclaimer that states discludes large cabinet humidors since they are shipped by a freight company not ups or fedex. However 350 seems still high I paid 250 when ordering my cabinet from cheap humidors. As for cooling your best bet is to always cool the room your humidor sits instead of cooling the air in the humidor. This keeps the item cool without affecting the humidity within.

 

[Light this!]

Whylie I would probably consider moving whatever humi you buy to the cooler part of the apartment or really consider an AC. If it's extremely hot like you say this could lead to serious issues with beetles or even mold. 
 
I have a finished attic which is hot in the summer and cold in the winter. During the summer months I have the AC on every day all day between 65-70 and in the winter I heat it at about the same temperature. I have a cabinet humidor and a walk-in closet humidor in the attic.
 
I personally would not trust a unit with heat control. What happens if that unit fails and the heat goes extremely high for an extended period of time?

 

[whylieineedacigar]

Almost every online retailer offers free shipping from time to time and there is almost always a disclaimer that states discludes large cabinet humidors since they are shipped by a freight company not ups or fedex. However 350 seems still high I paid 250 when ordering my cabinet from cheap humidors. As for cooling your best bet is to always cool the room your humidor sits instead of cooling the air in the humidor. This keeps the item cool without affecting the humidity within.

 
Yes, I know, but this site didn't have anything that exempted large humidors from free shipping which I found to be really odd, but since it was "cyber monday" I thought it was just one of those crazy good deals. Usually when items are not included in the free shipping deals, once you add them to your cart it will charge you the correct shipping price for that specific item (like cheaphumidors do, right now they are offering free shipping but if you add a large cabinet you can see they will add the correct shipping cost to your cart), this website didn't do that and in fact took the money out of my credit card account minutes after I bought it.

 

[whylieineedacigar]

Whylie I would probably consider moving whatever humi you buy to the cooler part of the apartment or really consider an AC. If it's extremely hot like you say this could lead to serious issues with beetles or even mold. 
 
I have a finished attic which is hot in the summer and cold in the winter. During the summer months I have the AC on every day all day between 65-70 and in the winter I heat it at about the same temperature. I have a cabinet humidor and a walk-in closet humidor in the attic.
 
I personally would not trust a unit with heat control. What happens if that unit fails and the heat goes extremely high for an extended period of time?

 
How many BTU's is your air conditioner and how much money are we talking about for your monthly electrical bill in the summer compared to the winter time. As I mentioned before, I'm out of my apartment at least 14 hours daily and even so my electrical bill is around $150 - $180 as I use the air conditioner (18,000 btu's) a lot in my room (we talking about maybe 8 hours a day) during the summer. In the winter time my last bill was only $60 bucks. So I can imagine that running an air conditioner in the summer 24/7 would be a crazy electrical bill of at least $500 - $600 a month. Maybe the solution would be to try and add a temperature controlled environment inside the humidor, put it in my room, and at least when I'm home and the air conditioner is on, the cooling system won't have to work as hard to maintain the temperature inside the humidor, maybe a fan rotating the air outside the humidor will help during the time I'm not home.
 
This is going to be harder than I thought lol.

 

[Rod]

First, there is no such thing as "free shipping", it's just wrapped into the cost of the unit. The unit I was referring to was the Monolith, made by Quality Importers. QI does a fantastic job at making humidors, however they seem to have had nothing but issues with the Monolith, which was a temp controlled unit. 
 
Temperature plays a role in relative humidity.  RH is the amount of water vapor in the air, in relation to how much water vapor that air can hold at a particular temperature. Colder air holds less vapor, whereas warmer air is able to hold more vapor. On a 100F day, air will be able to hold far more water vs on a 25F day.  The colder you make your environment, the less vapor air will hold. 
 
At 70F - 50% RH = half the amount of water in the air.
At 90F - 50% RH = half the amount of water in the air.
 
Which temp holds more moisture? 90F, as it's warmer, thus can hold more water vapor, however the RH is still 50%. Because 90F can hold more vapor means it will take longer to dissipate. The environment is still at 50%RH, it will just take longer for the vapor/RH to drop.  On a cold day, the air isn't able to hold as much vapor, so maintaining a 50% RH will require the humidifiers to kick in more to keep at that RH.
 
Hope I didn't lose you.  
 
 
I personally leave my AC set at 76 all summer long, even when I'm not home.  It gets 100F+ easily during the day, and will stay in the high 80's/low 90's at night during the summer out here.  I leave it set at 76-78 to protect the cigars in my two cabinets.
 
In the winter, I leave the heater set to 68F. Going much warmer tends to drop the humidity too much (plus I don't like it too warm), as it's a gas heater, so as it heats the air, it burns off the water vapor.
 
Introducing an AC unit inside of your humidor may cause challenges with maintaining proper RH, as both the humidifier will have to work extra hard to keep up with the AC. The AC will push in drier colder air, so in essence both units will fight against one another. 
 
Where you live in the country also plays a factor. I live on the edge of the desert in So Cal, so our RH is usually much lower then say 30 miles west of me.  When I lived closer to the ocean, my RH in the house would be around 55-60%.  Now that I'm closer to the desert, my RH is around 40% on average.  So my humidifiers work more than they did before.  
 
Lots of factors go into this.  
 
Rather than spending so much money on a humidor w/ temp control, have you thought about converting a wine cooler? They seem to work better then AC enabled humidors.
 
Keep us posted, and good luck...

 

[Brickhouse]

...snip....
 
Rather than spending so much money on a humidor w/ temp control, have you thought about converting a wine cooler? They seem to work better then AC enabled humidors.
 
Keep us posted, and good luck...

 
I made this decision 7 years ago and haven't looked back.
 
I found that cooling the air inside the humi, at my amateur level, was just too difficult.  It would cause way too much inconsistency in the RH throughout a period of time.  So I simply unplugged my unit and allow the overall house temp to regulate the wineador temp.  I keep my house at 70 in the Winter and 68 in the Summer, and that keeps my humi pretty stable.
 
So basically I use the wine cooler for the seal, ascetics, built in shelving capability, and glass front.  I do not plug it in at all. 
 
Works for me.

 

[whylieineedacigar]

First, there is no such thing as "free shipping", it's just wrapped into the cost of the unit. The unit I was referring to was the Monolith, made by Quality Importers. QI does a fantastic job at making humidors, however they seem to have had nothing but issues with the Monolith, which was a temp controlled unit. 
 
Temperature plays a role in relative humidity.  RH is the amount of water vapor in the air, in relation to how much water vapor that air can hold at a particular temperature. Colder air holds less vapor, whereas warmer air is able to hold more vapor. On a 100F day, air will be able to hold far more water vs on a 25F day.  The colder you make your environment, the less vapor air will hold. 
 
At 70F - 50% RH = half the amount of water in the air.
At 90F - 50% RH = half the amount of water in the air.
 
Which temp holds more moisture? 90F, as it's warmer, thus can hold more water vapor, however the RH is still 50%. Because 90F can hold more vapor means it will take longer to dissipate. The environment is still at 50%RH, it will just take longer for the vapor/RH to drop.  On a cold day, the air isn't able to hold as much vapor, so maintaining a 50% RH will require the humidifiers to kick in more to keep at that RH.
 
Hope I didn't lose you.  
 
 
I personally leave my AC set at 76 all summer long, even when I'm not home.  It gets 100F+ easily during the day, and will stay in the high 80's/low 90's at night during the summer out here.  I leave it set at 76-78 to protect the cigars in my two cabinets.
 
In the winter, I leave the heater set to 68F. Going much warmer tends to drop the humidity too much (plus I don't like it too warm), as it's a gas heater, so as it heats the air, it burns off the water vapor.
 
Introducing an AC unit inside of your humidor may cause challenges with maintaining proper RH, as both the humidifier will have to work extra hard to keep up with the AC. The AC will push in drier colder air, so in essence both units will fight against one another. 
 
Where you live in the country also plays a factor. I live on the edge of the desert in So Cal, so our RH is usually much lower then say 30 miles west of me.  When I lived closer to the ocean, my RH in the house would be around 55-60%.  Now that I'm closer to the desert, my RH is around 40% on average.  So my humidifiers work more than they did before.  
 
Lots of factors go into this.  
 
Rather than spending so much money on a humidor w/ temp control, have you thought about converting a wine cooler? They seem to work better then AC enabled humidors.
 
Keep us posted, and good luck...

 
Thanks for all the valuable information, I understood everything you said. I did consider a wine cooler, this is really a hard decision for me.
 
I’m going to be honest, I have around 600 cigars (and have a few more new boxes coming my way in the mail) in 3 different wood humidors that do not have any cooling system in them. I have lived in this apartment for around 4 years and the cigars have always gone through the summer conditions and I never had a case of mold or beetles (I try freezing all the new cigars I get before adding them to my regular collection and even though I have read here and other places that a regular house freezer does not kill the beetle eggs, this has worked for me). When I say it gets really hot in the apartment, I mean like the temperatures in the humidors are as high as 85 (not in the 90’s or 100’s). My cigars always smoke good and I always make sure the humidity in my aging humidor is around 68-70% and in my everyday humidor around 64-67%. I have the electronic Oasis XL in all of the units and never had issues with them (also use a few boveda bags in the aging humidor).
 
The reason I’m hesitant about the wine cooler is because most of all, it would be really odd to have a big wine cooler in my living room instead of a nice looking humidor made out of wood. I can’t get a small 28 bottle wine cooler because based on my research they only hold around 400 cigars so I would need at least 2 of these. Bigger wine coolers I have seen hold around 800-1000 cigars. The wood humidor I was trying to get holds 3,000 cigars and it looks good so that is why I thought about maybe trying to work with it. I have seen some modifications made to them to help control the temperature, check out this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzhRf36Vd9s
 
I guess that if nothing works then I will just have to leave my air conditioner on during the day in the summer and cope with the electrical bill as a cigar maintenance investment.

 

[whylieineedacigar]

 

...snip....
 
Rather than spending so much money on a humidor w/ temp control, have you thought about converting a wine cooler? They seem to work better then AC enabled humidors.
 
Keep us posted, and good luck...

 
I made this decision 7 years ago and haven't looked back.
 
I found that cooling the air inside the humi, at my amateur level, was just too difficult.  It would cause way too much inconsistency in the RH throughout a period of time.  So I simply unplugged my unit and allow the overall house temp to regulate the wineador temp.  I keep my house at 70 in the Winter and 68 in the Summer, and that keeps my humi pretty stable.
 
So basically I use the wine cooler for the seal, ascetics, built in shelving capability, and glass front.  I do not plug it in at all. 
 
Works for me.
 

 
Sounds good, glad this is working out for you!

 

[Rod]

85F is the high in your humidor? That's it? You'll be fine, don't worry too much about it.  I was thinking your apt was getting 90F+ consistently.  If that were the case, you'd have a problem. I wouldn't worry too much about it.  Get a nice wooden cabinet humidor, maintain a reasonable RH, and don't be too concerned about the temp.  My old house would generally stay 85F or so in the summer, and my cigars never had a problem. 

 

[whylieineedacigar]

85F is the high in your humidor? That's it? You'll be fine, don't worry too much about it.  I was thinking your apt was getting 90F+ consistently.  If that were the case, you'd have a problem. I wouldn't worry too much about it.  Get a nice wooden cabinet humidor, maintain a reasonable RH, and don't be too concerned about the temp.  My old house would generally stay 85F or so in the summer, and my cigars never had a problem. 

 

85F is the high in your humidor? That's it? You'll be fine, don't worry too much about it.  I was thinking your apt was getting 90F+ consistently.  If that were the case, you'd have a problem. I wouldn't worry too much about it.  Get a nice wooden cabinet humidor, maintain a reasonable RH, and don't be too concerned about the temp.  My old house would generally stay 85F or so in the summer, and my cigars never had a problem. 

 
Oh nice! Because I have read about the "ideal temperatures for cigars are in the low 70's" so that is why I wanted to try and control it a bit during summer days, mainly because my CC collection is growing and I have heard they are the most likely to get the beetles and mold.

 

[Rod]

Stay away from those cigar newbie books, they'll confuse the hell out of you. 
 
Ideally, you want to keep your cigars below 80F, otherwise you risk mold and possibly beetles. But again, it's relative to your RH. If you are experiencing high temps, then lower the humidity down to 63% or so in the summer. I keep my RH around 68% in the winter and drop it to around 63% in the summer. 
 
Those cigars books will also tell you to keep your RH at 72%. Many of us disagree with this number, for many reasons. I'd say most of us keep our cigars anywhere from 55%-70%. For me, cigars tend to smoke the best at around 65%.

 

[Light this!]

 

Whylie I would probably consider moving whatever humi you buy to the cooler part of the apartment or really consider an AC. If it's extremely hot like you say this could lead to serious issues with beetles or even mold. 
 
I have a finished attic which is hot in the summer and cold in the winter. During the summer months I have the AC on every day all day between 65-70 and in the winter I heat it at about the same temperature. I have a cabinet humidor and a walk-in closet humidor in the attic.
 
I personally would not trust a unit with heat control. What happens if that unit fails and the heat goes extremely high for an extended period of time?

 
How many BTU's is your air conditioner and how much money are we talking about for your monthly electrical bill in the summer compared to the winter time. As I mentioned before, I'm out of my apartment at least 14 hours daily and even so my electrical bill is around $150 - $180 as I use the air conditioner (18,000 btu's) a lot in my room (we talking about maybe 8 hours a day) during the summer. In the winter time my last bill was only $60 bucks. So I can imagine that running an air conditioner in the summer 24/7 would be a crazy electrical bill of at least $500 - $600 a month. Maybe the solution would be to try and add a temperature controlled environment inside the humidor, put it in my room, and at least when I'm home and the air conditioner is on, the cooling system won't have to work as hard to maintain the temperature inside the humidor, maybe a fan rotating the air outside the humidor will help during the time I'm not home.
 
This is going to be harder than I thought lol.
 

 
I believe its 12,000 BTU's. I have about 500 Sq. Ft to cover so it does the job. It was too much of a hassle to get Central Air up there. My bill runs about $300 during the summer and about $200 during the winter.
 
Have you looked into Bob Staebells humidors? He builds great quality humidors and a few members here have some of his humidors. http://www.aristocrathumidors.com
 
85F is a little to hot for my comfort zone.
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
Ideally, you want to keep your cigars below 80F, otherwise you risk mold and possibly beetles. But again, it's relative to your RH. If you are experiencing high temps, then lower the humidity down to 63% or so in the summer. I keep my RH around 68% in the winter and drop it to around 63% in the summer. 
 
 

 
 
Same here Rod.