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Well..Its time to "go big"

A

AKmik

New Member
Joined
Apr 4, 2007
Messages
209
I am looking for a large humidor for box storage. I have been looking at a bunch of cabinet style humidors from Tampa humidors, cheap humidors, and premium humidors, as well as Aristocrats and Avallo. I would just like to hear some reviews of what you guys are using and how they are holding up. I really dig the tower set up that they all sell for around $600 or so, but am wondering if they are worth the cash of if I should just go for the Aristocrat or avallo.

I am also curious if anyone is using just beads with good results in the larger boxes. Beads work great in my frigidor, I am hoping to be able to spread a few pounds throughout the humi for this set up...if possible.

When my wife saw me reading up on the large tower humi she said " why don't you just turn the walk in closet (6'x8') into you're humidor?" :thumbs: Man she kicks ass!! But I am not that bad just yet, we will move again in another year or two so I am not going there. A nice furniture style humi would be great, but I am trying to keep it as close to $500 as possible.

Any info is appreciated.

Mike
 
I bought a Montegue from Mike at Tampa Humidor last year, they treated me very well. I believe there is a place on the website to ask for a discount, make sure you use it.

I have been very happy with mine, though I am running out of room. I am using an Oasis and beads and it is steady 64-66 RH.

Ken
 
Ken,

Thanks for the info, I have looked at that one quite a bit. That would be perfect to place my frigidor on...may be.

I also like the looks of this one but have never herd any feedback on Premiumhumidors.com

Humidor

It is a tough decision, I am on the fence about buying one of these mid priced cabinets or an Aristocrat. What I need is a used Aristocrat to pop up again. But the $$ is a tad tight right now for the best of the best.

See ya

Mike
 
Mike,
Most of the mid-priced cabinets are made overseas and are carried by a number of dealers. They are a very good bang for the buck, as they seal very well and look nice. They cannot compare to an Aristocrat or other custom units, and that is why they are not priced as high. The best thing to do is figure out your budget and then look in that range. If you don't have a budget in mind, you will most likely end up spending more than you intend.
If you decide you want to go with something like the

Montegue

or

This is a new model I have available

VG-5121

(I chose those as examples as there are the lower priced of the cabinet/display size units)

or something else in the mid priced class, I can work with you on the price.

PM or email me if you have any questions or want any more info.

Dave
 
I've got eight large humidors at this point, including a Montegue, two Sentinels, one Club Chairside, and a pair of Emperors.

The Montegue is okay if you're laying boxes down; having to get on hands and knees to reach in for the boxes on the bottom in the rear isn't something I want to do regularly. The drawer is nice for quick access, though.

With its unobstructed full glass door, the Club Chairside is lovely. The only downsides are that the tray at the top is permanently affixed and the drawer at the bottom is too shallow for anything but wee little ashtrays or perhaps lighters and matches. The drawer is perhaps intended for singles, but it's not as convenient as, for example, the Montegue's drawer.

The Sentinel is an impressive humi. The built-in singles drawers are great and in the right place. The shelves can be placed as you like both above and below the stationary drawers. I've got a shelf below the drawers with the trays on it, and the other shelves above. For humidification I'm using an Oasis XL II with the remoted digital display and expansion fans to mitigate gradients (which are a given in tall humis). In fact, I have Oasis XL IIs in all of my humidors.

I love the Emperors. They're not too deep, so they fit nicely along the wall in a hallway, for example. And they're quite accessible. The lower section with the solid wood doors is convenient for laying down boxes to which you still want occasional access. And they're an attractive piece of furniture.

The links I posted are to CigarBid 'cause you can get a great deal if you're able to be patient. I stalked my last Emperor for several weeks, having been out-bid in several auctions. Decide what it's worth to you, place your best bid at the outset, then wait and see. Don't forget to include the shipping charges when you're deciding what it's worth to you; $350 (for an Emperor) ain't trivial. :) (And clearly they're making money on shipping, but they are packed well: double boxed and strapped to a pallet.)
 
WhiteAshes,
I agree that the Emperors are very nice, but they are quite a bit more expensive then the unit the original poster discussed. I too carry large units that are that size, but thought they would be out of the original posters price range.
Again, the most important factor in deciding what humidor to get is to decide what budget you are looking at. Without that it is very easy to get caught up and spend 2 or 3 times what you planned.
The Montegue for example is around $500, while the Emperor, even on Cbid, is already at $976. That is a big difference for someone that was looking in the $500 range.
Even the single towers, like the Sentinels, while currently are at $391 (If you can get one at that bid, I would jump for it), but will most likely go higher before the auction ends.

Dave
 
Any wife, that's willing to give up a closet is a keeper. I live with a pack-rat.

Doc.
 
Southside, I'm not trying to sell anything, just trying to be of assistance. Let me be perfectly clear: I have no relationship whatsoever with Cigars International or CigarBid or any vendor, for that matter, and I am not selling anything.

As I said in my post, use CBid if you can be patient. The most I've spent on an Emperor was $871 -- more than $100 less than the current Emperor's bid and $2,128 less than MSRP. My Montegue was via CBid and cost less than $300, IIRC. In fact, the one on CBid to which I linked is only at $311 as I type this.

You want to sell him a Montegue. Cool. I only pointed out that, with the exception of the drawer, accessing the contents is a hassle.

As has been posted time and time again, when considering humidors, go larger than you think you need. If your budget isn't sufficient for what you truly need, should you underbuy? I don't think so. In my humble opinion, you save more pennies and wait to get what you need. I'd personally rather know as much as possible about something before I buy it so that I don't find myself in a position where I have to buy it again, or am forced to upgrade before I'd planned, or find myself annoyed with whatever I acquired.

The OP said quite clearly, "I really dig the tower set up that they all sell for around $600 or so, but am wondering if they are worth the cash of if I should just go for the Aristocrat or avallo." Aristocrats are rather expensive. So you're off base when you say that "the Emperors are very nice, but they are quite a bit more expensive then [sic] the unit the original poster discussed."

Notwithstanding, as I said before, I'm not selling anything, just trying to help Mike with this very important and potentially expensive decision.

Edited to clarify that this was a response to SouthsideCigar's post.
 
Thanks for the replies guys.

Dave,
I think it is already happening. My budget is now being revamped. I have not seen the Emperor before, I love that set up!! I can pretty much buy whatever I want, I have the cash(tax return) and an upcoming promotion. But, I have been thinking about it, if I am going to spend $500 I am already shelling out some cash, it is an investment I want to last for many many years.

I need to decide on building one, or buying a monster. I want something large enough that I will not be searching this topic again for a LONG time.

I love the look of the Emperor, but I wonder what kind of quality it really is. I am kind of picky in that respect because I was a cabinet maker for a long time. On the other hand an Aristocrat is definitely quality, but for the cost of the larger units and shipping I could build two, but then with that comes a lot of trial and error since I have not built any cabinet humidors in the past. There is a lot of job specific knowledge that I know I do not have, as well as quality material suppliers in town. Time is my worst limitation there.

Still searching for a deal. I may just keep an eye on CB , and contact Bob about a price on what I want and see how it goes. I would love a large Aristocrat.

So many choices.

Thanks again for all the info guys.

Mike
 
Having read what White Ashes said, I have to agree that the Montegue is a pain to have to retrieve anything out of the back, so when I am on my knees and have the boxes out for inspection, I pull out those I keep in a regular rotation.

Good luck,

Ken
 
WhiteAshes,
I totally did not think your were trying to sell him anything (sorry it that is how it sounded). I was just saying that those units are nice units, but my be more than he had intended on spending. And I agree, with some patience you can find great deals on cBid, as I said on the Sentinel.

I was definitely not trying to come off as pushing anything, just trying to say how easy it is to spend more than you wanted to.

Hell, 10 years ago, I was looking to move up from my 250 ct desktop to something a "little" bigger, and ended up getting a J.C. Pendergast CA-3668, which was way bigger and more expensive than I had intended. I definitely don't regret it as it has been a great humidor and piece of furniture in my office for a long time, but definitely broke the budget at the time.

Dave
 
Dave: No harm, no foul. It's All Good.

And Mike: I'm no cabinetmaker, but the quality is good IMHO. It holds the humidity so the seals are decent. Doors are fine on both (no warping; first one's got a little more than a year on it). One of mine is in our formal dining room; my g/f suggested that it go in there, and she wouldn't have if it didn't look nice.

FatKen: Is your Montegue leaky? I'm forever re-filling my humidification device.... I'm to the point where I'm considering emptying it and re-working all the seals.
 
I have the one with the glass doors, model 7548 Humidor Linky.

I recommend this humidor! :thumbs: This is an amazing cabinet humidor that holds +- 175 boxes. The unit comes with the humidification system and I added just over 5 pounds of viper beads in different places for stability, the RH is spot on at 65%, top, middle and bottom.

I also have an Aristocrat which is a work of art. However, I cannot get the Aristocrat to run at RH 65% top, middle and bottom, there is fluctuation at each level. The Aristocrat is also small in comparison.

If I could do it again, I would not have bought the Aristocrat. As I mentioned, it's a work of art, a great looking unit but value for your buck and holding capacity, why spend double the amount for less than 1/3 of the capacity?

Good luck.

Brian
 
WhiteAshes said:
Dave: No harm, no foul. It's All Good.

And Mike: I'm no cabinetmaker, but the quality is good IMHO. It holds the humidity so the seals are decent. Doors are fine on both (no warping; first one's got a little more than a year on it). One of mine is in our formal dining room; my g/f suggested that it go in there, and she wouldn't have if it didn't look nice.

FatKen: Is your Montegue leaky? I'm forever re-filling my humidification device.... I'm to the point where I'm considering emptying it and re-working all the seals.
Click to expand...

As I have nothing to compare it too, that is hard to answer. I use one of the Oasis II (I think) and refill it every 10 days to 2 weeks.
 
Gents, I am a Cabinet maker and RH [within 1%] can he balanced within HUGE Cabinets. Rh can be set to within 1/10th% and kept within 1% variance! Also having your humidifier access without opening the cigar storage area can be achieved. And access to cigars with ease and convenience is available, even for loose sticks.

There is a cost however..........
 
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