Material modification

[Franck]

Hi everybody, after yesterday live session i was thinking of a question.

 

Can I change cedar for hard wood on the outside and just do the liner in spanish cedar for a humidor.

 

I was thinking to do three humidor, one in veneer sure but maybe one in hard wood with just cedar liner.

 

What do you think?

[JesseF]

Franck, I was thinking the same thing while watching the tour last night. I have plenty of nice hardwoods to make several (dozen) humidors. I'm also wondering if lining the box with cedar is the best way to go. I have plenty of Eastern Red Cedar and wonder if it will be nearly the same as Spanish Cedar.

[dacarne]

I imagine that using a hardwood for the outer box would work fine as long as it does not move much.  With all the tight joinery in this project having a wood that moves surrounding the cedar inner box might cause problems, although I have not made a humidor I think making one with veneer on Spanish Cedar and one with another hardwood as the outer box might be a nice experiment.  Also, since I have not worked with veneer in the past it might be a good fall back as well.

[berrymi]

The Eastern Red Cedar would not provide the same flavor to the cigars. I have been enjoying cigars for awhile and found that storing them with other woods causes different and usually bad flavors to the cigars. Just my thoughts tho I am no pro.

Franck, I was thinking the same thing while watching the tour last night. I have plenty of nice hardwoods to make several (dozen) humidors. I'm also wondering if lining the box with cedar is the best way to go. I have plenty of Eastern Red Cedar and wonder if it will be nearly the same as Spanish Cedar.

[Eric.]

Spanish cedar and eastern red cedar (or any other cedar) are not the same.  Just because they both have cedar in the name doesn't mean they're both useful for the same purposes.  Consider oak as an example:  Red oak and white oak are both oak, and they share some characteristics.  But if you build two swingsets, one out of each species, the white oak swingset is going to last for many more years than the red.  Because they're two different species with two different molecular compositions.

 

Spanish cedar is used for humidors for a few reasons (I haven't watched the first Guild video, but if Marc hasn't covered it already I bet he will in the future):

 

It has the capacity to absorb a high amount of humidity

It has a subtle aroma that adds to the cigars' flavor

The aroma also protects against worm infestations

 

Red cedar absorbs less humidity and imparts a stronger odor, which will protect against worm infestations but leaves the cigars with a heavy woody taste that most aficionados consider undesirable.

 

Mahogany absorbs a high amount of humidity but imparts no odor that repels worms or enhances the flavor of the cigars.

 

Which is why Spanish cedar is the king of humidors.  I'd stick with Spanish cedar.  It's only used as a lining, so you could build a dozen humidors with very little material.  If you can't source it locally, I'd look at Bell Forest and order a few board feet.  It won't cost much.  Do it right.

[thewoodwhisperer]

Frankly, I think just about any stable wood can be used for the exterior shell. Of course you want to avoid woods that have significant expansion issues. If you can find rift or quartersawn stock you'll stack the cards in your favor a bit more. Using Spanish cedar for the exterior is something of a belt and suspenders approach but this is just an opinion from my research and general knowledge. This is the first humidor I ever made so I can't speak from experience on this one.

[Freddie]

I have a friend who smokes cigars, and i offered to make this project for him. He said he wanted a glass insert in the top to view the cigars. Is this possible without introducing unwanted humidity transfer between the inside and outside?

[thewoodwhisperer]

If the glass is in a sealed groove, it should be ok. Glass tops are common. But how the loss of a full inside spanish cedar panel affects the ability to maintain humidity is something I'm not sure of.

[Chris H]

I have a friend who smokes cigars, and i offered to make this project for him. He said he wanted a glass insert in the top to view the cigars. Is this possible without introducing unwanted humidity transfer between the inside and outside?

 

Absolutely.  You just recess the glass like a panel in a cabinet door.  One thing that is misstated often with Humidor builds is that they are airtight.  You don't actually want an air tight seal.  You want it close, but not completely.  If its 100% air tight you will get mold from over humidification.  It needs to bleed a little....very little.  So a tight panel set glass/plexi will work just fine.  Just be cautious if you want to use a sealant of some kind.  The chemicals from like a silicone can be dangerous or at least cause flavor changes.  

 

You don't need 100% SP Cedar on the inside.  The loss of that surface area (to glass) will have no noticeable effects.  More SP cedar will give you slightly more humidity absorption, so theoretically more stability in the case of loss of humidification device, but really only mathematically different, not really practically.  

[JesseF]

Thanks Eric for clearing up my question about red cedar. I did some research and found that Eastern Red Cedar isn't really a "cedar". It's included in the cypress family but perhaps more closely related to the Juniper genus. According to wood-database.com, Spanish Cedar isn't really a cedar either. It's more closely related to the Mahoganies family. Things I learn.