Setting up coolerdor
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We're doing some budget retweaking and I may not be doing much cigar buying after the summer. So I wanna keep some boxes of my favs around but don't have the funds to buy a really big humi, so I'm doing a coolerdor. My question is this: do you need to season something like that or just throw in some humidification with the cigars and leave it? I'm going with the Coleman 25 qt Party Stacker cuz that will hold what I know I'm going to be storing, if that helps.
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Seasoning shouldnt be necessary, especially if you're not planning on lining the thing with spanish cedar. PREP is another matter however - you will need to wash it out thoroughly with a mild detergent (dishwashing liquid soap has worked well for me) to get that plasticy smell out of it, and you may want to do it twice to be on the safe side.
If that STILL doesnt get the smell out, here's a trick - gently crumple up some newspapers, enough to fill the thing, close the lid and leave it for a couple days. Something about the type of paper newspapers are printed on makes it absorb scents like a mofo, and will suck the plastic stink right out.
Then the good stuff - beads, calibrated digital hygro and GARS!!! Also, remember to open it every couple days to circulate some fresh air in. If the cooler has a drain plug at the bottom, leaving it open will accomplish the same thing, just make sure it doesnt have a negative effect on the RH.
Hope this helped. :-)
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Not sure what the weather is like there but after washing just leave it in the sun for a few days, sun does wonders for getting rid of smells from plastic...
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Sage advice from the 'dog - few things purify as well as UV rays.
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The coolers i've been looking at don't have the spout. But i check my cigars a couple times a week anyway, so that's not gonna be a problem. If one did leave a spout open, could you place something like panty hose material over the hole to allow air flow but slow the amount of it? Like...to sort of balance it out?
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I suppose you could, wouldnt hurt anything.
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Not disputing the leave the spout open option but I have had coolers forever and they need nothing more than what they get from me opening them....I'm not sure I would want to leave something "open" spiders I'm guessing would love to get in there and plugging it with something hmmm? Don't worry about that, opening it every once in a while will do just fine and if you really wanna outfit get youself an oust fan...
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The thought of a spider crawling up coolidorasaurus' azz makes me giggle. Itd be pretty much like winning the spider lottery. LOL
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Another question about this: Do I bring the humidity in the cooler up the same as I would a humidor, such as placing a sponge on a plate or placing a saucer of distilled water in there until it stabilizes? Or do I just put my humidification in there as I would if I were adding it to an already seasoned humidor?The Sniper:Seasoning shouldnt be necessary, especially if you're not planning on lining the thing with spanish cedar. PREP is another matter however - you will need to wash it out thoroughly with a mild detergent (dishwashing liquid soap has worked well for me) to get that plasticy smell out of it, and you may want to do it twice to be on the safe side.
If that STILL doesnt get the smell out, here's a trick - gently crumple up some newspapers, enough to fill the thing, close the lid and leave it for a couple days. Something about the type of paper newspapers are printed on makes it absorb scents like a mofo, and will suck the plastic stink right out.
Then the good stuff - beads, calibrated digital hygro and GARS!!! Also, remember to open it every couple days to circulate some fresh air in. If the cooler has a drain plug at the bottom, leaving it open will accomplish the same thing, just make sure it doesnt have a negative effect on the RH.
Hope this helped. :-) -
When i did my first cooler i added my gel a couple of hours before the cigars so that the air had a chance to get some humidity in it, moost of what ive read says to just chuck it all in at once, but i didnt want to take a chance then...when i get 4.0 done ill probably do the same. the plastic cant absorb the water so it really isn't liek the wood that you want to saturate.
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I've used the coleman 25 qt stacker for about 2 years. 2 of them actually. Haven't needed a fan, or anything other than just opening them once a week. Works great.
When I set 'em up, I washed them out with mild dish soap, and once dry I put a dish of baking soda in there for a day or so to remove smells. There are too many cats and animals around here for me to feel comfortable with leaving it outside, and all newspaper did for me was make it smell like newspaper. That being said, some people swear by newspaper so I wouldn't discount it.
As far as seasoning goes, if you're putting unseasoned cedar in there, I'd add the wood, and whatever humidity device you're going to use along with a calibrated hygro and give the wood some time before adding cigars. The principal is still the same. You don't want dry wood sucking the moisture out of your sticks. If you're putting wood in there that's already seasoned, I'd just add it after the smells of the cooler are gone. I bought trays for one of mine, so those I seasoned first. The other cooler I just added boxes that were already humidified, so no seasoning process there. Hope that helps. -
It wouldn't let me delete this post...lol
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If I purchase a box of cigars online, would that mean the box is already seasoned? I am sure that sounds like/is a stupid question...Russ55:I've used the coleman 25 qt stacker for about 2 years. 2 of them actually. Haven't needed a fan, or anything other than just opening them once a week. Works great.
When I set 'em up, I washed them out with mild dish soap, and once dry I put a dish of baking soda in there for a day or so to remove smells. There are too many cats and animals around here for me to feel comfortable with leaving it outside, and all newspaper did for me was make it smell like newspaper. That being said, some people swear by newspaper so I wouldn't discount it.
As far as seasoning goes, if you're putting unseasoned cedar in there, I'd add the wood, and whatever humidity device you're going to use along with a calibrated hygro and give the wood some time before adding cigars. The principal is still the same. You don't want dry wood sucking the moisture out of your sticks. If you're putting wood in there that's already seasoned, I'd just add it after the smells of the cooler are gone. I bought trays for one of mine, so those I seasoned first. The other cooler I just added boxes that were already humidified, so no seasoning process there. Hope that helps. -
Most likely, yes. Things I would want to season would be separate trays I bought, or built. Cigar boxes that were stored outside of a humid environment, like all the empties I have sitting in my closet, etc.JZerby:
If I purchase a box of cigars online, would that mean the box is already seasoned? I am sure that sounds like/is a stupid question...Russ55:I've used the coleman 25 qt stacker for about 2 years. 2 of them actually. Haven't needed a fan, or anything other than just opening them once a week. Works great.
When I set 'em up, I washed them out with mild dish soap, and once dry I put a dish of baking soda in there for a day or so to remove smells. There are too many cats and animals around here for me to feel comfortable with leaving it outside, and all newspaper did for me was make it smell like newspaper. That being said, some people swear by newspaper so I wouldn't discount it.
As far as seasoning goes, if you're putting unseasoned cedar in there, I'd add the wood, and whatever humidity device you're going to use along with a calibrated hygro and give the wood some time before adding cigars. The principal is still the same. You don't want dry wood sucking the moisture out of your sticks. If you're putting wood in there that's already seasoned, I'd just add it after the smells of the cooler are gone. I bought trays for one of mine, so those I seasoned first. The other cooler I just added boxes that were already humidified, so no seasoning process there. Hope that helps. -
Another question: temp. How do you bring it down to an acceptable temp if it goes too high?
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Mine is sitting in an AC'd room. The wife isn't happy its on 24/7.... I will try to get to the electrical bill first.
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I turn the AC on to a higher setting for a while. If I feel its dangerously high, I might take blue ice, or ice packs, and wrap them in towels and set them next to, or on top of the cooler for a while. You have to be careful though. You don't want to change the temperature too rapidly.JZerby:Another question: temp. How do you bring it down to an acceptable temp if it goes too high? -
I think the Copernicus wiki be the way I go soon, as well. I have another question about the temp: say you have the air on and it gets nice and cool at night, like 67°. Will the cooler hold that temp longer than say a humidor would? Basically, does the insulation of a cooler add any benefit?
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Mine do. I have two wooden humis, one's a glass top, next to my coolers, and the coolers stay cooler longer. Keep in mind there are a lot of variables that you could probably fiddle with to get different results. I would say in general, the answer to your question is yes, they tend to.Gray4lines:I think the Copernicus wiki be the way I go soon, as well. I have another question about the temp: say you have the air on and it gets nice and cool at night, like 67°. Will the cooler hold that temp longer than say a humidor would? Basically, does the insulation of a cooler add any benefit? -
Yet another question. When one puts boxes in a cooler, is it better to leave the boxes open or closed? This sounds like it is probably like the leaving the cello on vs off thing, but I just wanna know what people have had the most success with or if there is a certain way this should be done.
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I've done both, but it doesn't matter. The boxes breathe fine when closed.
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If you have a basement, I highly recommend keeping your humidors/coolidors there.JZerby:Another question: temp. How do you bring it down to an acceptable temp if it goes too high?
If not, move them to the coolest area of your house and make sure they are not in direct sunlight, this will help a lot too.
If you move a wooden humidor next to an A/C unit or air vent though, make sure you keep an eye on the RH. The constant air movement may dry out the wood faster than normal, so just keep an eye on your humidifiers.
I've done both; I don't think it makes much of a difference since the Spanish cedar boxes will "breathe". However the "closed" boxes in my humi all have their own hydro-pillow in them. I don't know if it does much but it makes me feel better about keeping the boxes "closed". I recharge the pillows about every 1.5 months and have never had a problem.JZerby:Yet another question. When one puts boxes in a cooler, is it better to leave the boxes open or closed? This sounds like it is probably like the leaving the cello on vs off thing, but I just wanna know what people have had the most success with or if there is a certain way this should be done. -
Thats the same exact cooler I just used to build mine last week - works out perfect for me. I bought 5 kiln dried spanish cedar panels from ebay for like 25$ and used hot glue to line the bottom, sides and top. I also used a plano flat and wide tackle box glued to the lid with heartfelt beads. I dont know how to post picks but shoot me a PM if you want some pics.
