I am not affailiated with any of the companies named.

I was surfing eBay and came across a listing for a used Schmecke 250 cigar electric humidor being sold by the retailer / importer (they share the same address).  Description said it worked.

I'd never heard of these so I did some research and figured why not.  The "250" is a actual compressor (not thermoelectric) like the 400 and they had a couple of positive YT videos and the Amazon reviews were more good than meh.

First one came FedEx - 2 days from NJ.  Oh, no bueno.   The upper hinge cover was smashed and the control panel wires cut.  So I called customer support (the retailer).  They said: Not to worry, there's a 30 day guarantee.  What?  On a used item?  Yes.  Let me send you photos so you know I'm not scamming you.  Okay, but I just ordered the warehouse to ship you one.



Meanwhile, let's project.  My neighbor was / is an office machine repair guy / electronics repair guy.  I took the door off and got the control panel out (face plate and circuit board, but there's apparently no way to fish the wires back through the hinge (shining a Surefire in both directions revealed no pathway). My neighbor soldered the cut wires for me and shrink wrapped them.  After checking that the unit did actually work now I got creative.

I repurposed an Olivia Melanio box to mount the control panel in and 'voila!'.  I ordered a nameplate with "HUMIDOR" on it to cover the void.


I put a Cigar Oasis Excel 3.0 in that one (buy them direct - Cigar Oasis has the best price - $19 less than Amazon and free shipping).  And I got both the display   and non-display  Govee bluetooth hygrometer-thermometers to monitor temperature and RH (those things are awesome).  I calibrated them all using Boveda packs.

My original one is holding 70 degrees and 69% RH.

So then the new one came.  And I say "new" that's because it is.  I'm using the manufacturer's humidification method on it to season it (there's a reservoir for distilled water under the lower 'fan box' that draws humidity up).


It's just hit 66% RH.  I'll verify it.

The shelves are not "premium" and I'm going to need new trays (I found some 10 X 8 X 1.75 trays  that should fit) because the shelves are small for boxes.  I'll probably get another Cigar Oasis Excel 3.0 which will open up room when I take out the distilled water reservoir.  Size wise, like gun safes, humidor manufacturers are liars.

But I'm happy.

Very nice, good work! How much was this and are there more available?

Do a search under "Schmecke" on eBay (look for seller SkyMall Store).  Don't take advantage (if my first one hadn't been so damaged they would have done a swap).

My original was the lowest price used one.  Even on Amazon new the 250 model isn't bad.

Here's a review of the 400 size.

Thanks for the video. I might have to get the 400 unit.