STICKY IT MAN!!!!!


And also...can we add an insert about the Oust fan part???
Seriously, it made all the difference for my setup...the really full one that is.

Chants.....
sticky,
sticky,
sticky........


Ok enuff of that, gotta go smoke.

I feel the tide turning....

I suppose I'll make a contribution .  Not an original idea, but an idea none the less.  

Lets do a little math.  

________________________________________________________________________________________


ClosetMaid 6 ft. Width x 12 in. Depth SuperSlide Ventilated Wire Shelf

-



÷ 4 =



+


Coleman Xtreme 150 Quart Cooler

+



+


Cedar Cigar Tray with Divider

=


HiRes

Did I miss the math on how much beads or whatever your using?

ETA:  Looks great though...Might be the perfect idea when I have to go up a size.

That is EXACTLY what I had in mind for my coolerdor, except I received it in the mail and opened it up...NO GROOVES!!! So I am stuck with a horizontal humidor. Still beats the heck out of what I was using before.

Spanish Cedar Tray


ON SALE.....$11.00....fits perfectly!

No you didn't miss it.  I left it out since there are several different types of humidification devices out there.  Personally, I don't like beads, though many prefer them.

Great thread guys and lot's of great ideas we can all bounce off of!  Any large cooler will do.  I got this idea from a good buddy of mine!   In order to take the plastic smell out clean it out with bleach, rinse several times, and let air dry for several days.  










Cedar smells great so use pieces from boxes of cigars.  Thicker planks are for the doors.  Wood glue works best as it sticks well and its orderless!



















Also take thicker pieces of cedar and glue them together so they are rigid.  As you can see they are cut to fit quite well inside the indentations in this particular cooler!  Thin pieces are for extra lining.











Be sure to let the glue set up and dry well.  Give it a couple of days!  Add beads and hydrometers!












As you can see it makes for a great stand up coolerdor!

And it's unnecessary.  Pipe tobacco isn't as sensitive as cigars.  Just get some Ball or Mason Jars in the grocery store for long time airtight storage and aging.

As for my coolerdoor.  I have the Spanish cedar trays on one side, and boxes on the other.  I have  1.5lb of 65% HF beads and an Oust fan.  Good stuff.

question about the humi beads.

if i were to get 1lb of beads but didnt need all of them for this particular coolerdor, would putting more beads than needed in this setup be a bad thing? for example, would it cause too little or too much humidification?

They don't work like that...I overload the beads.
They create a static environment and maintain a set humidity.

so, no matter how much water or how many beads you have in the bag, the beads will continue to humidify the environment until it cannot sustain the percent humidity and will start to drop humidity based on how much water they are holding?

OK....let's take a step back here.

The reason you add beads, gel, foam pucks...is to regulate the RH inside the storage container.
We will all tell you to pitch the green floral foam puck or rectangular humidifier that come with a lot of humis.
They are unreliable and will leak on you at some point.

Many of us started out with the gel type cans...take the Xikar clear plastic jar...I have at least five laying around somewhere...
They are easy to manage...look at the side of the jar, there are lines...gel down to this level is dry...add PG solution....gel at this level = good...drop it in the humi and you are done.
When the gel shrinks to that lower line or below...time to refill.
REFILL with PG solution...what is that?
That is propylene glycol...a little more stable than distilled water and is pre-mixed...most include an anti-fungal agent and maintain a 70% RH.

Read the directions that come with the humidifier...gel likes this...others will say to only use distilled water.....DISTILLED...not tap, not spring...DISTILLED.
Distilled water has most of the minerals and other contaminants removed. Because of that, fungus doesn't grow as easily.
HumiCare humidifiers are like this out of the box....shake them and you hear "rice" inside...follow the direction and hydrate the media...it takes up to four hours the first time...watch your meter and when you see it start to waver, check the humidifier...they are not as easy to see...not like the jar or the color of the beads but still not rocket science.

Beads...
Beads are another form of humidification.
They come "empty" and need to be "started" right out of the package.
The rule of thumb is that you wet half of them with distilled water, give them a good shake and drop them into the humi...and that is that.
The beads will be white...wetting half will give them a clear-like color.
The directions that came with mine were to create two half pound bags. It was very clear and told me how much distilled water to pour onto the bag of beads.
Beads are nice as they work two ways for a LONG time but they will require some maintenance eventually....they will need some distilled water sometime.
They work two ways in that they introduce humidity to the environment and they attract extra humidity as well...remember, we only wet half of the beads...the "dry" ones will absorb moisture if it is to high...this is how they regulate the RH in the container to maintain the set RH level that you select. The beads are ordered in the percentage of RH you want....I like 65% for my beads.

AND...replace that dial hygrometer with a digital one...or in my case just add it inside...I have a desktop humi that has one built into the side...remove it and I have a gaping hole in the side...bad for regulating and keeping cigars! The brand does not matter. They are all over the net...Radio Shack, CI, Monster...they all have them.
That will be the next lesson....calibration.


I hope this helps...if not, shoot me an IM or email  and I will work with you!

That's helps immensely. Thanks for helping me understand exactly how the beads work. Now I just need to find the time build one of these!

Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile

A few have asked to see my setups....so.....










I have beads and an Oust fan in each...you can only see the fan in one cooler.
Beads on top and on the bottom.
As you can see....top open and 69%...temp cooled off while I had to open but it stays around 65 degrees...
I would have added pics of the fridge but my daughter attacked it with Little PetShop and Hello Kitty stickers....and I will not post those as I know where you sick bastards will take the path....no way!!! You just have to use your imagination....

Yeah...I have a problem....so I see a 150 qt cooler in my future...swore I wouldn't do it....no, keep the two....right!!!

Echo

Tag.

Since the topic is back up again.......TTT

echo: what size/model coolers are in the pics you have up? also how many trays do you have in there stacked up?  been really thinking of doing a coolerador and trying to get an understanding on what sizes can hold what with trays as i like how it can be organized.


also i know your not suppose to mix flavored and non flavored cigars.  but in a coolerador can you put a cigar jar humidor with flavored smokes in your cooler or should it still remain separate?

The only reason why I even thought about it was for temperature control.


Lol, its hard to think about building a cooler as I just started smoking cigars a few months ago.

That ain't so bad... I started to seriously get back into it a little over a month ago.



I currently have a filled to capacity 100 count and 2 tupperdors. Waiting on some cedar drawers for a wineador. Spent somewhere around $600 or so.



This place has a slippery slope, and it doesn't take long to start sliding down fast.

I suggest always keeping an empty cooler on hand for those "oops ran out of room" moments or the BOMBS that may come your way. Them big ones fill up just as fast as the others it seems.

I need a second cooler .

Well, the fine folks behind Spec's here in Texas are going to finally force me to get a cooler for this project.  They are opening a new one 10 miles away!!

I know one of you crazy bastids has a Yeti cooler that you have made a coolerdor so that if a tornado rips through your house your babies will be safe.  So, let's see it.

The only one that would have worked for me would be a Tundra 250 but for that price, I could build three fridges and two marine colemans.....but it sure would look REALLY cool huh....

Shockey would surely approve!!!

For sure, but just think about the security it would add!  Just picture yourself at a large herf in the middle of the woods and all of the sudden a bear comes out of the woods.  It goes straight for the cooler because it smells Slavacs watermelon blunts that he stored in your cooler.  With the coleman you are going to lose all of your cigars and your coolerdor.  With the yeti you are going to film it, wait for the bear to leave, finish the herf and the next day you will sell the clip to yeti so that they can use it in an advertisement.  It would make you money...you have to think two steps ahead

HRM........three boxes of ISOM heaven.......one cooler........scale is tipping towards ISOM.....besides....if a bear ever showed up at camp....well.....what goes to camp, stays at camp...the pelt would look GREAT on the floor anyway.

Well, I broke my own rule.  I broke multiple of my own rules.

Instead of sticking with one humidor, I won another 100ct humidor last night.  By this time next summer, I fully expect to own a populated coolerdor.

Oops.

A bump to the top for the new guys......

You guys remind me of me, circa 1998.

I discovered cigars.  Then expensive ones.  Then Cigars that looked and tasted expensive but could be purchased in bulk!

Then I made a humidor, then another, then I needed to store them in bags.

Then I got bored and stopped cigars all together for almost 10 years.

Now, I smoke cheap cigars, long fill, in boxes of 25 for 1.85 ea.  And I seldom even smoke those.

I still look at my handmade humidor at times, and know there are a couple of treasures buried inside  ... just waiting for the right time to pull them out and rehydrate them.

Enjoy the hobby fellas, but, just like BRD, don't go TAPCO too early in the hobby.

TRG

Will a 1/2 pound of heartfelt beads keep a 48qt cooler in check?

Point well taken. That's one of the reasons that, for beginners, I recommend a humidor BEFORE a coolerdor––- so you don't wind up with a ton of cigars that you've lost interest in, and are not kept properly, and are ruined, or need to be "rehydrated"

 




 

And the good part about a coolerdor with bio beads is that it can keep for one month+ without touching it, for when you're not feeling like smoking cigars.

Don't let your cigars lose their moisture and you can smoke them ten years later, no problem.

It is indeed a beautiful thing when you get to the almost zero maintenance point.



I have not touched my setup in 2-3 months and it hasn't changed a single %.