The day is HERE!!!

[Jwrussell]

This weekend I head out to pick up my new wine/cigar cooler! :thumbsup:
I can't friggin' wait! The weather has recently cooled down nicely so the temps in the house have been down more than they have been for a while, so at least the 'gars won't go into shock. :wink:

If anyone's seen any good deals around lately please fill me in. National chains only unless you live in FL of course. :thumbsup:

65/65 here I come!

[Wasch_24]

Nice! Now you are really in trouble man...what are you going to do with all the extra space!? :innocent:

[Da Klugs]

The day arrived today for me. Went to a coolidor. Ran out of room in the cab.

http://img331.imageshack.us/img331/4376/cooler16vb.jpg

[tripp]

You kill me Dave... :thumbsup:

Nice cooler.

[Eric]

Dave, that's the exact reason I would be scared to get a bigger cabinet humidor.

[caudio51]

Congrats on the new fridge!

Niccce cooler!

[Jwrussell]

I am now the proud owner of the Haier BC112G 30 Bottle Wine Cooler.:clap: :clap:

It's sitting open for the moment and will remain so until tomorrow night. Gotta love the directions on this thing. Nothing on the outer box saying anything about keeping it upright. Open up the directions before plugging it in...and find the "if inadvertantly tipped past 45 degrees, stand upright and wait 24 hours before turning on..." Oops. :headroll: That, and there's a slight smell that I want to air out.

Now...does anyone have any experience with this particular model? There's this strange plastic cover on top of the compressor that says "do not remove". Funny thing is, it really LOOKS like it should be removed. Any thoughts?

[cvm4]

Congrats Jason and I know it'll be smooth sailing from now on! Atleast when it comes to temperature, I'm not sure it will be smooth sailing for you CC...OUCH!

[Wasch_24]

Congratulations man! You will now be abel to relax in confidence that your smokes are always going to be safe.:thumbsup:

Why do you say it looks like it should be removed? Weird.

[cvm4]

Why do you say it looks like it should be removed? Weird.

Jason just isn't all there and is still hypnotized by the cooler. :widemouth

[Jwrussell]

It's just weird Todd, I'll have to take a pic or something. It's just this molded, flimsy plastic piece that looks like it was stuck there for shipping or something....just can't figure out what the heck it would be for.

[The Searcher]

Wow I checked out the new purchase. I think I'll wait and see how you like this I live in Phoenix,AZ and need one to keep my smokes cool. I can't afford to cool my house to 65 or even 70 degrees in the summer. How will you humidify?

[Jwrussell]

Searcher, this is a tried and true Wine cooler in the online-cigar community. I went with it after reading plenty of others' stories. Humidity will be provided by beads from Heartfelt Industries. I have a pretty decent amount right now, but will probably need to get some more. That and some trays for sure. My house stays at 76-71 degrees (71 now that the temps have started dropping). Not only can I not afford to go lower, the wife would never allow it. :headroll: Lowes had a good price on this as well. I want to say 269 or so. Didn't find it anywhere cheaper on the net after a brief search (after considering shipping). I'll get some pics up once I've got it going.

[smokem94]

Cool Beans Jason!!! :thumbsup: Can't wait to see the pics and how the stocking is going!

[jcgoldner]

Hey Jason good luck with the new cooler! This got me thinking if these coolers could be used for both cigars and red wines at the same time. Any clue? Could there be problems affecting either one?

[Jwrussell]

You know JC, I don't know. I have three bottles of reds in the bottom tray and plan on filling a few more slots. At least for now, it'll be both a wine and cigar cooler. The only thing I can figure is that maybe the smell of the cedar and cigars might be able to seep through the cork at some point??? I really have no idea.

Overhudified the damn thing though.:closedmou Keeps going from the low to mid 60%'s all the way up to the 80%'s!!! I have three of those Oust fans going and I've pulled a bunch of the beads out that seem saturated. I'm going to try and get some of the beads dried out and put back in to see how it works out. Not really happy with the fluctuations at this point...

[sli38]

I have the Haier HVR035BLW 35 Bottle Reserve Series Wine Cellar with Solid Wood Racks and I love it! It has always kept perfect humidity. I was going to use beads but I put a floral block in a tupper ware container untill I got the beads and it kept such perfect humidity that I just left it. Why fool with what works.

[Jwrussell]

What kind of swings are you used to seeing when the compressor cycles on?

[Jwrussell]

Once the compressor cycles on it takes about 5-6 minutes for the RH to drop about 10 percent, then another 15-20 FRICKIN' minutes to get back to where it was! I haven't been able to track how many times this is happening over any real period of time, but that's certainly not "steady" in my book...

[cvm4]

*A guide's voice* And here we have a male specimen in his natural habitat. He seems worried about his kid...errr....mood swings...errr...RH swings. Tune in next time for the saga of Jason's New Humi!!!! */A guide's voice*

[sli38]

I use a temp controll unit set at 72 degrees. It hardly ever comes on, only in the hottest days of summer. The RH swings never effect the RH of the cigars.

[jcgoldner]

I use a temp controll unit set at 72 degrees. It hardly ever comes on, only in the hottest days of summer. The RH swings never effect the RH of the cigars.
How about some more info on that temp control unit? Thanks!

[sli38]

How about some more info on that temp control unit? Thanks!





http://www.midwestsupplies.com/products/ProdByID.aspx?ProdID=4230

Works great! :thumbsup:

[Wasch_24]

Any updates Jason? How's the RH swings now? Maybe you need more cedar in there.

[jcgoldner]

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/products/ProdByID.aspx?ProdID=4230

Works great! :thumbsup:
Thanks sli!

[Jwrussell]

Still 10 degree swings. But I've been in and out of it quite a bit. Need to leave it alone. Still over humidified according to my hygros, but the sticks are smoking well...so....

[Jwrussell]

Still no frickin' change. Humidity jumps 11 percent from the low to the high during the day (based on the hygro's memory, haven't sat and watched it during a cycle recently).

As to the amount of cedar Todd: 3 cabs of varying sizes, 1 all cedar NC "cab", 1 other NC box, also cedar, and a couple of DBs...plus a number of cedar dividers from past NC boxes. There's quite a bit of cedar in there. I'm still going to add some more in the form of cedar shelves, but I haven't gotten around to that as of yet. Anybody know of anybody that does that sort of thing? Viper? I can get some sheets of the stuff, cut it and drill it for ventilation, but if it's not overly expensive I wouldn't mind picking up some nicer looking, true shelves.

I don't really get why the humidity is so high, other than the fact that I guess the seal is so tight on a wine cooler. I have hardly any humidification in there right now as half of my beads are out of the cooler drying out...who know's...maybe that's the problem. I have quite a bit in a cedar tray that I completely dried out just to soak stuff up, but if it's doing that, it's doing it very slowly.

'Gars are still smoking just fine so I'm not too worried for the moment, but it is aggravating having the Humdification jump all over the place as it is.

[Wasch_24]

Hmm, maybe it's like a tupperdor when they get high, it takes forever for it to dissapate.

I would put those beads in the oven and dry them out for awhile and then slide them in there to absorb it.

[Jwrussell]

I've got some completely dried out in there, drying the others (not in the oven...we'll see if my patience holds out on that one). I think you are probably correct. It's also amazing at the difference in humidity between top and bottom. I know someone said humid air rises, but this is a pretty dang tall cooler and just like my humi's, it's more humid at the bottom. And the only source of humidity (if you can call dry beads that) is in the middle. :dunno:

[sli38]

I had the same problem with an old fridge that I converted. I just could not get the humidity down. Finally I put in a container of.....crap, i can't think of the name of it but it was kind of like cat litter made to absorb moisture from damp places. I got it at the hardware store. It was odorless and it worked great.

[Wasch_24]

Maybe it was just straight silica gel beads? Like the stuff in the little packets in new purses and shoe boxes and stuff.

[Jwrussell]

OK, I have no friggin' clue what the issue was unless it was just what you said earlier Todd, it was just taking time for the beads to soak up the excess. I pulled out a bunch that were in a stocking and poured them into a flat tupperware container to air out. The next day I put them back in (after they had dried some) and now I'm right around 65-70%. 5% swings...not bad at all.

[Wasch_24]

Sounds good Jason...five percent is nothin' really.

[Jwrussell]

Yep, that's about what I was expecting. 5% doesn't bother me in the least. Now I just need to give it a bit more time to get down to the 63-68% range and I'll be set.

[Headbanger]

Any updates here Jason ? I am looking at cabinets vs wine coolers.

[thebigo]

good stuff

[dmoby]

Any updates here Jason ? I am looking at cabinets vs wine coolers.

Go with the wine cooler, they work great. If you need fans for inside use oust air freshener fans. I have two in my wine cooler.

[Jwrussell]

Headbanger. I wish I had a more firm update, but the best I can say right now is that I think I've got too much room in the wine cooler. I absolutely love the ability to make sure the temp is where I want it. Unfortunately, right now, I'm having a terrible time with humidity. I only have somewhere in the neighborhood of 60-80 cigars in there right now. One large tray with somewhere around 25, and a number of boxes mostly empty. I have almost 2 lbs (maybe a bit more, maybe a bit less) of 65% beads spread throughout the cooler in mesh bags and tubes. However, at the top of the cooler the humidity runs from the low 60's to 70%. The next level down runs 3-4 percent higher. I just can't seem to get the humidity where it should be and I honestly have no idea why. I have 4 oust fans spread throughout as well. My assumption has been that I simply have too much room (i.e. not enough cigars) in the cooler and have been working to correct that (lol). Most others that I know with coolers have had no where near the problems I've been having.

If anyone with any experience has any thoughts please feel free to let me know. Other than stuffing it full of cigars, I'm out of thoughts. :dunno:

[Wasch_24]

MORE CIGARS!!!!

[Jwrussell]

LMAO, yeah, I'm already on that Todd. :rofl:

[Wasch_24]

NOW!!!!

[dmoby]

I have the same wine cooler as jwrussel and I have not had his problems. I live in Reno and here we suffer heat in the summer and cold in the winter with no humidity all year long. So I have it plugged in during the summer and fall and in the winter I can unplug it and it keeps it at 68 deg. The best thing I did for my cigars 2 years ago was buying the wine cooler and the cigars coming out always smoke perfectly.

[Wasch_24]

But...you probably have....
MORE CIGARS!

:rofl:

[Headbanger]

Sorry to ask?? My coolerdor looks like crap in my office, but seems to hold humidity perfectly. Still looking at cabinets, there pretty, but expensive. Seen many a post here and around on them to help me make a very educated decision. Tough choices and your wineadoor thread made things even more interesting.

Good luck with the issues brother, in FL the heat and high humidity have to be a bitch. MD gets bad humidity in summer as well, but so much dryer in winter. But we don't quite get the 5 months of summer heat you get. Keep us posted.

[AZsteelman]

unless you have your cigars out in the open in trays, here's what i do to mine. I have all my smokes stored in boxes, so i put the hygro in a box also. the swings go away. open space is prone to swings, but inside the boxes stays nice and stable...i love mine!

[Jwrussell]

AZ, yes, the swings do go away if I throw the hygro in the box, but the humdity is still too high. :dunno:

[AZsteelman]

move to Arizona!

[caudio51]

unless you have your cigars out in the open in trays, here's what i do to mine. I have all my smokes stored in boxes, so i put the hygro in a box also. the swings go away. open space is prone to swings, but inside the boxes stays nice and stable...i love mine!

Thats why you need to have a full cooler/cabinet!:help:

[The Searcher]

Try storing a few bottles of wine? :scratchhe :hysterica Then as you take up more room with cigars drink the wine My cooler is doing fine with the RH I just need some more boxes of cigars. I have a friend that is south of Miami :guitar: right now I'm looking for a surprise any day :drool:

[Jwrussell]

I have a couple bottles in there Searcher, but thanks for the advice, lol. Well, quick update for ya'll. I threw the hygro in my newest cab and it stuck rock steady at 70%. So this morning I cracked the door to the cooler before going to work. When I got back from lunch I closed it back up. Since then, the reading inside the cab has been steady at 65%. The open air hygro's are still reading to high, so we'll see if another morning of having the door cracked helps to even things out some.

Oh, and those boxes that should soon be taking up some more space might help out a bit too. :wink:

[Headbanger]

Updates Jason? My wine cooler is doing much better with the Oasis now.

[Jwrussell]

Eh. It's doing OK. Certain parts of it, especially near the back cooling plate are much higher in RH than I would like, but the cigars smoke fine so everything's ok I guess. Most parts of the cooler are 65% +/- 5%. Not nearly as rock solid as I would prefer, but OK. I still think Packing it solid full of smokes would help. :rofl:

[Headbanger]

I did not think my thermoelectric would draw so much RH out vs the condenser kind like yours. I am not opening it up everyday now either. I have that down to every OTHER day. Mine is almost completely full you could say, so that helps keep RH good when the unit runs for longer periods of time. The Oasis seems to keep the air RH good, so when the cooler shuts off, so does the Oasis most times. I would think inside the cigar boxes are even more steady RH wise. I am half tempted to put it in the basement where it should be cooler. Oh well, for now I better not bring home to the :wifey:.

[Jwrussell]

Yeah Steve. Mine's only about half full right now. I'm about done spending money on the other hobby at this point (bang, bang) so once I've paid some of that down it'll be time to fill up the other half. I know it runs better when it's close to full.