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jerseyjetset

jerseyjetset

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Hey brothers. I'm looking to upgrade my storage setup and I am looking for recommendations. My wedding is coming up in July and I'm stocking up on some boxes for a cigar bar I'll be offering at the reception, and the end table setup I have right now isn't going to cut it. I think a wineador is the way to go, but I'm not sure where to start.

My questions are: a) What are the recommendations for make/model? I've been looking at 28-bottle-ish sizes. And b) Are there any advantages/disadvantages to getting just a wine chiller and having shelves/drawers made over, say, getting one of the prefab Newair or similar setups?

Right now I have a 1500-count end table (only maybe 200-300 in it though) with a Cigar Oasis and 2 lbs. of beads. It has a drawer on top and three shelves, which I've put some cedar trays in.

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks much.

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ApeSmokes

ApeSmokes

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Just got one recently, so can maybe help with a few lessons learned: Picked up the NewAir 281 (28 bottle) because it was on sale at a great price. It has tons of room (for me), but it's proving hard to maximize that room without spending more $$. I'm going to eventually buy (about 1 month lead time) or make the drawers for it and then I'll have tons of storage, but as is, with the wire shelves I have enough room for 4 shelves: 3 with a small-ish desktop humidor, and one shelf with a tray of KL. So my storage is probably about 200 or so. Like I said, lots of wasted space. The humidors (I already had from garage sales) take up just enough space on each shelf that I can't put two. Looked online at the trays commercially available, and the sizes are such that many are just big enough that two won't fit per shelf, but just one wastes space like my current desktop boxes. There is one tray that might fit right, but it's close. It's like playing cedar-tray Tetris.
Since you already have some trays, and probably some boxes, humidors, etc... i'd say look at the interior dimensions of the chiller before buying and see how everything is going to fit. Not as big a deal for me, because I can slowly reconfigure as my small collection grows. If you're moving 200-300 in right away and looking to expand up from there, you're going to need shelves/drawers much quicker. Set up correctly I'm thinking it will hold quite a bit.
On a positive note, the NewAir runs great, holds at 66 perfectly, and it was really easy to get the RH established, I covered the drain plug, layered some scrap cedar on the bottom, put the dish of KL on the top shelf, and within a couple of days it was sitting at 68 RH, and hasn't moved since.
If you're looking at the NewAir 281, I can provide interior/exterior dimensions if you'd like, as well as distance between shelf slots.
Cheers
 
jerseyjetset

jerseyjetset

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ApeSmokes said:
Just got one recently, so can maybe help with a few lessons learned: Picked up the NewAir 281 (28 bottle) because it was on sale at a great price. It has tons of room (for me), but it's proving hard to maximize that room without spending more $$. I'm going to eventually buy (about 1 month lead time) or make the drawers for it and then I'll have tons of storage, but as is, with the wire shelves I have enough room for 4 shelves: 3 with a small-ish desktop humidor, and one shelf with a tray of KL. So my storage is probably about 200 or so. Like I said, lots of wasted space. The humidors (I already had from garage sales) take up just enough space on each shelf that I can't put two. Looked online at the trays commercially available, and the sizes are such that many are just big enough that two won't fit per shelf, but just one wastes space like my current desktop boxes. There is one tray that might fit right, but it's close. It's like playing cedar-tray Tetris.
Since you already have some trays, and probably some boxes, humidors, etc... i'd say look at the interior dimensions of the chiller before buying and see how everything is going to fit. Not as big a deal for me, because I can slowly reconfigure as my small collection grows. If you're moving 200-300 in right away and looking to expand up from there, you're going to need shelves/drawers much quicker. Set up correctly I'm thinking it will hold quite a bit.
On a positive note, the NewAir runs great, holds at 66 perfectly, and it was really easy to get the RH established, I covered the drain plug, layered some scrap cedar on the bottom, put the dish of KL on the top shelf, and within a couple of days it was sitting at 68 RH, and hasn't moved since.
If you're looking at the NewAir 281, I can provide interior/exterior dimensions if you'd like, as well as distance between shelf slots.
Cheers
Click to expand...
That's a great start, thanks much for the info. I've found several for sale that are ready for cigars, with trays and drawers built in. Most are in the $250-$300 range which doesn't seem too bad for what you're getting. Curious as to whether anyone has any experience with those setups as well.

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qpzmide

qpzmide

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Air n water usually has the scratch and dent for cheap with free ship. I have the 280E and I jammed about 24 boxes in mine using six 65% boveda bags. I don't have any shelves though just boxes with one cedar tray for singles.
 
arjennrudd

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First off, congratulations on your upcoming wedding!

Currently seasoning a Whynter CHC-251S that's advertised as holding 400 cigars. It has a mix of shelves and drawers that came with it. It was a $299 on Amazon with Prime shipping. Honestly, I just pulled the trigger because I had a few Amazon gift cards and figured why not, only came out to $150 out of my own pocket after gift cards. The pre-fab one I got has 4 shelves and 2 drawers. Seal seems pretty good. Haven't had to plug it in as my house has been sitting in the mid to upper 60s temperature wise.

Echoing ApeSmokes, it will cost you some extra money to add more drawers or shelves that fit as you'll probably need them custom fitted and that will take some extra time to be made unless you buy one of the pre-fab ones. Add seasoning time to the new shelving/drawers as well and it may take a month or two before you're all set. But if you're buying a bunch of boxes anyway, you could probably delay the nice drawers and shelves and just stack boxes in there in the meantime.

If you're looking to just hold some storage over for your wedding and not looking to permanently expand into the wineador (unless this is an excuse to your significant other to get a wineador- I've personally gone on a CC buying binge because they're 'groomsmen gifts' half a box to them and half a box to me) , I say just go for a cooler set up if the ambient temperature in your house is cool enough (not sure with summer coming). Figure it's cheaper and less stressful (I got a wedding coming up as well and a few bucks and extra stress saved always helps). Plus more money for boxes as I'm guessing you'll be getting quite a few.
 
mjones9630

mjones9630

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Yeah, what ^ he said.. if you're not just looking to get a wino, I'd just pick up some bovedas, and a cooler or tupper to stash them in for the next month.. hell, I'd imagine a gallon size ziplock with a boveda would work just fine for the short time it'll be needed..
 
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