Plans or measured drawings for large cabinet or furniture piece humidor?

[Richard Link]

Hi everyone. I'm interested in building a larger furniture piece as a humidor for a friend who is a cigar enthusiast. I'm envisioning something in the vein of a cabinet on a stand form with the inside lined with spanish cedar with the usual sliding trays large enough to hold several hundred cigars. Rather than glass, I will probably do a marquetry panel pair of doors and have some internal LED lighting. I've been reading a lot about humidor construction as I have not built one in the past. There is a lot of great information on humidor building out there but almost all the "plans" and examples are for small desktop box humidors. Despite an extensive search, I haven't been able to find any plans or measured drawings for something similar to what I am envisioning. In fact, I haven't really even seen any plans or measured drawings for a free standing cabinet humidor.

As a long shot, just reaching out to see if anyone else has similar resources relevant to a larger furniture piece humidor. Are there plans or measured drawings of something similar out there?

Thanks in advance.

Richard

[Andrew Hughes]

Have you thought about mocking up a something in popular or maple. That’s what I do when I want to build a important piece.
Working from measured drawings is boring.
Good Luck

[Keith Christopher]

I did something like this a long while back, just modifying a cabinet build, there are some 'gotchas' to look out for.

1) must have a good seal and lined very well with the spanish cedar as there will be alot of moisture int he cabinet and it can leech into the cabinet wood as well as dry out the cigars
2) depending in the size of the humidor you will need to consider humidification zones (high and low) to make sure the humidity is distributed evenly. as well as type of humidification
3) lighting should be sealed as higher humidity will cause oxidation of exposed metals.
4) Humidity tracking most humidifiers have these (but if you know anyone who can , there are great raspberry pi examples with cool stuff like touch screen display and email notifications.)

So with that said, you can basically find a cabinet build you like and line the cabinet with Spanish cedar and make sure the doors have a very tight seal but not airtight.

For shelving just use a 10-15deg angle with a 3/8" lip on the front, and make sure you make slotted shelves for air/moisture flow.

Below is one of the better humidifiers.

Briidea Electric Humidifiers for Cabinet

[Rob Sack]

I have been building large furniture piece humidors for a long time. Merely lining a piece of furniture with Spanish Cedar usually doesn't work, since a humidor is "unbalanced" by its very nature. It has high humidity in the interior (around 70%) and a much lower humidity on the outside, unless it's located in the tropics. I always build a solid Spanish Cedar box that can move independently from the outer furniture piece. I also only use drawers with open slats on the bottom for loose cigars that only allow for the cigars to be stacked no more than three high to allow for even humidification without having to rotate them. I also provide air channels along the sides as well as in the front and back for even humidification. Using passive humidifiers on a large humidor will work but automatic humidification is much better. Sealing the unit well is very important in order to establish a constant internal humidity over a long period of time. This requires proper planning when providing power to the electronic humidifier. I prefer to use low voltage humidifiers whenever possible.

[Richard Link]

Great suggestions. Thanks!

R