Why Choose a Downeast Humidor?
Long time cigar smokers know that humidors prices have dropped dramatically over the past several years. That's because most humidors on the market today are mass produced imports, made of pressed particles or cheap softwoods like pine, and covered with a thin layer of veneer. They are machine sprayed with lacquer many times for a shiny finish that can be quite attractive when the box is new. But the lacquer scratches easily, the veneer can peel, and the staples that hold these boxes together come loose in time.
Most importantly, the particle board or softwood walls do not protect the contents. Although lined with Spanish cedar, usually a quarter inch or less thick, the soft walls of these bargain boxes suck the moisture out of the cedar.
Downeast Humidors protect your cigars
Cigars need to live in a controlled environment, protected from fluctuations in temperature and humidity. The humidity inside your humidor climbs higher when any refillable humidifier is first filled with water, followed by a steady drop in humidity as the water evaporates. In low quality humidors, this drop can be quite dramatic, requiring humidifiers to be refilled often. During each of these cycles, some of the natural oils and sugars contained within the tobacco can dissipate along with the moisture, robbing the cigar of its character, flavor and its foundation for improving with age.
Our majestic Maine hardwoods have exceptionally high specific gravities. Combined with 3/8" of Spanish cedar, they create walls which allow a steady and controlled exchange of moisture between the wood and the inside environment. When moisture is abundant, the walls absorb moisture, to be gradually released as the water in the humidification device evaporates.
Two way humidity control
This process is sometimes called two way humidity control. Two-way humidity control continually responds to the environment and maintains a very stable and precise relative humidity. It is this stability that prevents loss of the natural oils, sugars and flavor as your cigars age. If you smoke cheap cigars and don't particularly care how they taste, a mass produced import may be fine for you. But if you care about your cigars, want them to draw well, burn evenly and improve with age, consider our humidors
A great humidor, and a great value
Downeast boxes perform like champions, are as beautiful as your furniture, and are a great value. You won't find a more reasonably priced truly hand crafted hardwood humidor anywhere, and you can spend hundreds of dollars trying.
Our wood
Great humidors start with great wood. We use only local hardwoods, sustainably harvested from the great forests of Maine, and they are all stunning in their own way. If you like wood, you'll love our humidors. There's nothing ornate or fancy about a Downeast Humidor. We prefer to let the wood do the talking. Standard wood choices for all humidors are oak or two-tone ash. Upgrade choices are hickory, wild cherry, walnut, curly maple, birdseye maple and premium birdseye maple. If you're interested in another species of wood, we can probably get it, provided it is sustainably harvested in Maine. If you look through the photos accompanying each of our products, you'll see examples of all the woods we use. Keep scrolling for a description of each type of hardwood, and its characteristics. If you have any questions about your wood choice, don't hesitate to ask us, using the contact us form.
Wood choices:
Standard woods
OAK - The mighty oak tree produces wood of exceptional strength with one of the highest specific gravities available. The moisture transfer rate is so low that it takes 2-3 years to dry oak firewood. Oak was the wood of choice for humidors in the 19th and early 20th centuries and is our best selling wood. The grain is usually dramatic, with high contrast. The color is uniform. When unstained, oak usually finishes to the color of a golden brown French fry. With a dark stain, the grain tends to appear quite black. Because it is a closed grain wood, oak sometimes absorbs stain a little unevenly. Oak has a medium texture, so the grain usually appears in the finish. If you like a slightly more rustic look and want a high functioning humidor, oak is for you. If you want a glassy smooth surface, oak is probably not for you,
ASH - This sturdy hardwood has some of the most interesting colors you'll find, and is popular among furniture makers. It is probably best known as the wood of choice for baseball bats. We use ash that contains a combination of wood from the center of the tree (heartwood) and wood from the outer portion (sapwood) which results in a beautiful golden two-tone look when unstained. When stained, the contrast between the heartwood and sapwood is usually obscured. Ash has a high specific gravity, although not quite as high as oak or hickory, and is great for humidors. Its texture is smoother than oak.
Upgrade woods
HICKORY - The nut-bearing hickory tree produces wood known for its strength, and you'll find hickory used to make Windsor chairs and other furniture that requires bending. Pound for pound, it is the heaviest wood we use. It has the highest specific gravity and is the hardest of all North American hardwoods. The grain is smooth, and there are sometimes multiple color variations within each board, visible when unstained.
CHERRY - The cherry tree grows wild over much of Maine. With its smooth surface, subtle grain and dark golden reddish color, cherry has many fans among furniture makers. The color is uniform, and the grain is quiet and thin. Our wild cherry looks great when unstained, and gets darker with age, but it accepts dark stain well. In terms of hardness and specific gravity, cherry is mid range among hardwoods
BIRDSEYE MAPLE - Of the many maple trees harvested in Maine, a small number contain the unique small spots called bird's eyes, creating this exotic domestic hardwood. Science has yet to understand what causes this configuration. Birdseye maple tends to be found in the harder sugar maple and is usually close to oak in hardness and specific gravity. The texture is smooth and the color can range from creamy white to rich golden brown. Two-tone birdseye is available. Premium birdseye maple has bigger, more frequent and more dramatic eyes. We do not recommend staining birdseye maple. If you are looking for a rare and unique humidor, consider birdseye maple. http://www.mapleinfo.org/htm/bird.cfm
CURLY MAPLE - Also called tiger maple, this rare hardwood has a memorable wave like pattern running across the grain. Although maple can be quite hard, the best curly maple tends to come from softer wood and is closer to cherry in specific gravity. Guitar players know that curly maple is used to make the super smooth necks of Fender guitars, the bodies of Gibson Les Paul Customs and the backs of some acoustic guitars. In fact, we get our curly maple from the same lumber mill as Fender and Gibson. This is the rock 'n roll hardwood and it makes a strikingly unique humidor. Curly maple looks best in a natural finish which shows off the curls. It produces a consistently smooth and shiny finish, but often does not accept stain well.
WALNUT - The dark heartwood of the walnut, sometimes called the black walnut, is highly prized as veneer wood because of its rich beauty and smooth texture. The grain structure is complex, often producing stunning patterns, although sometimes it is straight grained. With its multiple subtle color variations from creamy milk chocolate to deep reddish black, walnut makes an elegantly dark humidor with a smooth finish. We don't stain walnut because it is naturally dark.
Note on wood selection: Wood grain is like snowflakes — every board is different. While each type of wood has its own grain tendencies, the grain pattern is mostly influenced by the portion of the log from which a particular board was cut. Boards sawn horizontally from the middle of the log on the left or right of center (quarter sawn), for example, will go directly across the grain and generally have narrow straight grain, as opposed to boards cut high from the center, which have more arcing patterns called "cathedral" grain. The grain in your humidor may be different from our photos, but one thing is certain--it will be unique and beautiful. If there is a particular type of grain you like, let us know and we can probably do it.
Colors
While we frequently apply dark stains to oak, ash, hickory and cherry, our general preference is a natural finish because we think that stain can diminish the natural artistry of the wood. In our view, the best choice for a dark humidor is walnut, followed by stained cherry. Natural finish humidors get a bath of hot boiled linseed oil to enhance and maximize the color. After allowing the linseed oil to cure for a week, we apply the polyurethane top coat.
Keep in mind that there can be significant color variations with each variety of wood, sometimes within the same board. We don't steam, bleach, dye or treat our wood with chemicals to achieve uniformity of color. The color of your humidor may vary slightly from our illustrations.
The Finish
All of our humidors receive a topcoat of at least eight coats of hand rubbed polyurethane on the vertical surfaces and ten coats on the horizontal surfaces. Polyurethane doesn't shine quite as highly as lacquer, and it takes more work to apply and to dry, but for wood which is handled every day, it is simply the best—durable, highly resistant to scratches and easy to maintain, with excellent moisture-barrier properties. If you want a super glassy finish on all surfaces, try our premium finish. If the glossy look isn't for you, try our satin or straight oiled finish.
Edge Profiles
We offer a selection of four different edge profiles for the top and base of your humidor. You can choose two different profiles for the same humidor. Here's what they look like:
Hardware
Hardware is a big factor in determining the cost of a humidor. We keep it simple, using mostly brass plated steel stop hinges mounted on the surface. We don't use quadrant hinges because the inexpensive ones (found on most humidors sold today) are not strong enough to handle the weight of our lids, and the good ones would add close to $100 to the cost of each humidor. Our choice is function over form. But we give the hinges a coat of polyurethane to help protect them. If kept clean, they will look good and work well for many years. A shot of silicone spray every year will help protect the finish and help the moving parts. All humidors are available with one knob, two knobs or no knobs.
Humidification
All of our humidors are fully lined with premium double sanded Spanish cedar. The thickness depends on the size. We use 1/4" cedar on our smaller humidors and 3/8" cedar on our largest models. Thicker cedar (up to 9/16") is available as an option, as are thicker hardwood walls (up to 1-1/8"). The combination of cedar and solid hardwood walls, along with a baffled lid (the cedar in the bottom portion of the humidor protrudes 3/8" into the lid), gives our humidors excellent moisture retention qualities. Our humidors retain moisture so well, that some don't even use humidifiers, especially in the more humid areas of the country. Unlike the mass produced, softwood boxes, Downeast humidors don't need moisture added every couple of days. You can go on vacation, or spring break, without your cigars drying out.
Hygrometers and Humidifiers
Our semi custom humidors come without humidifier or hygrometer so you can spend as much or as little as you like on these, from the top of the line to a sponge in a baggie. With a fully custom humidor, you can get anything you want. While we don't sell or recommend any particular device, there are many good ones on the market. You can pick the ones you want, have them shipped to us, and we will custom fit them into the cedar in the lid or anyplace else. You don't need to consume valuable headroom fastening a device to the surface of the cedar with a magnet or Velcro.
If you have your devices and just need a circle or square cut into the lid, we can do that too, although to ensure a precise fit, it's better to let us do it because there are slight variations in the standard sizes of humidifiers and hygrometers. We can also make cedar covers for your humidifier to hide it. One thing we don't do is install hygrometers that are visible from the outside of the box, which we feel compromises the accuracy of the hygrometer and the humidor's moisture retention
Seasoning Your New Humidor
The method commonly recommended for seasoning a new humidor is to wipe the Spanish cedar with distilled water and close the humidor for 24 hours. WE DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS METHOD. The moisture retention qualities of Downeast Humidors are so good that wiping the cedar may produce mold growth. We suggest installing your hygrometer and humidifier and placing a small glass of distilled water inside the humidor. Close the lid and open it every few hours to check the humidity level. When the humidity reaches 68% (the level recommended for Habanos, the Cuban national cigar authority), take the shot glass out and put the cigars in. This process can take up to ten days, so be patient. We can pre season your humidor, if you want, by placing one or more Boveda seasoning packets inside before shipping, to cut down on your waiting time.
A note on hand made wood products
Truly handmade wood products sometimes have tiny surface imperfections because, unlike assembly line mass-produced goods, they are touched by human hands every step of the way. It's kind of like organic vegetables. They tend to be not quite as glitzy and perfect as the produce of mega farms. If you are not satisfied in any way with your humidor, we'll refund your money or give you a replacement. But keep in mind that you may find a tiny glitch or two. They won't affect the beauty or functionality of your humidor, and they are part of the charm of truly hand made wood products.
If you'd like to see photos of your humidor during construction, let us know.
Humidor capacity
There is a great discrepancy in the way humidors are rated for their capacity. When a seller or manufacturer says a humidor holds 100 cigars, they usually don't tell you what size cigars they have in mind. We do. Here's how we rate the capacity of our humidors: we multiply the inner length by the inner width by the depth of the bottom portion of the box. We divide that number by 4, which is the approximate size in cubic inches of a Churchill sized cigar (.75" x .75" x 7"), and round off the result. We do not count the space in the lid (called the headroom) because a lot of it is often consumed by humidifiers(s) and hygrometer. Will your humidor hold the exact number of Churchills indicated by the rating? Probably not, but our rating system will give you an accurate and consistent basis for comparing the capacity of different humidors.
Box dimensions
All of the box dimension listed are approximate and can vary by up to an eight of any inch in each direction. We use rough, locally milled lumber, and the final thickness of our boards is determined by how much milling we have to do to make the lumber smooth and square. Most of the time, the actual size ends up being a little bigger. |
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