An idea for making your own relatively cheap DIY wine refrigerator humidor or curing cabinet:
Edited quote to remove brand names and links to purchasing sites. If you want to see them look at the source page:
http://www.stogieguys.com/2010/01/01052010-stogie-tips-build-a-wine-a-dor.html
A fridgeador is a wine refrigerator slightly modified to store cigars. Now, I know what you’re thinking: Isn’t refrigerating cigars a bad idea? Under normal circumstances, absolutely; a conventional fridge will suck the moisture right out of your stogies. But most wine fridges use thermoelectric cooling, a process that will avoid such harmful side effects. If you’re buying a wine fridge for cigar-storage purposes, make sure to buy a thermoelectrically cooled model...
Having ordered your wine fridge, next you’ll want to invest in some Spanish cedar planks for use as shelves... If you plan to use wood glue to fashion the planks into shelves, make sure to use a nontoxic, relatively odor-free variety. Remember: you don’t want to put any chemicals in your fridge that you wouldn’t feel comfortable smoking later on.
For humidification, you can go with active ([BRAND NAMES]) or passive (beads, floral foam) methods. Personally speaking, I recommend several pounds of humidity beads... The beads are easy to use, low maintenance, and good at what they do: maintaining RH levels at anywhere from 65-70%, depending on your preference. Next, if you’re the micromanaging type, you can buy one or two small, battery-powered fans to help circulate the air inside the fridge. [BRAND NAME] fans... run on cycles and are not constantly operating.
Finally, you’ll want to plug the condensation drain at the bottom of your fridge; doing so will help prevent moisture loss when the cooler is in operation. Some condensation may develop along the back interior wall of the fridge. Be sure to place a small container of beads or foam at the bottom of the fridge to collect any water droplets that may form.
[Y]our finished fridgeador (including wood and beads) will run you about $300, give or take $100.
Edited quote to remove brand names and links to purchasing sites. If you want to see them look at the source page:
http://www.stogieguys.com/2010/01/01052010-stogie-tips-build-a-wine-a-dor.html