I have an idea...

[Kyle Weiss]

As I go crawling the junk stores, I often come across these "wine chiller" devices, most of them are pretty smart-looking, glass-front swinging doors, roughly three feet high, about two feet across, and have metal racks in them that are designed to hold wine.

One particular unit caught my eye due to a faux wood paneling, and it looked pretty sharp. It matched my furniture arrangement and color perfectly... a wine-colored, darker wood.

I don't drink wine... not really a wine guy.

Further inspection caused me to notice it uses thermoelectric or "Peltier" cooling, which essentially just transfers heat from one side of a special plate to another. In this case, it takes out heat from the inside of the cooler and disperses it to the back of the unit. There is no air flow.

An idea suddenly hit me.

I could use this as a standing tobacco cellar. It wouldn't take much to re-fit the inside with cedar wood shelving, and since the doors have seals on the much like a standard refrigerator (the units I've seen, anyway), but without the drying effect compressor-type refrigerators tend to have. Ideally, you could put some kind of moisture-introducing setup (a larger container of Xikar gel?) and probably have a fantastic, controlled environment to store tobacco.

Of course, once I put this all together, I was well out of the store, and the unit was long gone.

Have any of you attempted this?

Is it worth attempting?

I figured it may help some of you out that are using coolers and other possibly "in-the-way" or unattractive measures to keep your tobacco, especially those without a proper basement/cellar or other "cool spot."

 

[nate560]

Just a question is this for pipe tobacco or cigars. Cigars I could understand the added moisture most people try to stay between 69 and 72 % humidity. But thats not good for pipe tobacco. Maybe I didn't understand which is possible im still half asleep.

 

[DustyRoundup]

Howdy Kyle,

Hey that sounds like a good idea.
I could go for something like that.
Yesterday, I took some time and cleared out a cupboard to store my stuff in.
(You may have read my post concerning keeping a briar out in the shop in our cold Montana winter)
So, I got the Ok for the cupboard, but its a "high" cupboard, above our clothes dryer.

I think it may be too warm up there. But what the heck, its not not like Im storing tobacco for any length of time "YET"

confused: oh yeah, I just couldnt help myself, and I bought a flat of mason jars,,, little ones with wide mouths, and theyre all sittin there , just waiting to be filled. )

But I like your idea, and will keep that in mind for future reference.

Dusty

 

[Stackle2]

I enjoy my wine as well as the pipe, so I have one of those little coolers. Works great, the one I have actually has a very high humidity level for keeping the corks properly hydrated, not sure what the relative humidity is exactly, but its moist.

Not sure how the humidity would treat a tobacco tin or mason jar lid though, obviously it would seem to increase oxidation.

Dustyroundup, seems like you have the fever now! lol, glad to see someone so passionate, thats great!

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Well, I suppose the humidity addition is for my own purposes, because-- I live in a state where it commonly gets down to... 2% humidity! That makes for some very crunchy pipe tobacco...your experience may be different. I guess the idea is not to FURTHER dry out the tobacco more than you want or can control, and there would be moisture/air flow stabilization in a unit like this, whatever you would like.

I suppose the main purpose is, since some people are making efforts to keep tobacco in controlled environments, why not make such an environment you don't have one naturally? The cool factor/light exposure elements are key, and would be the main benefit (many of these coolers are dark). Plus, if it's an attractive enough device, you could make a "pipe bar" out of it, keep your collection overhead and on top, display your collection, make it look tops...

...or, shove it in your garage or set it up in your man cave, which might have a few more temperature swings, and protect your relaxation investment.

Again, these units are $20 sometimes at junk stores... it'd be a lot nicer to have a dedicated, functional space rather than a cooler stuffed next to your snow boots--maybe that's just me. :lol: Free up some space, keep your 'baccy happy, make a shrine to the Pipe Gods...

...well, if this isn't a landslide "everyone's already done it," thing and it may help out, I'm gonna keep my eye out for a thermoelectric wine fridge and try it out. 8) Pictures will follow, of course.

 

[nismo270r]

Wine fridges are used quite a bit for cigars (Wineadors), and they do an excellent job at maintaining humidty. I have a 12 bottle Vinotemp setup as a humidor and just got some drawers from www.wineadors.com If you see the Zebrawood set in his photos, that's my set.

I use "calibrated" kitty litter to maintain the humidity in my cooler, and it does a great job for a lot cheaper than some of the other beads out there for sale. Not saying those beads don't work...they work very well. Kitty litter does the same job for much cheaper is all, as long as your willing to calibrate it to your specified humidity on your own. Silca is silca...

I would think you would be able to do the exact same setup for pipe tobacco and just calibrate the litter or beads to whatever lower humidity may be needed. I've always wondered what the best humidity levels would be to keep pipe tobacco both tins and mason jars, but I haven't been able to find a definitive answer. I would think it would be much lower than the 68-75 that cigars like. Perhaps the higher humidity could promote corrosion on tins? Does anyone have any good info on humidity/temp levels on storing pipe tobacco? For temperature, I usually go by the adage used for storing a lot of other things, if I'm comfortable, it's comfortable.