How important is maintaining a steady temp

[Old Smokey]

I have my eye on an N Finity 170 bottle wine fridge and the owner says the dual temp thermoelectric works but doesn't maintain a constant temp. How much deviation would be considered ok? We keep our house at a pretty constant temp of 72f throughout the year. My coolerdor stays slightly below 70f year round just sitting in the corner of the bedroom.

Also, it has 11 sliding shelves and from the pic I have seen has wood trim and the trays are slotted. Would I need to be concerned the wood is not Spanish cedar?

This is a beautiful refrigerator size unit, but this is new territory for me. She said the seal is perfect on it, unit is 7 years old and has been discontinued. MSRP online is $2399. And I can get it for about 1/10th of that price. What do I need to know? Will HF Beads maintain Rh? Will this is it will be suitable for my cigars. I am really tired of digging through a cooler.

[Usafvet509]

Good question, Steve. I'd be interested in reading the answers as well.

[Trackmyer]

Lol, just typed your pm reply before coming here, but I will recap.

Double check to be sure it's a thermoelectric. Data sticker will be on back of unit. N'finity's I've seen my n 170 bottle all run off compressor with r134a refrigerant. Even if it is though, If I could buy it for 1/10 the origin price, I'd be all over it. Even if left unplugged as a cabinet. A PERFECT sealing cabinet I may add. The door seals on these are high quality and would hold rh very well as long as unit is sealed inside.

This last year I've stopped worrying as much about temps since going to a "freeze all incoming sticks" policy. That being said, I do keep my cabinet at around 68'f.

To some other questions you pose. I would smell the wood they used in the unit for sale. I do not believe they are using a strong scented wood like Red Cedar. And as long as the wood used had no strong smells I would have no issue storing cigars in it. All boxed cigars can be kept as is, all singles would have to go into a bin, or tray anyways. The Spanish cedar is mainly used in refriderator or wine cooler style units just for that pleasant aroma and as an RH buffer.
It's not mandatory for good cigar storage by any means.

As to HF beads holding RH, absolutely. Especially if it seals as well as I think it will. My cab. has a so-so seal, but no where near as good as an N.finity. I'm using a couple pounds of HF beads (from the Winador days), along with about a dozen 65 bovedas, and about 10-15lbs of KL (did this for size vs.cost effectiveness). Even with my house hitting the lower winter RH of 35-38 I'm maintaining 62-63rh without issue.


Now as far as cigars handling fluctuation. I am of the belief that they can handle most temps. its RH shock that hurts more than anything. Like said earlier, I'm freezing everything for two days at -9'f . And have had not a single bad experience yet. The freezing route was done since putting all my stash in one location. A beetle issue would be devastating with all the eggs in one basket.

I hope this helps a little, and I look forward to hearing your outcome. And again, for that price, I'd buy it absolutely. Even unplugged its sharper looking than a cooler.

[Trackmyer]

Seen the unit listed as having "smooth rolling hardwood shelves" so your fine wood wise. Also advertised as UV protected glass, very nice.

[Old Smokey]

Thanks Troy. When I looked the model # up online it said it was thermoelectric, but will flip her around and check out her backside. I showed the pic to my wife and told her I was going to look at it and may buy it and she said she liked it. So that's a go from her. If all goes well I will be going to check it out tomorrow after work.

The owner did send me a pic of one of the shelves and they are all wood and slotted. Not sure what type of wood. I will give them the nose test when I check it out.

I REALLy hope this thing materializes. I have 2# of beads but would also add some litter. I don't recall seeing anything about an interior fan, but I have 2 of those Oust fans from yesteryear that I can stick in there for circulation.

[Sticky B]

Sounds like a win!

[Old Smokey]

Sounds like a win!

Yeah, it's looking pretty good, but I think @Trackmyer is correct about it being a compressor unit. Which I don't think will be a deal breaker in my situation. I will still have to look tomorrow and make sure. And then if I can negotiate a deal!

[Trackmyer]

Steve, I tried sending you another pm, but it said you mail box is full. FYI

[Old Smokey]

Steve, I tried sending you another pm, but it said you mail box is full. FYI

I cleaned it up and should have space now if you wanna try again.

[Old Smokey]

I went and looked at it and i bought it. Will pick it up tomorrow after work. When I got there the guy was sitting by the open garage door smoking a cigar. How ironic. Very nice people. I told the guy that I wanted to use it as a cigar humidor and he said it would work perfect for that as it cools and will hold 65f perfectly but fluctuates when trying to hold 50f.

I have been looking for something like this locally at a price I could afford for well over 6 months and my patience finally paid off. I am really excited to get it home and play with it. It has a couple of built in intermitant fans, 5 lights that are blue, which I like. Anyway, tomorrow I pick it up. I have been at my storage limit for a while and this will make things much better. Thanks for reading.