Pumidor candidate

One of the intentionally aged teas, Pu-Erh has a loyal following.


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Jan 30th, '12, 06:58
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Re: Pumidor candidate

by Drax » Jan 30th, '12, 06:58

Nope, it does not controller temperature, but it does monitor and display the temperature.

The display (or at least, the one that I have) cycles through 4 items:

h
<displays relative humidity>
t
<displays temperature>

You set your target relative humidity (RH), and when the RH hits a certain point below that, it turns on the humidifier(s) that it is wired to.

I have similar concerns about temperature -- though it has been pretty mild so far this winter where I am, which has been nice. I think I would consider going a thermal-blanket route if I wanted to moderate the temperature better -- come to think of it, I wonder if this setup could regulate temperature that way, too? I never considered that possibility before, I'll have to check the manual...

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Jan 30th, '12, 14:12
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Re: Pumidor candidate

by TokyoB » Jan 30th, '12, 14:12

Drax - Did you build the cabinet yourself or did you have it built for you? If so, by whom and from what type of wood?
Thanks.

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Jan 30th, '12, 14:34
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Re: Pumidor candidate

by TIM » Jan 30th, '12, 14:34

TokyoB wrote:Drax - Did you build the cabinet yourself or did you have it built for you? If so, by whom and from what type of wood?
Thanks.
One of the best (imo) cost effective custom build humidor in the US:
http://www.aristocrathumidors.com/

Hope this helps :D

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Jan 30th, '12, 15:13
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Re: Pumidor candidate

by wyardley » Jan 30th, '12, 15:13

Drax wrote: I recall that somebody had a similar setup.... but I can't remember the specifics (I do remember the plastic was opaque...).
That would be teaeye.

http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?p=94761
http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?p=149935

He's had this setup for a while; I've seen (and smelled) it in person, and seems to work pretty well.

I would definitely suggest the opaque hydroponic gardening enclosure over the greenhouse one linked above.

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Jan 30th, '12, 15:30
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Re: Pumidor candidate

by Drax » Jan 30th, '12, 15:30

TIM wrote:
TokyoB wrote:Drax - Did you build the cabinet yourself or did you have it built for you? If so, by whom and from what type of wood?
Thanks.
One of the best (imo) cost effective custom build humidor in the US:
http://www.aristocrathumidors.com/

Hope this helps :D
Yep, that's the guy. Great service. When I move back to the DC area later this year into a more permanent spot, I will likely buy a second cabinet (one of the tall ones like CDS went with).

The interior wood, IIRC, is honduran mahogany, which was the wood with the least odor (or so I was told!) -- certainly important when dealing with somebody who normally makes cigar humidors, which often use aromatic wood.

And thanks for tracking down that link, wyardley...! That setup is more inline with shogun's original question... :mrgreen: and it's great that you've gotten to see how it works in person... not sure we could have gotten feedback otherwise, I don't think teaeye has been around in awhile...

Jan 31st, '12, 17:17
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Re: Pumidor candidate

by Saayuq » Jan 31st, '12, 17:17

This thread seems to be drawing a lot of knowledge. I want to tap into it with this question: Do I need to be concerned about humidity with ripe puerh? Our winters are quite long and we heat with wood stoves, which makes the inside of the house very dry. Do ripe teas change appreciably under favorable humidity?

Thanks.

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Jan 31st, '12, 17:44
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Re: Pumidor candidate

by wyardley » Jan 31st, '12, 17:44

Ripe tea can be wet-stored, but I am guessing there won't be a huge benefit to storing ripe tea in a mildly humid environment. If anything, having it in a dryer environment may remove a bit of the wodui taste.

But, more importantly, you probably will want to segregate ripe tea from raw to some degree in storage. I don't have that much ripe tea, but I just keep it in one of my tea cupboards at natural humidity, not in humidifed storage like my raw tea.

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Jan 31st, '12, 19:18
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Re: Pumidor candidate

by TomVerlain » Jan 31st, '12, 19:18

I was at biglots today (yes, I am cheap) and saw they had a range of the same kind of plastic zip up green houses. If you go to biglots.com and search for greenhouse, you will find them, they range in price from $20-$69.00

Image

The plastic seems pretty light weight and might tear or break easily. It is clear as well. The shelving is pretty light weight too.

You might google "construction door zipper", which is a zipper that has adhesive edges to stick to plastic sheeting. You can buy heavy duty black plastic sheeting and make your own pumidor of any size and shelf material then.

Image

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Feb 1st, '12, 09:24
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Re: Pumidor candidate

by solitude » Feb 1st, '12, 09:24

Here is my current setup for puerh storage
http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f= ... 5&start=15

The humidity is now around 70% and temerature 21°C

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Mar 6th, '12, 10:24
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Re: Pumidor candidate

by Fabien » Mar 6th, '12, 10:24

Not properly a pumidor but I wanted to stick with real wood and nice furniture.
As shown below, I just add 5 earthenware yogurt pots, full of hot filtered water (boiled and then allowed to cool for 10-15 minutes at room temperature), each one or two weeks.
Smells good, no mold growing and, as far as I can judge, the tea is good.I don't ask for more.
Puer cabinet 020 (480x640).jpg
Puer cabinet 020 (480x640).jpg (43.88 KiB) Viewed 805 times
Puer cabinet 018 (640x480).jpg
Puer cabinet 018 (640x480).jpg (43.77 KiB) Viewed 805 times

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