My wooden puerh humidor builing adventure

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


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Aug 25th, '08, 14:03
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by tony shlongini » Aug 25th, '08, 14:03

Excellent read about storage.

This may sound a bit odd, but what to do in regards to opened vs. unopened beengs? Any special precautions for storing opened cakes?

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Aug 25th, '08, 14:41
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by shogun89 » Aug 25th, '08, 14:41

tony shlongini wrote:Excellent read about storage.

This may sound a bit odd, but what to do in regards to opened vs. unopened beengs? Any special precautions for storing opened cakes?
I dont think so. :roll: As the article said the more of one cake you have the better the cake will age. You can obviously store an opened cake, but you need to be careful about sanitation. I will wash my hands before I even touch a cake or my pumidor.

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Nov 13th, '08, 20:01
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by taitea » Nov 13th, '08, 20:01

I'm resurecting this thread so as not to start a new one. I was wondering what people think about using something like this in a small box/closet/cupboard/whatever.

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Nov 13th, '08, 20:23
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by heavydoom » Nov 13th, '08, 20:23

just be careful, you don't want to end up doing this :

http://tuochatea.blogspot.com/2008/09/e ... wrong.html

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Nov 13th, '08, 20:26
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by taitea » Nov 13th, '08, 20:26

I don't want to do some crazy wet storage. But the RH in my closet right now is about 45%. Wouldn't that make the tea stale eventually?

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Nov 13th, '08, 21:47
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by shogun89 » Nov 13th, '08, 21:47

I stopped using the pumidor because it scared me too much. Now they just sit in my closet at about 55%. I too want to know what happens to pu when stored at say 50%.

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Nov 13th, '08, 21:54
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by Woots » Nov 13th, '08, 21:54

Props for building a cool humidor. If I ever get inspired by puerh teas like you guys you may have inspired me to attempt something similar.

Out of curiosity.... how do cigar humidors pair up for use as a puerh humidor? I'd imagine tobacoo and tea leaves have to maintain similar conditions (is that where the inspiration for this came from?)

I used to smoke cigar when I was a lot younger and had smaller humidors. I found keeping tobacoo too wet caused mold. You need to keep things barely moist in there... just moist enough to not dry out and crack... more a matter of keeping out the external fluctuations of humidity.

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Nov 13th, '08, 21:57
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by shogun89 » Nov 13th, '08, 21:57

Woots wrote:Props for building a cool humidor. If I ever get inspired by puerh teas like you guys you may have inspired me to attempt something similar.

Out of curiosity.... how do cigar humidors pair up for use as a puerh humidor? I'd imagine tobacoo and tea leaves have to maintain similar conditions (is that where the inspiration for this came from?)
The design is pretty much the same, both keep in humidity. I got the inspiration after walking around in a walk in cigar humidor in a huge wine store and being intrigued with the whole thing, and though, why cant I do this for pu?

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Nov 13th, '08, 22:06
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by Woots » Nov 13th, '08, 22:06

If you were getting mold it was just too moist inside that humidor. Same thing happened to a very expensive box of cigars I got once. After that point. I would just take a napkin... wet it... then squeeze it out extremely hard. So that the napkin didnt even wet my hand when I grabbed it... almost was on edge of dry. I found this was perfect level of moisture. I am sure the amount of moisture you have to have reflect the amount of space.

Frequent inspection of the contents is key. As you have to keep the moisture levels right. What amazes me is that puerh is stored in caves. I cant think of a more moist, dank and moldy place. I suppose the caves they pick are a perfect balance of moisture and conditions.

While I dont know much about purerh... I can say confidently that if you can store puerh in your house without getting mold. I would use your meter to measure what the average moisture is in your house. I would try to aim for that inside that humidor. You just mostly want to avoid spikes (high or low spells) that you would normaly get by storing it in your house.

Shogun read this website... should all be directly applicable to helping your work out the kinks. Hope it helps.
http://cigarhumidors.vigilantinc.com/ci ... -101.asp#1

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Nov 13th, '08, 22:46
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by shogun89 » Nov 13th, '08, 22:46

I think you are right by saying that what is important is staying clear of spikes. Thank you for the article, interesting read for sure, must read it again to get all from it. I never did have a problem with mold, it was a "what if" scenario, the results would have been terrible so I made the choice to keep them at lower humidity. I hope your cigars wernt ruined. I actually see cigars almost like pu in a way, Different regions, storage conditions, processing, aging all result in a finished product. A very interesting Hobby indeed.

May 17th, '14, 00:05
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Re:

by AllanK » May 17th, '14, 00:05

shogun89 wrote:The pictures are here!!!!!
I think you guys will have to click the link in order to view (sorry about that). I figure I can get at least 25 cakes in the top shelf and more in the bottom. The top shelf is designed for tea and the humidity gauge as you can sea in the picture, the bottom is meant for the humidity trays using oasis foam and distilled water. there is an air gap between the front and back and the shelf to allow fresh humidity and air circulation. as shown the shelf is also removable for cleaning or whatever. I decided not to treat the wood with oil or stains because of the potential hazard to the tea. Enjoy and please tell me what you think!

http://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k411 ... G_2617.jpg

http://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k411 ... G_2622.jpg

http://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k411 ... G_2621.jpg

http://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k411 ... G_2620.jpg

http://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k411 ... G_2619.jpg

http://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k411 ... G_2618.jpg

http://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k411 ... G_2624.jpg

http://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k411 ... G_2623.jpg
If Shogun is still on Teachat, I am curious how this pumidor worked out in the long run?

May 17th, '14, 02:22
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My wooden puerh humidor builing adventure

by Exempt » May 17th, '14, 02:22

I haven't seen shogun around in a while but if you look a few posts up he says he stopped using it in 2008. As far as I know there's only a few active members using pumidors such as mr mopu and myself

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