I've noticed there's lots of lovely humi's on the market with glass fronts/ tops/ sides and Spanish cedar is quite pale and contrasting to some of the darker "outer" colours of the humi's. What I was wondering is if there's a safe way of staining/ colouring the Spanish cedar without it having a tainting (transfer of taste/ smell) effect on the cigars? Is there a way to make it a richer, darker colour safely? I thought of the wax based "rub on" stains available nowadays I've seen on DIY shows on TV.

Check this humi out and imagine it had darker coloured shelves and dividers (matching the outer colour) to see through the glass windows..surely it'd look better! Well I think it would. :-)

http://www.humidorvault.com/Versaill...-versaille.htm

What do you think?
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Wouldn't staining spanish cedar effectively defeat the point of using spanish cedar?

I thought the wood's job was to absorb and release moisture, thereby helping stablize the humidity within the humidor.
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Absolutely Not!!!!!

It must be left Ala Natural to reap it's benefits. There is nothing you can do to it, that will not damage it's qualities!!!

Consider how wonderful that humidor will look when it's full of cigars! You won't even see the cedar, when the cigars are in place.
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Well that's that idea out the window! Do you reckon staining the viewable sides would cause problems as they're not in contact with the cigars?
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You can use contrasting drawer fronts. I've seen a stock humi that has them (Drawers behind glass doors). As well some BOTL's that sell Vino-shelves stain the drawer fronts for that effect. But, as for staining the entire shelf or tray, that's a no go.
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That's answered my main question so far..any idea what they used to do it?
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What about staining it with some sort of tea concoction?
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http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/showth...t=vino+shelves


It's in there. But it looks like a seperate piece of Oak.
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In short, yes you can.

Without going into mechanics and specifics, if the wood is over 1/2 inch thick, you can stain the outside it with an alcohol-based pigment and seal it with a water based finish. Any thinner than 1/2" and there's a chance that the alcohol will remove too much of the natural oils in the wood that make it effective. You must be absolutely careful to apply a very small amount at a time. If you just slop it on, then the wood could absorb too much and ruin it's purpose.

You don't want to use an oil or water based stain because the oil in the stain has a chance to react negatively with the natural oil in the wood, or worse the wood will absorb too much and it won't dissipate. This is the reason for the alcohol based pigment...denatured alcohol will evaporate and leave no odor or residue that could taint cigars.
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Yep, stained pieces are separate wood.
All Spanish Cedar is left natural.

Chas
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