I looked in the search feature, but couldn't find anything.

What do you all have to share on establishing a cooleridor? If I carelessly overlooked a sticky or a thread elsewhere, please just point me in that direction.
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Not much to it. Throw some cedar in there, or broken up boxes, some KL or beads, hygrometer and some sticks. Just make sure you season the wood before hand.
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No time for google fuu right now. Yes the info is here. Basicly get a big clean cooler. Find some beads get a good hygronometer and if you want some fans like the oust fans that cycle on and off. Place beads throughout the cooler load with all you smokes and start filling her up. Check the beads every 2 weeks or so and your hygro as well.
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Buy a cooler (70-160 quart) go to walmart they have tons, Colemans are great
buy heartfelt beads (I went with 2 pounds for 120 quarts) (www.heartfeltindustries.com)
Scrub out the cooler with baking soda and hot water
Let it sit out in the sun for a bit
Make sure there is no plastic smell
Scrub the whole inside, lid included

Do this twice just for the hell of it (including the buying 2 coolers :-), kidding....sorta)

Buy a empty clear sprayer bottle
Place the beads inside (spray them 60% clear with distilled water ONLY)
Don't go cheap get the mesh bags from heartfelt as well (it's so much easier)

Place cigars inside
Close the lid

Drink beers till you fall over.

/end
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I guess we need a little more details. How big is the cooler you want to set up? There is the marine 150qt I believe that has the slots in it. I have seen people stand them up and put cedar trays in them. They would then have the KL at the bottom, a bag in the middle and a fan to circulate the air. I have a smaller 36qt one, I did not have to do much. I broke some boxes up and lined it, seasoned the cedar. Then added about 8oz of KL, my meter and some cheap plastic baskets and it is holding around 61-64%rh.


Also to the above post, you can use some news paper. Throw it in there over night or for the day or two and the carbon in the paper will eliminate any smells.
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This is probably the most important step. Make sure to repeat as necessary.
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I'm a fan of the beer part. However I do enjoy bourbon and a good gin and tonic in the warmer months. Good to know it is simple.

Do I spray the beads until they are "60% clear" or until 60% of them are clear?

And if I put the cigars in boxes, and then in the cooler, do I want to put the beads inside the boxes or just the cooler? And so I have to season the insides of the boxes as well?
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I'm working on that step right now~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Cedar lining is unnecessary. If you have beads you will never need it. I really pay just about zero attention to my humidor and it's rock solid 65 RH with 65 RH beads

Yes, basically if you did anything wrong.....this is the step to repeat.

Also I left out....the heartfelt industries beads....buy the 65RH.

Now I'm going to go drink vodka redbulls till I fall over.

PM me if you have any questions, on the beer, redbulls or cooler.
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not sure how big yet, have to do some shopping, don't need anything huge for now, just curious if it's a hassle or relatively pain-free.
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Just the cooler. The cigars will be fine. As for the beads, I would spray them about 50/50 and see where it holds, then spray some more.
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Coolers are very easyto set up.

Once you find a cooler that fits your need size wise make sure it has a good seep on the lid. Most people will use a marine cooler or a Coleman xtreme.

Once yOu pick up the cooler you need to buy beads or whatever you are gonna use for humidification.

If you go with beads you can use this site to find out how much you will need.

http://www.heartfeltindustries.com/calculator.asp

Once you get the beads then you can rinse the cooler out and let it dry out to get any "plastic" smell it might have. After a rinse and dry throw the beads in the cooler and a hygro in there.

Now you can buy Spanish cedar trays or just use old boxes to store singles and take up some room. If you go to walmart or some large store like that you could also just pick up some cheap plastic trays or bins also.

That's about it for coolers.

1.buy cooler
2.rinse cooler
3.add beads (or other form of humidiy)
4.add cigars once you reach desired humidity

Simple.
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60% "of them" are clear....roughly no exact science or counting involved.

Beads are IN the cooler, not in boxes.

There is no seasoning involved in any of this at all. That's why coolidors are so simple, effective and carefree.


EDIT Frank, you left out the most important thing...binge drink till you pass out. :-) :-)
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In my case anyways. I had major RH fluxations in my cooler, even with the cigars in it. I ended up having to add some wood to level it out. My understanding was there was nothing but plastic, so nothing to absorb and hold the rh.
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Using kitty litter (as opposed to humidification beads or some other device) will save you a ton of money. Use the link Frank posted to figure out how many pounds you need, then split that amount into 4 or so pantyhose stockings.
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I'm liking the sound of this. Too bad I wasted $20 on a 20 count. Maybe I'll just use it to keep my favorites to the side... And if I make a video review cheaphumidors will send me 5 free sticks...
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Just a tip for recharging beads that I do in my vino and cooler is I just place a couple cups of water and "gel" I have in there for a few days whenever I need to recharge the beads. Keeps me from over spraying the beads and leading to a humi spike.
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Your right bill i forgot. You have to drink a six pack before you even start and then a beer after every step.
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I don't want to get into the whole KL debate here, and neither does anyone else.

But I'm going to say your fluctuations are because of the KL.

Now lets not mention it anymore in this thread so it doesn't turn into a huge debate and ruin the thread

If you want to go the KL route....research that and you're on your own. Starting a topic on it is a dumpster fire here.....

Beads are simple, effective and VERY VERY easy. They aren't that expensive for a LIFETIME of perfect RH.
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There ya go. It's not a big deal. I wasted $140 on a desktop. Be happy you discovered coolers now and only spent $20 before hand.

You live, you learn, reading is key. Coolers aren't pretty but damn they store a hell of a lot for VERY little $$$. My 120 quart with beads, with hygro was like $140 or so. I can store probably 40 or so BOXES. So I'm not complaining one damn bit.
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