Most cigar aficionados are wary of humidors manufactured by firms that don’t specialize in humidors. It’s a fair concern, but one that should be set-aside for Wolf Designs, who are known for things like casino gaming sets, cufflink boxes, and watch repair kits. Though they only make one humidor, it’s a damn good one.
The Wolf Designs Two-Drawer Humidor ($175) is an elegant specimen. It is wood-framed, fifteen and a half inches wide, six and a quarter deep, and eight high. The bottom drawer is deeper than the top. It comes in blonde, burlwood, and piano black veneers; I recommend the burlwood. The interior is all Spanish cedar, and the bottom of the top drawer is slatted for proper airflow. The hardware—handles, hydrometer, and humidifiers—is all gold plated. The hydrometer is set into the front of the top drawer, and the two humidifiers affix to the sides of the drawers via magnets. So long as you remember to carefully dry them after hydrating, it’s a smart setup.
After unpacking—which I only mention because it was done so well; honestly, I suspect that Canada Post could have dropped it at every turn without so much as a scratch on the humidor—I put it through it’s paces. The humidor easily passed the dollar bill test. Both drawers did, actually, and I decided to see if there was any difference between our new-fangled polymer notes and the old school, easily counterfeit paper ones. There is not.
Satisfied with its integrity, I went about seasoning the humidor and bumping the reading on the hydrometer from 60 to 72. Owing to its size, the humidor was fairly thirsty. Using distilled water, the two humidifiers, and a sponge I bought specially for the occasion, it took three days to season the empty humidor, and then another couple of days to bring everything up to snuff after I added my cigars. Since then, I’ve only done a bit of maintenance once a week.
The bottom drawer holds between thirty and forty cigars, and the top about twenty. Owing to shallow depth, they’ll have to be laid lengthwise, unless you exclusively smoke petite coronas.
Wolf Designs’ humidor is actually part of the larger Meridian Collection, which includes things like watch winders, poker sets, jewellery boxes, and whatnot. The top of the humidor (and everything else in the rest of the collection) has a slight recess, allowing you to stack multiple units. That said, the humidor looks great on it’s own and the recess looks like a little tray, perhaps for lighters, clippers, and other cigar accoutrements.
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Dave Robson is the editor of DailyXY. He spends his time reading books, drinking Scotch, and smoking cigars.
