Quality Importers Desktop Humidor

After reading reviews for this and other humidors from the same manufacturer, I expected to receive a good looking box with a malfunctioning hygrometer and a great deal of fine tuning required to achieve the desired humidity. However, after following very simple directions for calibrating the hygrometer (put it in a zip lock bag with a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of water for a few hours), the device read exactly at the level expected.

The newly manufactured humidor was a little dryer than ideal (50% humidity) upon arrival, so I followed the manufacturer's suggestion and placed a shot glass of water in the box, allowing it to season overnight. The humidity rose to the desired (70%) humidity level and has stayed there with periodic charging (a few minute soaking ever week or two) of the element that came with the box. Within a couple of weeks, once dried out cigars that I had stored badly were restored to their original moisture content. The scent of the reconstituted cigars and the humidor's cedar liner are immediate evident when opening the box. There is no need for any of the other gels, beads or other advertised moisture balancing devices to make this product work exactly as advertised.

The glass top and exterior hygromerter both add interest and functionality to the humidor and are worth the few extra dollars over the more stripped down product versions. If you have a few dozen cigars, this is a very elegant and cost-efficient way to store them.

The Capri Glass Top Humidor, is one very nice humidor for not a lot of money. It is actually far better than I imagined at this price point.

The finish is about the same as Bombay Company furniture; that means very nice clean smooth finish over heavy stain on clear wood. Nobody would ever mistake this for a fine furniture finish, but it looks nice all the same. The top has a glass insert that is very heavy. So when you lift the lid, this thing feels very expensive and solid (remember guys love heavy and hydraulic things). The lid seals very tightly so there is virtually no cedar odor outside the humidor. The interior is finished with nice smooth knot free cedar. There is one movable divider.

Included with the humidor, a nice dial hygrometer with brass ring, a humidifier disk, a brass name plate for engraving, and an instruction sheet. Pretty darn simple, exactly what you would expect.

The instructions are excellent and crystal clear. Add one of these, DryMistat HumidiTube Cigar Tube Humidifier, Single Tube, and controlling humidity is almost bullet proof.

For the person with a nice small collection of cigars, or the occaisonal smoker, this is just about the perfect humidor. The humidor is about the total size of three wooden cigar boxes. It is discreet, well made, and a nice size.

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I will start by saying that yes, this is an attractive box to store your smokes in. The glass top is a nice touch. It feels heavy and the lid closes tight with some good weight to it as well. I dont mind having this on display in my living room. Seems to hold about 40 cigars or so. Maybe you could squeeze in 50 if they were a bit smaller gauge. Now there is really only one negative for me. Its a pretty big negative which is why my rating went from a 5 to a 3 star.

The Hygrometer does NOT come attached to the humidor. It comes in a separate little box along with the humidifier. Sounds like no biggie, right? Well I really cant believe noone else has said this, but the Hygrometer doesnt fit properly in the hole in the from of the humdor. It comes with a Magnet for the back of it, but if you try to use the magnet to hold it in place, Ait will not read correctly, BIt does not seal tight or proper. It just kinda hangs there waiting to get bumped so you have to adjust it again. It came with a rubber ring around the base which made it so I could not even push it in the hole in from of the humidor. afer I removed the rubber ring it was simply too loose. wiggling around and not sealed proper, with a cheap magnet holding it in place.

My solution was to Super Glue the hygrometer to the humidor. Now it is in place and not moving around. I think I set it well enough to keep the humidity in pretty good. So now that it is GLUED in place it is totally just for looks. It reads at just over 50% humidity no matter what I do. Bah, whatever. I have a humidity stick in there so i know the cigars are fine, but the hygrometer is usless and a pain in the arse. Really just dissapointing that it did not come already attached to the damn humidor. I would not buy another one. Ill make sure to research better in the future. But it serves its purpose now, and looks attractive enough.

Hope this helps.

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I bought the capri-elegant glass top humidor from Quality Importers for $35.31 after taxes and shipping. Let me say upfront that I consider this a great buy and well worth the money. I was tempted to give the product 5 stars since the price of the humidor more than makes up for the issues I had with the humidor.

This humidor will do a great job keeping your cigars moist and perfect. Your cigar collection's happiness has little to do with the humidor and more to do with the operator of the humidor. For a humidor to be effective it needs to seal tightly enough to create a "mini-climate" tailored to your cigar and this humidor seals nicely (tighter than many humidors I have seen, but not too tight). You will have to "season" the humidor (as the manufacturer recommends and as all websites will tell you), as the wood inside the humidor upon arrival at your house is extremely dry and will absorb moisture in the air until it is no longer drier that the climate it is currently in. Seasoning a humidor is a way to quickly "undryify" the wood inside your humidor. Its more important to season this particular humidor because it is lined with dried Spanish cedar which is drier than other linings you might find in a humidor.

Please read this document below, as it mirrors my opinions about humidors.

Cigar Humidor Myths Exposed:The Good

1. Looks nice at a distance.

2. Larger than I expected.

3. Quality hinge work.

4. Seems to be well assembled (except for the one small issue I had with the sticker on the glass).

The Bad

1. Included brass hygrometer is a pain to get to work. This was the biggest hassle of the product. (a) The needle of the hygrometer was resting against the dial of the hygrometer (which was making it so that the needle couldn't move freely), so I had to pry the back off of the hygrometer and bend the needle so that it floated above the dial. (b) The screw available to calibrate the hygrometer is almost useless. I had to pry off the back of the hygrometer (which isn't and easy task) and hold the needle while I turned the screw, as just turning the screw simply turned the needle and accomplished nothing. (c) The hygrometer comes with a silicon ring/seal which fits around the hygrometer and is used to create a compression seal into the hole drilled into the front of the humidor. This works well, except that the silicon ring/seal was too thick and I had to use a knife to shave it a bit so that the I could push the hygrometer flush into the hole on the front of humidor. Before I shaved bits of silicon off, I could only push the hygrometer in 95% of the way, causing it to stick out a bit.

2. The people that assembled the humidor left a sticker on the glass that said "Tempered Glass". The sticker was partially underneath the wood that encased the glass and was a bit difficult to remove. They should have removed the sticker before installing the glass, or put the sticker in a place that is easier to remove.

3. The finish on the outside of the humidor is not terribly high quality. I am going to use my own furniture wax (I may apply a coat of poly) on the humidor to compensate for that, but, it would be nice if they had applied a few more coats of sealant at the factory.

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After reading all 37 prior reviews of this product, here is what it boiled down to for me as this is my first humidor (Capri-Glasstop). I wanted a cheaper, starter humidor that can hold my stash (11 as of right now, cigars). This has/will do that perfectly. I wanted to wait about a week before I wrote a review so I do have some experience with it. When I got it, it was nicely packed, no damage and the hygrometer came pre-installed, mine fit perfectly without any problem of that rubber seal. Although I did have to take it off to calibrate it with the infamous salt test (as you do with any hygrometer), mine was off by about 10% and I fixed it with a flat-head screwdriver. I put it back in and it looks and works perfectly. As far as the humidor itself, it has good materials, the hinges work well, the box has a nice seal. The only problem is that tempered glass sticker that another reviewer mentioned, it's under the lid and somewhat difficult to take off, but I did so and then used some goo-be-gone to remove the adhesive residue. The humidor doesn't look cheap at all, just remove the QC stickers and the made in china stickers and you'll be left with a very nice looking and functioning humidor. The humidifier seems to be working, I put distilled water in it and no issues with it so far. I had to season the box for about 3-4 days, I did wipe it down lightly with distilled water with no problems, so I think you can do that with this particular humidor. I plan to get another form of humidification such as the beads or a tube, I don't think that the included humidifier will be able to hold the RH for very long without recharges, and I also plan to get a digital hygrometer because they are rumored to be more accurate. The humidifier comes with a magnet so that you can take it out and replace it easily, I originally soaked the whole thing in distilled water before I realized that. Next time, I would consider a humidor that is a little smaller (this is a true desktop humidor) and that doesn't have a glass top, it's pretty, but fingerprint and sunlight prone. The wood divider works well and has a very nice fit. If you're having problems seasoning, let me assure you that it does take a few days, I used the wipe down method and a shot glass of water and the humidifier, the box is very dry (as if should be) when it comes to you in the mail. This humidor deserves 5 stars without a doubt and I only paid $34 for it, what a steal!

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Sharp Plasmacluster Ion Air Purifier with True HEPA Filter

I've tried so many air purifiers due to my allergies but realized how ineffective they were after reading an article about how manufacturers claim it catches 99.7% particles (but don't specify the size of the particles). From the Vornado AQS 500 to the Honeywell, they just didn't help at all and I still found myself relying on Zyrtec and Allegra just to alleviate my headaches.

After a month of using the Sharp FP-A8OU-W I can honestly say this is a really good machine despite the high price. Whenever I feel the my sinuses acting up, I hit the quick clean and my symptoms vanish after 10-15 minutes. It's extremely quiet and has an auto-sensor on how dirty the air is. I thought mine was broken because it was constantly green, but when my cats jumped up on it once it switched over to orange (dirty cats!) which was interesting but it still stayed on low. Regardless, I just hit that quick clean when needed and it goes full blast for about 5-10 minutes or so and reverts back to low which is nice. I don't know if that Ion plasmacluster actually does anything but sound cool but I'm not complaining since this is the only air purifier that actually worked for me.

This is my second one of these. I have pretty bad asthma and have tried out several different purifiers with mixed results. With this purifier, however, there is a noticeable difference in air quality. It is quiet and barely noticeable on the low and mid settings. I like having white noise when I sleep, so I will usually leave it on high at night despite the fact that it is a little loud. It kind of works well for noise cancelation. The plasmacluster ion system does make a kind of clicking/beeping sound, but you can turn it off or on as you wish. The most important thing for me, though, is that it really helps remove dust and other allergens, and it has really helped with my breathing.

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I thought I was going to die when I first got my cats. It turns out I have been highly allergic my whole life and never knew, WHOOPS!

Anyway this keeps the amount of dust and dander to a minimum in my house, which is not only great for me physically, but it also creates a lot less dusting and cleaning for me. It's not FLAWLESS but coming from a house without an air purifier, I would never go back!

This is also really easy to clean, and its super quiet unless you put it on the high settings, but on auto it's like SILENT. I have it in my living room right behind my couch where I watch TV and it never disturbs sound conversations. The only time it get loud is when it needs to be cleaned, and it will only do that for about 10 seconds, all of a sudden you'll hear the fan kick up into high gear and the little red light comes on that it needs to be cleaned, and then it goes back to normal until you get to it.

I really think this thing is great, it's a lot quieter than my Honeywell HHT-081, that thing started knocking about 4 months into it's life. (I still run it, but in the basement away from me) This thing is as quiet as the day it came out of the box and has earned it's right to the living room!

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Amazon did a quick RMA on the first one which worked intermittently. It probably had a circuit board fault.

This unit is in our large bedroom which is carpeted (for now). I suffer from bad allergies to pollen, dust, and molds, resulting in sleepless nights with nasal congestion, drainage, and sneezing.

So far I haven't woken up with congestion since using this machine, but the pollen count has been low. It runs on the low setting which is very quiet, barely audible, and uses only 4.8W (medium is 20W and high 98W). The air in the room always smells fresh and dry, especially when entering.

One thing that applies to all room air purifiers is that you have to keep the doors closed so that it isn't trying to purify the whole house. I open a window sometimes for fresh outdoor air, but I won't do this when the pollen count is high. I might put a spring hinge on the bedroom door to keep it closed.

Along with a routine of clean bed clothes, vacuuming, washing hair in the evening after being outside with lots of pollen, and nasal irrigation with a neti pot at bedtime, this air purifier should really aid in a good nights' sleep.

I'll update this review in the spring when the pollen counts are very high here in northern California.

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We like Sharp's FP-A80UW air purifier. It has "plasmacluster ions" function to reduce germs and odors. The function can be automatically activated by dust sensor. The downside is that there is a noticeable fan noise (but not the irritating noises) when the fan is set at its maximum speed.

Holmes HWF75PDQ-U Wick Humidifier Filter

This filter is just as good as the original. I have been using one of these filters for over 4 months now and there is no evidence of deterioration or mold whatsoever. I will offer two helpful hints to potential consumers: (1) Make sure you use an antibacterial additive in your humidifier every time you refill your reservoirs and (2) Always rotate your filter upside down each time you add water. This will GREATLY increase the lifetime of your filter. Also, the twin pack is a great buy!

For those of you getting only a week or two of usefulness from these filters, on a whim I ran one through my dishwasher using regular detergent and a few dishes. I let it go through the hot dry cycle, but think it might be better to pull it out before that. Some of the plastic screen was distorted, but not badly. The webbing was disturbed a bit but not badly. I put it back in the machine on the next filter change and it has been acting like a brand new one. I have the little humidistat gauge on my unit, so as the filter goes bad it shows up on the gauge. My next test is to see how many times it can survive the DW. Will shorter cycles work? For those with high amounts of calcium in their water vs the manganese I have, maybe some vinegar instead of detergent. And maybe save up 2-3 filters and run a dedicated cycle. Those with aluminum cages on the filters might not like the DW detergents. Try it and add an opinion about it. I do think the engineering of these units where they rely on capillary action to pull water up into the filter is ridiculous. My water doesn't have mold or mineral deposits aside from the orange maganese, it just gets dirty with dust kicked up by our traffic and the dog. The filters do get a brown tinge on the top as they stop working. I'll also get a colorless, odorless bioslime in the reservoir and presumably in the filter. This may be what is being washed out as much as anything. But I'm going with the DW for now, otherwise I would go through 12-15 filters a season. I tried the silver nitrate balls in the reservoir, but they didn't help.

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I don't know what's wrong with these, but they need changed every few days, they will not wick the water!! I'd rather pay a little more & get the better ones. Bought a case of these last year & they lasted no time. Very disappointed!!

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I bought three of the Holmes HWF75 filters and they lasted for less than a month. The top of the filter will dry out and not wick water. I hate to say it but I think they are designed to fail.

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Cheaper option for my humidifier, but the quality isn't as good (sometimes splits apart a bit), and doesn't last as long.

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