During my most recent visit to your
house and workshop, you showed me and the rest of your visitors a gorgeous
humidor that you told us you had made out of “scraps” that you had left
over from other projects. I quickly dubbed it a “scrapador.” The box you
made for me is also a “scrapador,” but that nickname is truly ironic. It is
made of maple burl wood veneer that is over 1/8 inch thick. It puts to
shame every other desktop humidor that I have had. The top is two pieces of
burl that you sawed in half and laid open – creating a mirror image of
gorgeous burl. The grain of the front and sides matches up practically
seamlessly that of the top.
The inside of the humidor is
painstakingly made with ample dividers. It’s substantially and solidly
built. The corners are mitered and joined with a sort of wood peg device.
The seal on this humidor is
perfect. It took me about 8 days to season it, using only a bowl of
distilled water. I have dropped some Climaxx beads into a section of the
box (bound in cheesecloth) to supplement the Diamond Crown credo humidifier
that you supplied with the humidor. It has been holding at a perfect 63-65%
RH since I put some cigars in it.
As of now, I have 25 Vegas Robaina
Unicos, 25 RASS, 25 SLR DC’s, about 20 Cohiba Special Reservas of various
sizes and assorted single sticks stored in it here in my office. And there
is room for more.
Arlin, the fact that you can make a
box this gorgeous and functional out of “scraps” speaks wonders for your
talent, ingenuity and workmanship.
My 31 year old son, who has lived
in Colorado for about 10 years, is spending the winter in this area of
Virginia. He has joined me and others in several poker games, smoking
cigars and showing that he has a discerning taste for them. He turned up
his nose at a young Opus xXx (too strong) and raved about a Cohiba Robusto.
It will be my pleasure to leave my Arlin Liss Scrapador to him in my will.
Like every other piece of yours that I have seen, it is definitely an
heirloom for the generations.
Van
