Humidor without Spanish Cedar?

I recommend doing the best with what you can get
in local woods and the client will be able to tell how
the humidor was made in Kuwait by a fellow soldier –
believe me the story will be more valuable to your
client and his family than perfect wood choices will
be. He can buy something else when he gets home
if he wants to but he’ll love the thing you made for
him out of what you could get.

I did look this up and wanted to recommend Lebanese
cedar but apparently the smell is considered a bad
thing for humidors. Understand that people in
countries like the USA can be snobbish about materials
due to the availability here of just about anything.

Spanish cedar is not even that exotic or costly. It
is used in guitars and you may be able to procure some
from a luthier in the area. Guitar makers use it because
it has similar stability and stiffness to mahogany but
weighs 20% less.

I may have answered my own question. According to http://education.vigilantinc.com/cigar/humidor-care.php, Mahogany is also a good species of wood to use, and I have access to that as well. Thanks Loren for the input as well. You’re right though. I can only do what I have access to. Thanks for your response..

-- Woodworking for the hobbyist woodworker. http://sawdustking.com

Here in Kabul there is a very active Cigar aficionado club. They give me some of the wooden cigar boxes for my simple projects. In investigating the “Spanish Cedar” I found that what is passed off as CEDAR for the shipping boxes isn’t cedar at all but Mahogany. The wood allows the transfer of moisture well, that is what you want. Many fine humidors are built with hard woods and work well when lined with just the “cigar box” type material. The R/H is what you need to watch, too much, mold, too little, well, you see my point. My feeling isn’t the materials as much as the regulation of humidity. From my archives I will add this web site, good smoke.
http://www.cigartoyz.com/_e/page/1007/Humidor_101.htm

-- A childs smile is payment enough.

There are 2 things that the lining of a humidor MUST repel: 1) Mold, 2) tobacco eating insects. Unfortunately for your situation, Spanish Cedar is the popular choice because it repels both the best while adding an aroma that is appealing to cigar aficionados. Mahogany has characteristics very similar to those of Spanish Cedar, without as strong of an odor.

However, serving in Kuwait, you should have an FPO or APO, right? If so, there are many websites that sell Spanish Cedar in sizes that are great for lining a humidor with. A few that come to mind are www.woodcraft.com and www.rockler.com. You will pay a little more at these websites as they are selling at retail prices, but they ship via USPS Priority Mail and you will see your box in <5 business days. I am stationed in Naples, Italy and have the same problem. So whenever I make a humidor, I order my Cedar from Woodcraft. Just a thought…

-- -- Andy, Naples Italy, “Those who expect to reap the blessings of liberty must undergo the fatigues of supporting it” - Thomas Paine