Prestige Cigar Locker Cabinet — 5,000 Capacity, Dark Cherry | Pre-Order

A locker cabinet solves a different problem than a humidor. It is not there to hold one person's collection at one setting; it is there to give seventeen separate people, or seventeen separate parts of a collection, their own locked space. This dark cherry unit holds up to 5,000 cigars across seventeen compartments, each with its own lock and two keys. It is aimed at cigar lounges running a member locker programme, tobacconists holding customer stock, and collectors who want their inventory partitioned rather than piled.

Who it suits

This is a commercial fixture. If you are a lounge with members who pay for storage, or a retailer holding reserved boxes for regulars, the seventeen-locker layout is the point. A collector who simply wants 1,000 cigars held at one humidity level behind glass is better served by a climate-controlled cabinet, and would be paying here for compartments they do not need. If your locker list is already full, the cabinet is modular.

Humidity and airflow

Be clear on this before you buy: the source specification for this cabinet does not describe an active climate system. There is no stated compressor, no thermoelectric unit, no heating element, no reservoir and no digital controller. What Prestige specifies is an airflow-optimised design intended to distribute humidity evenly through the cabinet, and a built-in A/C outlet with a rear wiring port.

In practice that means humidification is the owner's responsibility. Most operators run an active or passive humidifier sized to the cabinet, or let each member humidify their own locker. Because there is no thermostat, the room sets the temperature — so the room has to be a room you would be comfortable working in, not a stockroom that swings twenty degrees between night and afternoon.

• Airflow-optimised interior design for even humidity distribution across compartments
• No active cooling, heating or humidification system is listed in the manufacturer specification
• Built-in A/C outlet with a rear wiring port, so a powered accessory can be run inside the cabinet and its cord routed out the back
• Seventeen separate compartments, each closing on its own door and lock

Collectors generally aim at roughly 65 to 70 percent RH and a stable room temperature in the mid-sixties Fahrenheit. This cabinet will hold a level you establish; it will not create one for you. Plan the humidification the same way you would plan it for a walk-in.

Capacity in the real world

The 5,000-cigar figure is a whole-cabinet rating and, like every capacity rating in this category, it assumes loose single cigars packed efficiently. Spread across seventeen compartments that is an average of a few hundred cigars per locker, though the fifteen upper lockers and the two lower storage compartments are not the same size.

Boxes change the arithmetic considerably. Dress boxes, slide-lid cabinets and larger cabinet-selection sticks all waste space that loose cigars would fill, and once a compartment is holding boxes rather than singles you should expect it to carry well under half of what the loose rating implies. For a member locker programme this rarely matters — members store boxes, and you size the programme by lockers rented, not by cigars. Treat the 5,000 figure as an upper bound under ideal packing, not a promise.

Build and finish

The cabinet is finished in dark cherry, stands 76 inches tall on a 38 by 18 inch footprint, and is built with heavy-duty hinges — the part that matters most on a cabinet whose doors are opened by many different hands every week. Pulls are chrome, and the overall design is contemporary rather than traditional, so it reads well against a modern lounge interior.

Each of the seventeen compartments has its own lock and ships with two keys, which is the arrangement a locker programme needs: one key for the member, one held by the house. The build is modular, so multiple units can be placed side by side and read as a single run of casework rather than as separate cabinets.

One honest omission: the source specification does not state that the interior is lined with Spanish cedar, and we will not claim it is. Cedar lining is what gives a traditional humidor its aroma buffering and moisture regulation, and if that matters to your programme, confirm the interior material against the manufacturer's spec sheet before ordering.

Specifications

The manufacturer specification supplied to us does not list a shipping weight, a voltage rating, an interior lining material or a shelf count within each locker. Confirm those with the manufacturer's documentation rather than assuming them.

Setting it up

The following is general best practice for a cabinet of this type. The manufacturer's manual is the final word.

• Humidify before loading. An unlined or newly built interior will pull moisture out of the air for the first several days. Bring the cabinet up to your target level and let it hold there before anyone's cigars go in.
• Distilled water only. Whatever humidification device you or your members use, fill it with distilled or reverse-osmosis water. Tap water carries minerals that clog the medium and can seed mould.
• Placement. An interior wall, out of direct sunlight and away from radiators, vents and heat-producing equipment. Sunlight on a locker door will heat that compartment while the rest of the cabinet stays cool, which is exactly the unevenness the airflow design is meant to avoid.
• Level it. At 76 inches tall, small variations in the floor become visible at the top and can stop seventeen doors from closing squarely on their locks. Level the cabinet before you hand out keys.
• Power. The built-in A/C outlet and rear wiring port let you run a light or a humidifier inside the cabinet with the cord exiting at the back. Check the rating on the unit itself before plugging anything into it — a voltage figure is not given in the specification we hold.
• Load gradually. Let the interior stabilise, then fill lockers over a few days rather than all at once, watching that the humidity holds as the load increases.

Delivery

At 76 inches tall and 38 inches wide, this cabinet ships by freight, on a pallet, and is handled as an LTL shipment rather than by parcel carrier. Kerbside delivery is the norm for freight of this size, which means the carrier brings it to the end of the truck and no further. Arrange help and a route in advance.

Measure before it arrives. Check doorway widths against the 38 inch width, and check that the 76 inch height clears any stairwell turn, low soffit or lift ceiling on the path to its final position. Inspect the crate for damage before signing the delivery receipt — noting damage at the point of signature is far easier than raising it afterwards.

Common questions

Is this a climate-controlled humidor?

No. The specification describes an airflow-optimised design for even humidity distribution, but no cooling, heating or humidification system. You supply humidification and the surrounding room supplies the temperature. If you need thermostatic control, look at a climate-controlled cabinet instead.

Can members store whole boxes in a locker?

Yes, and most will. Boxes are the usual unit for locker programmes. Just expect boxed storage to consume space far faster than loose cigars, so the practical per-locker count sits well below what the 5,000 whole-cabinet rating suggests.

How many keys come with each locker?

Two per locker, across all seventeen compartments. For a member programme that normally means one key issued to the member and one retained by the house, though how you administer that is up to you.

Can I run two or three of these together?

The cabinet is built to be modular, so units can be placed together for a continuous look. Allow for the combined width when planning the wall, and level each unit individually so the door lines match across the run.

Does it need plumbing or a drain?

No. There is no plumbing connection in the specification. Any humidification you add is refilled by hand with distilled water, on whatever interval that device and your local conditions require.

Will it hold up in an unheated back room?

Not well. With no heating or cooling of its own, the cabinet tracks the room. A garage or unheated storeroom that swings widely between day and night will push cigars through repeated expansion and contraction. Keep it in conditioned space.