Prestige Remington Lite 6-Shelf Climate-Controlled Cabinet with Jar Case — Black Oak

Capacity usually costs floor space. This one costs height instead. The Remington Lite 6-Shelf occupies a 25 by 24 inch footprint, the same ground area as Prestige's 1,250-capacity Redford Lite, but stands 72 inches tall and is rated to 2,000 cigars or equivalent storage. In black oak, with a touchscreen climate panel and six LED-lit drawer shelves behind tempered tinted glass, it is aimed at a large home collection, a lounge, or a retail floor with more wall than floor to spare. A Cachet jar case is included.

Who it suits

Well matched to a collector with a genuinely large inventory, and to a lounge or shop needing stock visible without a walk-in. The 2,000 rating covers cigars or equivalent storage, so it serves anyone with a lot of humidity-sensitive material, provided that material wants damp rather than dry conditions. Two cautions: at six feet the top shelf is above eye level for most people, and if you keep a few hundred cigars this is more cabinet than you need.

Climate control

A passive humidor has no means of correction: it absorbs whatever the room does. This cabinet runs dual cooling and heating systems with electronic humidification, so it works toward a set point rather than drifting with the season. At this volume that matters more, not less, since a large mass of stock takes a long time to recover once conditions slip.

• Temperature 41°F–71°F. The 65°F to 70°F band most collectors settle on sits inside the upper part of that span, with plenty of reach below it for anything held cooler.
• Humidity 56%–78%. A conventional 65% to 70% target lands mid-range. The floor is the number to check before buying: 56% relative humidity is as dry as this cabinet goes, so it suits material that needs moisture and will not serve anything that must stay dry.
• Touchscreen digital control panel. Set points are entered directly, which makes repeatable one-degree or one-percent adjustments straightforward.
• De-mist feature. When the interior is cooler and wetter than the room, moisture condenses on the inside of the glass. That is expected behaviour, worst in humid weather or after the door has been open, and on a cabinet this tall it covers a large pane.
• Auxiliary fan. Height is exactly why this matters. Still air stratifies, and six feet of it will read differently at the top shelf than the bottom. The fan keeps the interior mixed so the sensor reading is meaningful throughout, and so no shelf sits wet.

Capacity in the real world

Two thousand is the loose-cigar maximum: ordinary ring gauges, laid across all six shelves and the tray, dividers set wide. In boxes, expect roughly half, and less with deep or oversized boxes, because each one carries dead air above the cigars and boxes will not pack tightly together. Big cabinet-selection sticks cut the number the same way. The layout is six drawer-style shelves on metal slides, one of them a removable tray with two dividers, and three adjustable dividers on each shelf. Those dividers are what make a tall cabinet workable: an unpartitioned half-full drawer turns into a heap the first time you pull it. Removing the tray frees height for taller boxes. Use these as planning figures rather than fixed numbers.

Build and finish

Black oak, plain and squared, which suits a modern lounge or shop fit-out. Trays and shelves are cedar-lined, and cedar earns its place: it takes up and gives back moisture as conditions shift, buffering the interior between humidification cycles, and its oils have long been credited with discouraging tobacco beetle. The door is tempered tinted glass with a heavy-duty seal, and on a door this tall a clean seal and a level carcass matter more, because any rack in the frame shows along the length of the closure. The tint cuts glare, but no ultraviolet rating is published, so keep the cabinet out of direct sun. White LED lighting runs across all six shelves, which is what makes the upper ones genuinely usable, and the metal slides keep the drawers running as the timber takes on humidity.

The included Cachet jar case

Think of the jar case as a quarantine and sampling box that works alongside the cabinet, not as packaging. Four 3 oz glass jars sit in a case with an authentic mahogany exterior and wood interior, and each jar has an adjustable ventilated top.

The adjustable vent is what makes the jars useful rather than ornamental. Closed, a glass jar isolates its contents completely, which is what you want for anything strongly aromatic, since aroma transfers freely between things sharing air and a single pungent item will mark a whole shelf. Opened, the jar exchanges with the case's humidified air, so the contents settle at the case's conditions instead of slowly drying out sealed in. Because the vent adjusts per jar, one box can run four different rates of exchange at once: something isolated, something coming back up to humidity slowly, something you are testing before it joins the cabinet.

Small volumes swing fast. Three ounces of enclosed air holds almost no moisture reserve, so it loses conditions the moment the lid comes off. The clear polymer crystal humidifier is the buffer: the crystals give up moisture when the enclosed air dries and reabsorb it as humidity climbs, doing in miniature what the cedar lining does in the cabinet. A magnetic back fixes it in place rather than letting it tumble among the contents. Internal locking hinges stop the lid opening past its limit, and there is an accessory compartment plus a lock and key set.

Specifications

Setting it up

General practice for a cedar-lined climate cabinet follows. The manufacturer's manual takes precedence for this unit, so read it first.

• Season it before loading. New cedar is dry and will pull moisture from anything stored against it. Season the interior with distilled water only and allow several days for it to settle; a cabinet of this volume takes longer than a small one.
• Distilled or reverse-osmosis water only. Tap water leaves scale that eventually fouls the humidification system. The same applies to the jar case humidifier.
• Placement. Interior wall, out of direct sunlight, clear of radiators, heat vents and A/C exhaust. Leave clearance so the cooling system exhausts freely rather than recirculating its own heat.
• Level footing. At six feet tall this cabinet is unforgiving of an uneven floor: a small tilt at the base becomes a visible gap at the top of the door. Level both axes before loading and check again once full.
• Power. 110/120V, with a 220/240V version available on request.
• Load in stages. Let it hold its set point empty for a few days, then bring stock in gradually rather than all at once.

Delivery

Size and weight put this on a freight service rather than a parcel carrier, so it arrives crated on a pallet via LTL. Freight delivery is normally kerbside, meaning the driver leaves it at the end of the driveway, so arrange help before the day. The 72 inch height is the constraint to check: measure doorways, ceiling clearance on any turn or stairwell, and allow for a crate taller again than the cabinet. Inspect it for damage before signing and record anything you find on the paperwork at the time.

Common questions

Is it too tall to load comfortably?

The top shelf sits above eye level for most people, so you look up into it rather than down onto it. In practice, keep long-term stock high and daily stock at chest height. The shelves pull out like drawers, which makes the upper ones far more workable than fixed shelving.

Can it hold boxes rather than loose cigars?

Yes. The shelves are drawers on metal slides and the dividers adjust to suit. Plan on roughly half the 2,000 rating, though, since boxes carry dead air above the cigars and cannot be packed tight against one another the way loose sticks can.

Does it need plumbing or a drain?

No. Humidification is self-contained and topped up by hand, so all it needs is a power outlet. There is no water line and no condensate drain to route, which is what lets it stand against an ordinary interior wall.

Can it live in a garage or unheated space?

It is designed for conditioned indoor space. In an unheated garage the system runs continuously against ambient temperature, and a heatwave or a freeze can drive the interior beyond the range it can correct. Keep it inside the heated envelope of the building.

Is the tinted glass UV-protective?

The door is tempered tinted glass. The tint reduces visible light and glare, but there is no published ultraviolet rating, so treat it as tinted rather than UV-filtering. Site it away from direct sun regardless, because sunlight through glass adds heat as well as light.