Aristocrat THC owners, I need to hear from you...

[PTownshend]

Hey gang,
After reading about how amazing these wonderful THC cabinets are, and having some expendable income, I'm just about to pull the trigger. Before I do, however, I always like to hear from satisfied customers to get the skinny on the ins and outs of dealing with Bob S. and the process of ordering these exceptional humidor cabinets.

I live in a Western NY suburb of Buffalo, and the room that this unit will be housed in is the warmest of the whole house. During the summer, and even with air conditioning set at 73, it still gets toasty warm in this room. Can anyone tell me if they noticed any extravagant change in their electric bills with what I'd believe to be a constant running of the THC unit to keep the cabinet at its proper temp/rh. ?

Also, what is the usual wait time for constructing and shipping the Aristocrat Plus THC w/Crown Molding? Who does Bob S. use to ship the item (especially to the Northeast)?

I'm sure I might be overlooking other important questions, so anyone who owns an Aristocrat THC humidor please feel free to spare no detail in your experiences, from soup to nuts!

Thanks for reading and sharing your experiences!
Warmest regards,
Darren

GO SABRES!!

 

[wtrfwler1]

Mine is not temp controlled so I really can't answer that question. But as for the shipping , mine came in on Watkins freight . One of my concerns when I was talking to Bob was damage during shipping. Bob said that he hardly ever has a problem, and after mine got here I can see why. It was packed inside a heavy duty cardboard box/container with big foam strips all inside the box. Then it was strapped onto a pallet. Short of someone dropping it off the back of a truck or running the forklift through it, it would be hard to get damaged.

As far as wait time, Bob told me about six weeks and if I remember right it was more like seven.

You WILL NOT be disappointed at all in your purchase or you dealings with Bob, he is a great guy, as many have said here before.

Robby

 

[tfire136]

While I don't have a THC unit I did just recently purchase an M+ from Bob. I was one of the unfortunate souls who had a forklift punch the box and put a pretty bad crack in the door. the funny thing about it was the crack did not make itself known until I opened the door (after the FedEx guy left). It turned out to be a very small hairline crack that tore apart once the door was opened. The whole door was pretty messed up and Bob had Fed Ex come out and pick the humidor up and had it fixed and back on the road to me in no time. He was fantastic to deal with!! The people who will deliver the humidor to you will be FedEx Freight who recently bought out Watkins Motor. I believe there is a FedEx facility off of Kenmore Avenue in Buffalo (I grew up in the Town of Tonawanda so I am very familiar with the area) and they would just deliver it to you from there. I discussed the THC unit with Bob and while he would have loved to sell me one he actually recommended a non-THC unit for my purposes. The only advice I would give you is to check and double check the humidor once it arrives. I thought I checked the unit over well once it arrived but did not open the doors which is where my problem actually was. You can't go wrong with an Aristocrat.....it is the finest piece of furniture I own. My whole point is to not worry about damage because if for some reason it does show up damaged Bob will stand by his work 100%. Hope this helps!!

 

[LouieD]

I got my M Plus THC a couple weeks after Christmas. The cooling units don't run as frequently this time of the year as they will in the summer months and it will depend upon how many times a day you want to open the beautiful unit and stare at your collection. For the first week, I must have opened the doors 6 times a day !!! Once the cigars have reached your set-point temperature, I don't believe it will take that much energy to keep them there because the M Plus units have a lot of insulation. My cooling units come on maybe once every 3 hours; although, I haven't actually timed it. They are certainly are not running an excessive amount of time.

My unit was shipped by Watkins who decided to give it a ride to California before delivering it to me in Carmel, NY. As wtrfwler1 said, the packaging is so substantial that the shipper would have to hit the box with the forklift or drop it off the truck to damage it.

I was fortunate enough to get to visit Bob in his shop in Dallas before my M Plus was built. He is just a great guy. He stayed late so that I could get to his place and spent almost two hours talking with me.

It took about 8 weeks from the time I ordered to getting delivery. Not an unreasonable amount of time once you see the craftsmanship of these units. I got mine done in Walnut with a utility drawer in the top.

Let us know what you decide to order. You won't be disappointed.

Darren, PM me if you want to have a conversation and I'll send you my phone number.

 

[PTownshend]

Gents, thanks so much for your feedback. Its been most helpful. I will be pulling the trigger by next week!

THC for sure! When it gets toasty warm in my back room, I fear for my cigars!! Gotta keep em cooler!

Thanks again,
Darren :thumbs:

 

[ucla695]

I've had my THC for about 15 months now and have nothing but good things to say about it. Bob was very helpful when I ordered it. I had tons of questions and he was happy to answer all of them. Top notch service. It only took a little over 6 weeks from the time I ordered it until it landed at my place.

As far as the shipping is concerned, he used Watkins and it arrived packaged very well.

I haven’t really noticed any difference in my electric bill. I’d guess it uses as much or less than my fridge.

The one thing that I wish I had done was buy a bigger unit!

Anyway, enjoy.

 

[PTownshend]

Hey UCLA, which Aristocrat did you get? Does it have 2 Peltiers running in it? and what is the ambient temperature in your room? I'm thinking about the Aristocrat THC Plus.

Thanks,
Darren

 

[ucla695]

Hey UCLA, which Aristocrat did you get? Does it have 2 Peltiers running in it? and what is the ambient temperature in your room? I'm thinking about the Aristocrat THC Plus.

I have the Aristocrat THC and I believe it has one Peltier. Nothing special. It has a black walnut finish, raised door panel and full extension shelf. I usually keep the AC in my place locked at 74 degrees during the year, although, during the winter, the temps in the room tend to be around 70-71. The cooling unit in the cabinet doesn't cycle on that much (maybe every hour/hour and half). If I were doing it over again, I'd definitely buy a bigger unit.

 

[BlindedByScience]

Darren - I have no hands on experience to relate, but after talking with many guys I put my money down a couple of weeks ago and am "in the queue" for a custom THC to fit an existing space I have here. Mine will be a tall, vertical unit with three pelts and some extra fans to help the cabinet maintain even humidity and temp. Bob suggested the third pelt due to the size of the unit. We don't have AC here, but where we live in the PacNW it only gets really warm for a few weeks out of the year. Another thing about the PacNW is that it almost always cools off at night after a hot day. Bob thinks I should be able to maintain a 20F delta in temperature so that should take care of things nicely.

Bob and I started swapping e-mail of and on before the first of the year and you'd be hard pressed to find a nicer, more knowledgeable guy to work with. Of course I'm very much looking forward to a functional, beautiful piece of furniture later this year.

Cheers - B.B.S.

 

[PSU OpusX]

I can't speak for the THC but I have the M cabinet and it i believe it's the best decision I ever made. Bob is one of those guys that after you get done speaking with him for the first time, you feel as if you've known each other forever. A great guy, very informative and unbelievable craftsmanship. Any humidor that Bob will build for you will be a great addition.

 

[PTownshend]

Ok, I'm set. I will be going with Bob S and company and have him custom build an Aristocrat Plus THC. I'll start the email process with Bob in figuring the best configuration of Peltier devices (the room my cabinet will be in is facing West, so in the summer the sun sets and toasts the back of the house pretty good - usually to 74 degrees - so I'll see what Bob suggests that I do). edited to note that my A/C is usually set to 73, but the second floor back room where this unit will be does not get the full amount of A/C required to keep it at the target temp.

Thanks so much to all of you who have helped make my decision that much clearer.

Time to pull the trigger
Darren

GO SABRES!!!