The Travel Humi by 363 Cigar Cases - gear review

This is a funny review, you can't buy this box yet, and I am swinging in the dark as to what the company may be named when this box becomes available  All I know about it is that I am taking it to the Smokies with me to "check it out".  It's an  interesting product, in that to a certain extent, if you've seen one you've seen them all.  You have a dense plastic box and foam.  I am so unimpressed with the basics of your typical road box, that I have never used one.  I think they are fine, but to me a plain old cedar box has always been fine and dandy for taking cigars on the road.  Things can get a little 'bangy' near the end of the load and result in some damage if one is not careful.  But it's CEDAR after all, and a fine wood to store cigars in.

And so this box landed on my desk today.  It shows some scratches on the bottom on the outside, but only because it is not a NEW box, but a prototype.  This is a box test and a foam test.  There are 2-3 types of foam available, and I got three 12-cigar sheets and a 'pick and pluck' sheet as a spacer.  I told 363 how many cigars I was taking on my trip, and they sent a spacer to keep my cigars packed in there rather than having a chance of too much movement inside.  That will work out fine.  There is another tray available that features only 7 sticks per sheet, and I actually prefer those, as they are nice and thick and will last a long time, it seems.  These 'dozen cigar' trays to me are a little sparse on the foam and seem to be trying to fit too much on a layer.  But to another smoker, they could be PERFECT, I don't know.  I am not expert in the various elements of the travel box by any means.

You can see the material is a little thin on these trays, maybe ten grooves would be better?  Who knows what this box will feature as a new product.  These again are only a few examples of the sheets that might be featured on a final product.  Likely even combinations would be available.

Its not the padding or the lack of padding that bothers me.  Its the edges, where people likely will lift these, loaded with cigars, to access lower trays.  Seems to me this tray will be torn easily, or end up with a lot of nips in the edges.  

The latches are another feature of this case that will likely work for you.  I am a new owner of a product from Cigar Mechanic, and it's latches tend to be more simplistic, although for cigars, ehh, not sure you NEED a double mechanism, but the case is designed to hold ANYTHING you might have before it is bought by 363 to turn into a cigar product, so I guess the latches are a good measure of quality that is perhaps lost on cigars.                   
  If my stash doesn't end up in the street, though, I guess its a win.   So on Saturday I will pack it with precious cigars on these trays that I have in a humidor now in case they will take up any moisture.  It also gives the trays a chance to air out before giving my cigars a foam chemical aroma or the box imparting a plasticky smell.  And I am not saying there IS a strong aroma at this time.  I just refuse to let them touch my goodies without an airing by default.  My other box aired out in less than a day, so I imagine it will be fine when I leave on Sunday.


So that's the box, I imagine it won't be long before you can buy it at a cigar forum near you.  Let's see if it is better or worse than something you can buy at a big box cigar retailer.  I do understand that sometimes its good to buy from a BOTL, so I think this could be a popular box soon if it does the job...


We'll see next week.

Available through member "363" at the Cigar Asylum and also through bp3six3@yahoo.com and Instagram!