Well most places don't sell pipe cabinets. They do sell humidors if they sell cigars. But there are a couple high end pipe shops, in the UK mostly, that sells pipe cabinets. $300+ a pop. Figured I'd build one.
Also my local cigar/pipe tobacco shop sells cigar boxes for $1. Figured I'd get one of those maybe if I found one good enough to serve as a pipe humidor would be better than $30+ for a wood cigar humidor or for a plastic one.
I can't understand that. How can a plastic box be the same price as a wood box? $30 for a plastic box. You can find acrylic/plastic boxes on eBay and Amazon for a couple bucks. Even food storage containers are less than that.
My girlfriend quit smoking about 30 years ago. I quit cigarettes about 20 years ago. So she doesnt like the smell. I don't like the smell either when I open the pipe box it smells like an old ashtray. But when I'm smoking I actually find the smell of the tobacco pleasant. The ashtray smell, that I can do without.
So I put in some odor eaters and some activated charcoal in a very small, think paper condiment cup size , zip lock container with holes. Wanted to see which was more effective. They both work the same, but the odor eater can be affixed to the top. Not cheap, but you can cut them up, store them in a zip lock, and they last forever. The little container uses the space a pipe can use.
So if you have issues with that ashtray smell, odor eaters are your ticket. I haven't had to change mine for some time. Been a minute. A long minute.
So it sounds like its a bunch of hooey. Truck pipes year round and no cracks, they haven't been shocked and ran away in fear or shattered. So I'll just keep them in my cigar box until the cabinet is done. The dog thinks it's a good idea too.