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TOBACCO BUSINESS INTERNATIONAL
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015
W
hen Mark Blanton of The
Humidor Store describes
the business his family
started back in 1968 he can’t help but
marvel at its evolution over the years.
The biggest change came about in
1993 when a customer approached the
Blantons about building a humidor for
him. “We said, ‘What’s a humidor?’”
recalls Blanton. “Well, we made a lot
of jewelry boxes in the beginning, but
once we learned about it we started
making tabletop humidors.”
Over the years both the business and
its products grew bigger and bigger.
The company went from a builder
of custom cabinets with a sideline
in personal humidors to a builder of
commercial walk-in and full-store
humidors.
But what makes The Humidor Store
most unique is the company’s approach
to its craft, explains Blanton, who has
since learned pretty much everything
there is to know about cigar storage
during the past two decades. “People
would call asking about how to build
a humidor in their stores and I would
explain it over the phone or sometimes
even go to the site,” he says. “Dad
finally said, ‘Why don’t we just build
them a portable walk-in humidor?’”
TheAdvantagesofModular
The result was a modular “Lego-like”
system that can be built to order at
the company’s headquarters in Tampa,
Florida and shipped anywhere in the
world. Customers can custom order to
the exact specifications of their store,
then expand the humidor by ordering
extra pieces down the line. “You lose
Humming Along at
The Humidor Store
Once a cabinet-
manufacturing company,
this family-owned and
-operated business now
makes customized
humidors for retailers
around the globe.
By Jennifer Gelfand
Mark Blanton