Elie Bleu Emblem Collection Humidor — Padouk - 110 Cigars

Elie Bleu Emblem Collection Humidor — Padouk

There are few woods as immediately arresting as padouk freshly worked. The vivid orange-red of African padouk — Pterocarpus soyauxii, harvested in the equatorial forests of Central and West Africa — is not a stain or a finish but the wood's natural pigment, present in the grain itself and visible from across a room. Elie Bleu's Emblem Collection places that color within the framework of its logo-inspired veneer geometry: the panel arrangement derived from the brand's diamond emblem, the grain flowing continuously from the lid to the sides of the humidor in a pattern that carries the logo's form into the construction of the object.

Padouk / The African Grain

Padouk's visual character evolves. In its initial state, freshly cut and varnished, the color is almost impossibly vibrant — a reddish-orange that reads as lit from within. Over time, exposure to light and air mellows it: the orange gives way to a deep reddish-amber and eventually to a warm, rich reddish-brown. The progression is gradual and the final color is no less beautiful than the starting point — different, darker, more settled. A padouk humidor aged a decade is a different object visually from the same piece new, and the change is part of what makes the wood interesting as a long-term companion. The grain is straight to interlocked, with a medium texture that takes the Elie Bleu varnish cleanly.

The Emblem / Construction

Inside, the Faubourg Saint-Antoine standard: Spanish cedar lining throughout, two humidifiers for even humidification across the 110-cigar capacity, an analog needle hygrometer, two removable cedar dividers. Lock and key closure. Eight coats of fine varnish over the padouk exterior — protecting the wood's natural pigment and allowing the grain to remain visible at its full depth. The Emblem Collection is regular production.

Now available at The Tobacconist of Greenwich.