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Spanish cedar supplier?

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Rolledroyce

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I'm looking for about 5m2 of spanish cedar for a humidor that's currently being made. Would anybody know of a competitive and reliable supplier of Spanish cedar in the USA who could ship overseas?
Even better if anybody knew of a supplier of Spanish cedar somewhere in Southern Africa...
Any assistance deeply appreciated.
 

deluxestogie

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Spanish Cedar is neither Spanish nor a cedar. It's a species of mahogany. Surely there are locally available mahogany sources in Namibia. For most commercial mahoganies, the greatest difference (other than color and grain pattern) is density (ultimate weight), when compared to Spanish Cedar. For interior shelving or trays, a neutral wood, such as basswood or poplar would work splendidly.

Bob
 

OldDinosaurWesH

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Bob:

Good call on the "Spanish Cedar". The botany of trees is a challenging endeavor.

We have a tree here in the northwest everyone calls "Cedar" which is actually a Western Red Cedar that you use to make shingles and shakes and fencing. It is not a Cedar but genus Thuja, and Arborvitae. We also have the aromatic Cedar that you use to make cedar chests and cedar closets. Again, this is actually a Lawson's False Cypress tree, a member of the Cupressacea's (the Cypress family). They also have a cedar in Texas that I've only read about that I'm not sure if it is a true cedar. The true Cedars, genus Cedrus, are found in Lebanon, North Africa, and the eastern U.S. King Solomon is said to have built the temple in Jerusalem with Lebanon Cedar. No doubt an expensive proposition in that era. Our most common softwood tree, the Douglas fir, is not a fir at all, but actually in the hemlock family. And on and on.

The Capitol grounds in Sacramento Ca. is a botanical wonder. They have several city blocks of original plantings from 1867 of all manner of both California native and imported tree that you can think of. I'm sure I was boring my friend to death as I went all around the grounds looking at all the different species. Sacramento is one of those places where it almost never freezes, so they can grow just about anything.

Botany is a great subject. Something I enjoy a great deal.

Wes H.

P.S. I have Lawson's False Cypress trees in my back yard. Everyone thinks they are Western Red Cedars because they look so much alike. You can easily tell the difference if you look at the cones they produce.
 

Rolledroyce

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Thank you for the options gentlemen, I'll contact them all and see who's interested in supplying.
Great advice Bob, thank you. I've been considering trying an alternative for years, it would surely cut down a hefty shipping bill! African mahogany just feels way to different from Cedrela Odorata for me to have ever considered taking the risk, the price is also a dissuasive factor... But we have a local tree called Pterocarpus Angolensis, locally called Dolf wood, which could maybe work, it seems to have the same density then Cedrela, though the smell isn't half as aromatic.
 

deluxestogie

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From what I read, Pterocarpus angolensis is also used for canoe building, because it does not warp or swell. That seems like an ideal candidate for a humidor.

Bob
 

larryccf

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a thought occurred to me - UK ought to be a good source with economical postal rates. A few years back, i brought in some items from uk, weight of each package was about 44 lbs, and heavily wrapped in bubble wrap they still looked like a human skelton folded to a compact size. total cost per package was $14.xx - i only remember as it surprised me how inexpensive the postal rate was. I just did a quick google and found spanish cedar on ebay uk, fwiw
 

Dominican56

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Which wood should be used to impart the cedar fragrance in a cigar?

Bob:

Good call on the "Spanish Cedar". The botany of trees is a challenging endeavor.

We have a tree here in the northwest everyone calls "Cedar" which is actually a Western Red Cedar that you use to make shingles and shakes and fencing. It is not a Cedar but genus Thuja, and Arborvitae. We also have the aromatic Cedar that you use to make cedar chests and cedar closets. Again, this is actually a Lawson's False Cypress tree, a member of the Cupressacea's (the Cypress family). They also have a cedar in Texas that I've only read about that I'm not sure if it is a true cedar. The true Cedars, genus Cedrus, are found in Lebanon, North Africa, and the eastern U.S. King Solomon is said to have built the temple in Jerusalem with Lebanon Cedar. No doubt an expensive proposition in that era. Our most common softwood tree, the Douglas fir, is not a fir at all, but actually in the hemlock family. And on and on.

The Capitol grounds in Sacramento Ca. is a botanical wonder. They have several city blocks of original plantings from 1867 of all manner of both California native and imported tree that you can think of. I'm sure I was boring my friend to death as I went all around the grounds looking at all the different species. Sacramento is one of those places where it almost never freezes, so they can grow just about anything.

Botany is a great subject. Something I enjoy a great deal.

Wes H.

P.S. I have Lawson's False Cypress trees in my back yard. Everyone thinks they are Western Red Cedars because they look so much alike. You can easily tell the difference if you look at the cones they produce.
 

OldDinosaurWesH

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Lawson's False Cypress is used for "aromatic" cedar. Also known as Port Orford Cedar. You could probably get this from any lumber place that handles exotic woods.

Wes H.
 

Rolledroyce

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I finally found a supplier not to far from home, in South Africa, it's called rarewoods, in case any African members end up looking for the wood one day.
I owe this piece of valuable information to an American gentleman who sells Spanish cedar on EBAY. Amazing how decent some people can be...I ended up contacting him but the pricing for the amount I need was over my budget, he realized this immediately and suggested I look around locally as (believe it or not!) a lot of Spanish cedar on the market today apparently comes from African plantations, Ghana I believe.
He lost the sale by redirecting me so I could cut a better deal.
His professionalism, friendliness & fast response time made me really feel bad I couldn't order the wood from him! If only all suppliers could be like that. Thinking about it he reminds me of Don:rolleyes:
Anyway, I thought I would add a link to his products because if I was living in the USA, that is the guy I would work with, and who knows, maybe I can send him a few sales to express my gratitude...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Spanish-Ced...251161?hash=item3ab82fea99:g:L8UAAOSweW5VPT8y
 

rainmax

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Aromatic Cedar is not good for any tobacco. I bought it back in last century for one of my first humidors. I was siting in my car with this wood for about 20 minutes and I have two days headache.
Later I tried with some cigars. Bad. Like smoking glass wool if you can imagine...me neither but it was unpleasant experience.
Don't go there...
 
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