Racing-Inspired Carbon Fiber Cigar Cases
To the average Joe, carbon fiber isn’t much more than a structural material you’re vaguely familiar with. But to car lovers and engineers, it holds a kind of otherworldly status worth obsessing over. Carbon fiber is ultra-lightweight, yet incredibly strong and durable. It’s the ideal performance-enhancing material, often seen in aerospace or in race cars from NASCAR to F1. Back in 2020, a San Francisco-based group of car enthusiasts wondered if they could leverage the material to create cigar cases. And soon after, that idea became a reality.
The Carbon Fiber Travel Humidor ($599) is made by Carbon Atelier, a company created by Hratch Achadjian, an emerging tech professional from the Bay Area with a deep passion for cars and cigars during the early days of Covid. His uncle, Kevin Dimirjian, also was involved. “While others were baking sourdough, we were "baking" carbon fiber,” says Achadjian. The two began creating products using carbon fiber, including humidors and watch cases.
The travel humidor has a carbon fiber exterior with a Spanish cedar interior. The carbon fiber exterior gives it impressive durability. Keeping with the marvel that is carbon fiber, it’s also very lightweight. The travel humidor has a simple, cylindrical design with a top that can screw on or off. Both ends are finished in Alcantara fabric, which Achadjian says was inspired by racing seats. While it’s described as a humidor, there is no humidification system included with it, so to keep your cigars from drying out you’ll need to throw in a Boveda pack with your smokes.
The stated capacity is six to nine cigars, although depending on the ring gauge, you may be able to fit more than that. It’s roughly nine inches tall and about 3 1/2 inches in diameter, meaning it’s capable of holding just about any cigar, save for “A” sizes or a few of the behemoth cigars currently on the market. The size of this travel humidor is unique, almost a tweener of sorts, somewhere between the usual cigar case and travel humidor sizes. It’s not something you’re going to fit into your suit jacket.
The automotive inspiration is part of the reason for the size—these are meant for vehicles that move. “We rigorously test our travel humidors in various Porsches, BMWs and Mercedes to ensure they fit seamlessly into door cards, cup holders and even golf cart cup holders,” says Achadjian.
Carbon Atelier also sells other products, such as a Carbon FIber Humidor ($1,195) and a Carbon Fiber Travel Watch Safe ($1,895). You can see the full product lineup on their website.
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