Cigarticle: Building a Herfatorium

February 12, 2007

CW Member Bryan Phillips (Herfin Bigdog) solves a need by building a "Herfatorium"

I Have a Dream!

<No, that's not it...> "I Have the Need. The Need for Speed!" <Crap! That's not it either...> "I have A need!" Yeah, that's it. "I have a need!"

At least that's what I thought when I became a fanatic about cigars. I decided that I was hooked on them in a big way. Big enough to warrant finding a solution to the dilemma of smoking my cigars during the cold, winter months. I had a need. And it has often been said that, "Necessity is the Mother of Invention." Well ... I needed a Mother of an Idea. I needed an outdoor smoking room! I needed a "Herfatorium".

I have constructed things in the past out of junk, or store-bought items when I found a need for something that I couldn't afford or simply did not exist. I knew that if I put my mind to it I could come up with a solution to resolve my dilemma, even if it was merely a temporary solution that would suffice until I could come up with something of a more permanent nature.

I have a front porch that I figured I could eventually enclose with screens and get double-duty from it by using it as a 4-season smoking room as well. You know, that "something of a more permanent nature" that I need. So I put on my thinking cap, the beanie with the propeller on it, and got down to it.

What did I have to work with? My porch is approximately 22 feet long by 8 feet wide. It is enclosed on two sides. The front wall of the house borders the back wall of the porch. The garage wall borders the other side. I only needed to come up with a solution to create a partition for the two opens sides. A 5x5 inch support pole running vertically from floor to ceiling bisects the front of the porch.

The porch and the center pole.

I decided that the pole would be a good location for one of the corners. If I erected a partition that hung across the front of the porch from the side wall to the center pole, and a partition from the center pole straight back to the rear wall, that would create a room roughly half the area of the porch, or a "room" measuring eleven feet by eight feet. This would be more than adequate for a smoking room. Now, how do I keep the heat in, and the cold out? What do I use to construct a partition to make my front porch comfortable enough to support my, ah ... habit?

I needed something that would be easy to move. It had to be easy to store when not in use. That meant it had to be light. Ideally, the solution that I would decide upon would be something that could be stored out of the way somewhere on the porch.

I thought about building walls similar to hinged privacy panels made with a frame of wood, and with sheets of translucent plastic attached to the wood frame to keep the cold out and the heat in. I thought about using window blinds with louvers but dropped that idea, as it would not keep the heat in. Even if it were able to prevent heat from escaping, I would not be able to find blinds large enough or cheap enough for what I was attempting to do.

The bracket, a pulley, and one of the ropes.

The partitions fully extended. You can see the ropes hanging down the inside of the front partition. You can also see snow piled outside the partitions. The pole in the center is the pole that bisects the porch

The window fan and the radiator of the propane heater

The front view. The side view shows billowing because of the window fan

The side view, partitions stored against the ceiling

Then I thought about the type of window blind that is raised and lowered with a cord. It is usually made of thin bamboo or plastic slats and can be drawn up and coiled by pulling on the cord, which runs over two or more pulleys. Releasing the cord lowers the blind. What about it's ability to keep heat from escaping between the slats? I could line the inside with plastic sheeting. Yes. That just might work.

Or, I could do it in a much simpler manner and construct a blind out of the plastic sheeting. I thought that that was an even better idea. But what would I use at the bottom of the plastic blind? And how would I anchor the top of the blind to the ceiling of the porch? I decided that I would use a length of plastic PVC pipe, and tape the edge of the plastic sheet to it, using it as the "roller" at the bottom of the plastic sheet. Wouldn't a piece of PVC pipe work as well for attaching the sheet to the ceiling? Sure! I could simply tape the other edge to the narrower pipe. I just needed to figure out a method to affix the PVC pipe to the ceiling.

I bought a roll of plastic that was 25 feet by 10 feet and 4 mils thick. I cut two pieces of plastic, one for the front, and one for the side. The front sheet of plastic was cut to 11 feet wide by about 10 feet long. The side sheet of plastic was cut to 8 feet wide by 10 feet long. At the bottom of each sheet I taped an appropriate length of 1-1/2 inch diameter PVC pipe to the bottom edge of the plastic. The pipe was 11 feet long for the front partition, and the sidepiece 8 was feet long for the side partition.

I thought the pipe would also work for attaching the top of the plastic to the ceiling. I bought 2 lengths of PVC pipe 1 inch in diameter. I cut two pieces, one piece 11 feet long for the front sheet of plastic, and one piece 8 feet long for the sidepiece. I taped the top edge to the 1inch diameter pipe. I fastened the 1-inch diameter pipes to the ceiling beams with electrical conduit brackets and screws.

With the materials for the wall figured out, along with the hardware to attach the retractable wall to the ceiling, the next step is to figure out how to raise and lower the "wall". A series of ropes and pulleys should do the trick.

Affixing a rope to the pipes attached to the ceiling at three points for each partition should do the trick. One pulley attached to the ceiling for each of the six ropes will allow the ropes to move freely while the partitions are raised and lowered. I attached three pulleys using short pieces of wire to the lengths of pipes on the ceiling. One is attached at the center of each pipe while two more are attached to each pipe about 2 feet from either end of the pipes.

A piece of narrow diameter rope is tied to the pipe at the same positions as the pulleys. The ropes are passed down the "back" side (the side facing out) of the partition and run under the rolled panel, then back to the pulley. The ropes are passed over the pulley wheels and allowed to hang down the inside of the panels.

I now have a viable, working solution to my dilemma of providing a temporary and inexpensive, use-on-demand means to smoke my cigars during the cold, winter months. The means to keep the heat in has been created. But it will not be adequately insulated, and having a readily available heat source is the next step. I bought 2, 1500-watt ceramic space heaters to solve the heat problem. These space heaters will be sufficient for cold temperatures down into the 40s.

However, at some point I figured that the electric heaters would not be able to keep up with temperatures if they dropped below a certain point. I had the foresight to pick up a tabletop, propane heater that I found at a great price to supply auxiliary heat when it is needed. And I have needed it on several occasions when the temperatures dropped into the single digits.

The only concern remaining was the dilemma brought on by solving the cold-weather smoking by installing partitions. That problem was a lack of ventilation inside the Herfatorium. The roll-down walls might help keep the heat in, but they would also keep the smoke and fumes from the propane heater from escaping. Even though I love smoking cigars, I don't like being choked by cigar smoke that is just hanging around. It can be very irritating to the eyes and it can take the enjoyment out of a good cigar.

I needed something that would remove the smoke and fumes without allowing cold air to enter my sanctuary. Then I realized that I had the perfect solution at hand. I had a window fan. One of the walls facing the porch has a window. Using the window fan to blow air from the house into my Herfatorium would accomplish a few things. First, it would blow air from the house into the Herfatorium, adding to the warmth of the room. And second, it would create a positive airflow into the Herfatorium. As air is pushed into the room, air would be forced from the room through small nooks and crevices, taking the smoke and propane fumes with it.

The smoke problem is solved! And so is my need for an outdoor smoking room. My next project will be to enclose the porch with screens to keep insects out during the spring, summer, and fall seasons. Those tiger mosquitoes are aggressive little suckers!

Bryan Phillips (Herfin Bigdog) has been enjoying cigars for about seven years. He truly enjoys helping those that are recent newcomers to the joys of cigars. He takes great pleasure in providing insight to those who are hungry for cigar knowledge. By the time this has been posted, he hopes to have begun working a shift or two in the near-by, recently opened Titan Cigar Shoppe and Lounge. He anticipates that this will be a "fun" job where he will have the opportunity to make new acquaintances with the new patrons.