Spanish Cedar

Scientific Name: Cedrela Odorata

Common uses: Humidors, veneer, instruments, boat building.

Availability: Easily obtainable from lumber yards and lumber retailers.

Finishing characteristics: Can be fuzzy when sanded, this can be corrected by sanding to higher grits.

Special features: Naturally rot-resistant.

If you’ve ever cracked open a cigar humidor or walked into a cigar shop, you’d probably recognize the smell. I’m not talking about cigars either. What you may identify as cigar smell is probably something else entirely ­— Spanish cedar. Most commonly used for cigar humidors, this beautiful wood has many other uses.

A Tropical Hardwood

While the name implies this species is native to Europe, don’t let that fool you. In actuality, C. Odorata grows throughout tropical central and South America, and along the coasts of Africa. And if that’s not enough, Spanish Cedar isn’t actually a cedar either. Instead, it’s technically a hardwood that’s very closely related to mahogany. You can see in the end grain image how closely the subtle grain resembles mahogany.

As the photo above shows, Spanish cedar is often grown in plantations; however, insect outbreaks tend to plague these efforts. When insects can be managed, the cedar plantations do well due to the fact that it’s a fast-growing tree. The trees can add up to 1“ of diameter per year, and up to 7 feet in height. The largest Spanish cedars reach nearly 135 feet. Spanish cedar is a flowering tree, most often flowering at the beginning of the rainy season. Over the next 9 to 10 months, the flower will develop into a seed pod that opens during the following dry season, releasing numerous winged seeds.

As I mentioned earlier, Spanish cedar has become well-known for its use in cigar humidors and cigar packaging—so much so that the tree is often referred to as the “cigar box” tree. The reason that it’s so popular for cigar storage is due to the oils it contains—they tend to complement and enhance the flavor of cigars during storage. In addition, C. Odorata has a very low expansion and contraction ratio. This makes it the perfect wood for use in high-humidity humidors.

Technical Information

The wood of a Spanish Cedar tree is considered to be fairly soft, and light weight. I’ve found the former to be the most noticeable. A cubic foot of Spanish cedar weighs in around 29 pounds. For reference, walnut weighs in right around 38lbs while white pine being in the 25 pound range.

From a hardness standpoint, C. Odorata is only slightly harder than white pine, but less hard than walnut. For you statistic nuts, the Janka hardness is 2,670N, versus 4,490N for Black walnut. A small asterisk here: old-growth trees (naturally grown trees that grew in the forest) tend to be much more dense than plantation grown trees. The stated densities and hardness are averages from plantation grown trees.

Even though there are many plantations growing Cedrela Odorata, it is listed on the CITES Appendix III list. In simple terms, a handful of countries have elected to monitor and self-regulate the harvesting and exporting of Spanish cedar lumber. Contrary to popular belief, this is a good thing. It keeps the species from being over-harvested and becoming endangered.

How to Work with Spanish Cedar

Now, let’s step into the shop. Spanish cedar works well with almost any tooling. The grain is usually straight with slightly interlocked fibers. The low density does tend to lead to a little bit of fuzziness. Sharp tools will help reduce this, but sanding can once again cause a little fuzziness to occur. To reduce the fuzziness, sanding to high grits is often needed. Planing with a sharp hand plane will lead to fluffy, wonderful smelling shavings all over the shop.

As with any wood species, allergic reactions can occur when dust is inhaled, so proper precautions are necessary. Plantation grown trees tend to be younger, and therefore narrower. Most commonly, you’ll find Spanish cedar under 5“ wide. Spanish cedar stains and glues well. One thing to keep an eye on when selecting stock is wind shake or cracking in the middle of a board. When possible, hand pick Spanish cedar. If you don’t have a lumberyard near you that stocks it, many online retailers will carry Spanish cedar (often down to 1/4“ for lining boxes).

Aside from its popularity for humidors, Spanish cedar is also a popular choice for closet lining. (You can use Spanish cedar in place of aromatic red cedar in closets, but don’t use aromatic red cedar in your humidor!) The light weight and resemblance to mahogany makes Spanish cedar the perfect wood for boat building. When dry, it is insect resistant and weathers extremely well. C. Odorata is also a popular choice for musical instruments, in particular guitars.