How to Remove Cigarette Smoke Smell and Pollutants

Cigarette smoke smell and the dangerous pollutants in secondhand smoke can be extremely unpleasant. The health danger is serious, with a study showing one cigarette produces 10-times the amount of dangerous particulates than a diesel car. So how can we remove cigarette smoke smell and the cancer-causing pollutants in it?

Fortunately, there are a couple of simple tools to help you remove cigarette smells and pollutants from your air. Let’s dive in by first looking at what exactly is in cigarette smoke and the two tools to help us rid the smoke from our air.

First: What is in Cigarette Smoke?

If we want to remove cigarette smoke smell and pollutants, we need to know what exactly we are trying to remove. It turns out, cigarette smoke is made up of over 7,000 chemical compounds, with 70 of those compounds known to cause cancer in humans. Around 90% of cigarette smoke is made up of gases, including the carcinogens formaldehyde, N- nitrosodimethylamine and vinyl chloride. The other 10% is composed of solid particles including tar and nicotine.

How to Remove Cigarette Smoke Smell and Pollutants From the Air

To remove both the gases and particles present in cigarette smoke, we will need to use the combination of two tools: a carbon filter and a HEPA filter.

Tool #1: Carbon Filter

An air purifier with a carbon filter will help remove the gases present in cigarette smoke. And since smells are gases, it will also help remove the cigarette smell from your air.

So how well does a carbon filter remove the gases in cigarette smoke? Our tests at Smart Air show our carbon filter significantly reduced dangerous gases in cigarette smoke within minutes of use.

Tool #2: HEPA Filter

Although the carbon filter will help us remove the gases present in cigarette smoke, it will not remove the other 10% of dangerous particulate matter. Unfortunately, this 10% of particulate matter is very dangerous to our health. See why in the video below:

To remove the particulate matter in cigarette smoke, we need a HEPA filter.

Smart Air founder and University of Chicago Professor Thomas Talhelm explaining the benefits of HEPA filters

A HEPA filter will remove over 95% of particulate matter within one pass of a filter. Below you can see our real-world HEPA filter tests for the Sqair air purifier.

Summary: A HEPA + Carbon Filter Air Purifier

To effectively remove both gases and particles present in cigarette smoke, you will need an air purifier that can use both a carbon filter and HEPA filter simultaneously. That is precisely what we designed the Sqair air purifier for.