Gareth Williams - 23 Jan 2025

Using an air purifier to eliminate smoke

There’s no two ways about it: cigarette smoke is one of the world’s most stubborn smells, and also one of the most disgusting. 🚬

And, while we’re on the subject, other types of smoke aren’t great either. Vape smells, cannabis smells, pipe tobacco smoke… even the rather nicer wood smoke isn’t something you want lingering in your home when the chimney has a mad moment.

Whether you’re moving into a property formerly owned by a smoker, or you’re plagued by a neighbour’s smoke drifting in, you might be considering using an air purifier to get rid of smoke and improve air quality. Let’s look at how effective that is, and whether there’s a better way of doing it.

Do air purifiers work on cigarette smells?

Air purifiers are great for a great many things. They’re very effective at removing airborne dust and other allergens (like pollen – hay fever sufferers take note) from the air. They’re just the thing for tackling pathogens and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), if those are something you’ve given any thought to.

Essentially, for anything that’s a particle, an air purifier is what you want. An air purifier will pluck pesky particles out of the air and trap them in a filter, resulting in cleaner air and therefore better air quality.

Air purifiers with a HEPA filter will do this particularly well. Short for High Efficient Particulate Arrestor (some people prefer Absorber, but each to their own), a HEPA filter is best-in-class when it comes to dealing with problem particles.

The thing is, smells aren’t particles. They’re molecules, and we detect them as smells due to the chemical interactions in our nervous systems. Even a HEPA filter can’t trap molecules – they’re just too tiny.

All that to say bad news: the average air purifier won’t remove bad smells. ☹️

If you’ve got a cigarette smoke problem on your hands, it’s back to the drawing board. Or is it?

Getting rid of cigarette smells 🚬

You don’t have to be a smoker, or have one in your life, to be looking for ways to get rid of cigarette smoke.

Chances are you’ve just rented or bought a house that was smoked in by the previous occupant. Or perhaps you live in a flat where the downstairs neighbour is a chain smoker, and the smell is coming up through the bathroom ventilation system.

Either way, it’s not nice, especially when it’s no fault of your own. And let’s face it, lighting a scented candle to disguise the smell just won’t cut it. 🕯️

A quick Google search reveals that the internet is awash with well-meaning “advice” on how to banish the stench of ciggies. 

The recommendations range from “washing your walls with vinegar” to “having a trained technician run an ozone generator for a few hours, then close the house for two days” (!)

None of which sound that helpful. Or practical.

Enter the Smell Away®. This clever device works just like an air purifier, sucking in air from the room and plucking out particles such as airborne dust, dirt, pathogens and VOCs.

But here’s the thing. It has an active charcoal filter, and that means it can handle bad smells as well as particles.

In other words, it’s dual purpose: air purifier and smell remover all in one.

Household smells are no match for the Smell Away®. As well as removing stubborn cigarette smells, it will also tackle everything from the lingering smell of last night’s curry to the stench of the dead mouse the cat kindly left behind the sofa a week ago.

On top of that, it has all the benefits of an air purifier, making it a great choice if you’re also affected by air quality issues. Perhaps you live in a city, and have traffic pollution to contend with. Or maybe you’re a hayfever sufferer but live somewhere where the surrounding trees chuck out pollen at a rate of knots.

Either way, this is the thing to buy if you want better air quality AND a home that smells good.

The best air purifier for cigarette smoke

To summarise, the average HEPA-filtered air purifier won’t banish the smell of cigarettes and other types of smoke from your home. For that, you need an air purifier with a carbon filter, like the Smell Away®, which uses an active charcoal filter to trap pesky smells – all while cleaning the air of all the other nasties that degrade air quality. Can’t ask for more than that.

Want to say goodbye to cigarette smells once and for all? ➡️ Find out more