Smoking in your car

[n2advnture]

As a cigar smoker (16+ years for me), there comes a time when you decide that smoking a cigar in your car out weighs the desire to retain that new car smell. Like many areas in life, cigars win – LOL!

I am the guy that drives everywhere, averaging about 26,000 miles a year on my vehicles so when I bought my last SUV a few years ago, I developed a process to prevent my truck from getting that stale smokey smell from my cigar enjoyment during my 1 hour commute and long trips during the motorcycle racing season.

Non smokers have commented that they would never had known that I smoke cigars (and cigarettes) daily in my truck.

1.) Crack the driver's window (obviously)

2.) Open the "fresh air" vent (not the recirculating vent) and turn it on low

3.) Turn the vent adjustment so the fresh air is flowing into your floor board (the typical symbol is the towards the feet on the controls)

4.) Smoke away :-)

A couple of tips here are:

1.) Pick up some "rain guards" that fit your vehicle. These allow you to crack the widow without rain coming in. The are great for creating a dead air space that allows you to easily flick your ash out the window without it blowing back in your vehicle.

2.) If you don't want the rain guards, use the dead space created by the driver's side mirror.

3.) Use a cigar Bobken (cupholder ashtray) – Car ashtrays are so tiny now that cigars never seem to fit them. I guess that's why most people put change in them.

Simple right?

Well it gets more involved since smoking the vehicle isn't the real problem. The problem exists afterwards when you have that stale smoke smell in your vehicle. Here is a list of tips for cleaning.

Clean all your windows with a vinegar based cleaner like Windex. This will remove the smoke residue on your windows which greatly contributes to the stale smell.

Wipe down all the hard surfaces in the interior with a 6 parts to 1 mixture of Woolite and warm water. You can even lightly spray this on the head liner and wipe it down with a soft towel.

The hardest and most important part is cleaning the seats – especially if you have a cloth interior. After each drive where I smoke, I spray with Fabreeze. Then once every week or two, I sprinkle baking soda based carpet deodorizing on the seats and floor. I usually do this whenever I am getting my car cleaned.

Many of the newer vehicles have a carbon cabin filter. Replace this every 3 months. They usually run about $25 but it's worth as most of the air in your car runs through this device.

3 times a year I steam clean my interior. I bought a Bissell hand held steam cleaner for under $100 and it works very well. I use it to clean the seats, carpet, floor mats, headliner and door panels.

While this seems incredibly involved, you quickly get used to the procedure and it's really not as bad as it sounds.

With the recent discovery of the Pureayre product, I expect the procedure to be greatly reduced and with better results. Instead of using Fabreeze (which contains tons of chemicals), I plan on using the Pureayre in it's place. I also intend on cleaning the vehicle's vent system by applying the Pureayre directly into the engine's air intake while running the fresh air vents.

Hope this translates well and happy smoking my friends!

~Mark

[Da Klugs]

Mark - very cool.

Do you offer a service to perform these activities? (My cars stink)

[n2advnture]

Originally Posted by Da Klugs

Do you offer a service to perform these activities? (My cars stink)

ROFLMAO! ...5 minutes in that humi maybe

Get one of your lackies to do it for you! Then just "maintain" with the PureAyre

~M

[Robb01]

Great Post. You touched on another of my hobbies, auto detailing. The woolite/water mix is unbeatable for light cleaning and even removes quite a fair number of stains.

[mike32312]

thanks for the info Mark. I took smoke in my car. Heck why have a convertible if you can't enjoy it the way you want. Great cleaning tips. I'll give them a try. Heck give me 1 minute in Dave's humidor is all I need.

[Mr.Maduro]

Another one that I will print out and keep handy!!

You are chock-full of cigar info!!

Thanks.

Maybe this should be in a newbie sticky? Along with your other post about refining your palate. JMHO.

[Wombat]

Thanks for the tips. I spend about 3 hours a day in my car, so yes, I do smoke in it!

[PUFFNMO]

Another good strategy is to open the sun roof, if your car has one, while enjoying the stogie. Smoke tends to go straight up, and a good 80-90% will drift out the open top. Larry.

[Aielo]

Very good and detailed. I'm lucky to have a leather interior so the smoke doesn't cling that well. When I smoke in my car, sometimes it's just sitting in my car and not going anywhere, I just open up all the windows and sunroof. Febreze works well, but there is another Febreze-like product that works just as good and smells fruitier, the name escapes me.

[Ironfreak]

I can't smoke in my truck anymore. It was starting to take on the 'old man house' smell..

Not that I have anything against old men here.. (Even though I have heard that OLD GUYS SUCK!!)

[ToddziLLa]

Great post Mark! My truck has very little cloth on the interior so I am lucky! Another tip I picked up awhile ago is to simply put a drier sheet or two under each one of your seats to help out with the smell. I have the vent visors too and they are great!

[Simon Templar]

Good tips man...I just recently started smoking gars in the car. May have to pick up carpet cleaner to get the smell out.

[monsoon]

Great tips. I smoke so much that I just take it as a given, that anywhere I am is gunna stink of me.

[RockyP]

Originally Posted by n2advnture

As a cigar smoker (16+ years for me), there comes a time when you decide that smoking a cigar in your car out weighs the desire to retain that new car smell. Like many areas in life, cigars win – LOL!

I am the guy that drives everywhere, averaging about 26,000 miles a year on my vehicles so when I bought my last SUV a few years ago, I developed a process to prevent my truck from getting that stale smokey smell from my cigar enjoyment during my 1 hour commute and long trips during the motorcycle racing season.

Non smokers have commented that they would never had known that I smoke cigars (and cigarettes) daily in my truck.

1.) Crack the driver's window (obviously)

2.) Open the "fresh air" vent (not the recirculating vent) and turn it on low

3.) Turn the vent adjustment so the fresh air is flowing into your floor board (the typical symbol is the towards the feet on the controls)

4.) Smoke away :-)

A couple of tips here are:

1.) Pick up some "rain guards" that fit your vehicle. These allow you to crack the widow without rain coming in. The are great for creating a dead air space that allows you to easily flick your ash out the window without it blowing back in your vehicle.

2.) If you don't want the rain guards, use the dead space created by the driver's side mirror.

3.) Use a cigar Bobken (cupholder ashtray) – Car ashtrays are so tiny now that cigars never seem to fit them. I guess that's why most people put change in them.

Simple right?

Well it gets more involved since smoking the vehicle isn't the real problem. The problem exists afterwards when you have that stale smoke smell in your vehicle. Here is a list of tips for cleaning.

Clean all your windows with a vinegar based cleaner like Windex. This will remove the smoke residue on your windows which greatly contributes to the stale smell.

Wipe down all the hard surfaces in the interior with a 6 parts to 1 mixture of Woolite and warm water. You can even lightly spray this on the head liner and wipe it down with a soft towel.

The hardest and most important part is cleaning the seats – especially if you have a cloth interior. After each drive where I smoke, I spray with Fabreeze. Then once every week or two, I sprinkle baking soda based carpet deodorizing on the seats and floor. I usually do this whenever I am getting my car cleaned.

Many of the newer vehicles have a carbon cabin filter. Replace this every 3 months. They usually run about $25 but it's worth as most of the air in your car runs through this device.

3 times a year I steam clean my interior. I bought a Bissell hand held steam cleaner for under $100 and it works very well. I use it to clean the seats, carpet, floor mats, headliner and door panels.

While this seems incredibly involved, you quickly get used to the procedure and it's really not as bad as it sounds.

With the recent discovery of the Pureayre product, I expect the procedure to be greatly reduced and with better results. Instead of using Fabreeze (which contains tons of chemicals), I plan on using the Pureayre in it's place. I also intend on cleaning the vehicle's vent system by applying the Pureayre directly into the engine's air intake while running the fresh air vents.

Hope this translates well and happy smoking my friends!

~Mark

nice review. never thought that we could make smoking in our cars into a sience

[kheffelf]

Thanks for the advice, I had my first smoke in the car yesterday. I picked up the bobken and that thing works really well.