Cigar Smoke Removal
I regularly have customers ask me about how effective a smoke eater can be for removing cigar smoke in their cigar bars, country clubs, lounges or retail outlets where they allow cigar smoking. Many question if a smoke eater unit can be effective enough to remove the smoke and odors to an acceptable level. Some have even commented that they have witnessed systems that do not perform up to par.
An important thing to remember, when you are selecting a smoke removal system for cigar smoke, is that cigar smoke is much more concentrated than cigarette smoke. Cigar smoke contains more particles and more chemical fumes and VOCs (Volitile Organic Compounds) than cigarette smoke.
There are two main things to consider when dealing with cigar smoke:
1. Choosing the Right Smoke Removal Technology
While electrostatic air cleaners work very well for cigarette smoke, most electrostatic units lack enough gas phase media to effectively remove the fumes and odors from cigar smoke. I always recomend a media based air cleaning system or at least a system with several pounds of granulated activated carbon and potassium permanganate.
The Everclear Deluxe HEPA Air Cleaner for example, has 44 pounds of gas phase media blend that is specially formulated to deal with heavy tobaco smoke. Some electrostatic units, such as the SE50 and Smokeeter LS systems do boast a decent ammount of granulated activated carbon, which can help reduce odors and exposure to toxic chemical fumes. Make sure to check and see that there are several pounds before selecting a model.
Many smoke eaters will advertise that they have carbon, some are merely a few grams of carbon embedded into a foam pad, this will not be enough to get the job done!
2. Properly Sizing the Smoke Removal System
Airflow is very important; the best unit in the world will not be effective if it is not delivering enough airflow. I would suggest a little overkill when dealing with cigar or pipe smoke. We use a formula to determine how many CFM (cubic feet per minute) are needed based on the volume of air in a particular establishment.
To do this, first figure out the total volume of air:
length X width X height = cubic feet of air
Next, divide the total cubic feet by 60 (as in 60 minutes in an hour)
The answer is how many CFM are require to do one complete air exchange.
For cigar smoke we like to achieve between 14 and 20 air exchanges per hour, depending on how many smokers and the desired results.
Multiply the number of desired air exchanges per hour, this will be the number of CFM you will need from your smoke eaters.
Below I give an example using a 25′ X 25′ room with 10′ ceilings. I want to achieve 16 air exchanges per hour to deal with my average of 4-5 smokers at a time:
25X25X10= 6,250 cubic feet
6250/60 = 104.167 cfm for one air exchange
104.167 X 16 = 1666.667 CFM
So I will need about 1667 CFM to deal with my smoke problem.
Another thing to consider is that I will want to run the smoke eaters on the medium speed, so that the noise level does not bother my customers. All air cleaners have a CFM rating that is based on the highest and loudest fan speed setting.
For this job, I have chosen the Everclear Deluxe, which has a CFM rating of 1150 on high speed and about 825 on medium. Since I will want to run these on medium, I will need two units, which will deliver about 1650 CFM, which is close enough to my estimated 1666 to get the job done. This also leaves me the ability to turn the units up to high speed, if I am busier than I expect, and still be able to handle the load.
Other things to consider are installation options, electrical requirements and control options.
I hope that today’s post helps people understand what is involved in properly sizing a system, if you have any questions, feel free to give me a call and I’ll be glad to help you determine your airflow requirements.
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Michael Gersh Said,
February 27, 2008 @ 7:03 pm
One thing about the cfm calculation. No smoke eater will have 100% efficiency in air flow. While your calculation in this post shows that two units will clear the 1650 cf 16 times, to actually get 16 clearances you would actually need closer to three units. Now, I am sure that experience shows that two units will clear the test room, the calculation makes an assumption that will always result in overly optimistic results.
If you have, say, a 500 cf room, and let’s say a 500 cfm smoke eater, while you will run 500 cf of air through the unit each minute, some of the air will run through twice, while some will not get from the lower corners to the unit in that minute. That bit of air might get to the unit in the second minute, but the filtered bit will have settled into the corner, and will take another minute of two to get back to the unit. Thus some air will be filtered a few times while some smoke might stay in an eddy in a dead part of the room and not circulate at all.
So, while your calculations show that two units will work, and experience has shown that they work, the actual reason that it works is a bit different from the simple explanation offerred.
bryan Said,
April 2, 2008 @ 6:30 am
im going to build a poker room in my basement about 14 x 20 feet 9 foot ceiling and i want a smoke eater to remove cigar smoke for 12 people if needed i would like to use fresh air and exhaust to outside also room will be ceiled up fairly well to keep as much smoke from going threw home any ideas
randy keller Said,
April 22, 2008 @ 6:57 pm
i have a room that is 21 by 12 and 7 feet high. area for about 4 cigar smokers, i looking for a unit that could be placed in a window or stand alone.. and approx price thats Randy
John Randazzo Said,
June 11, 2008 @ 7:09 pm
This site is great !!! I have a question. My local cigar lounge has two White-Rogers ECD-1500W electronic air cleaners installed, one on each of two floors (the lower level is a 18′x25′ space and the upstairs only slightly larger). For the life of me, I don’t think these things work very well or perhaps weren’t installed correctly. I find my eyes tear to the point of nearly closing when there are more than 5 or 6 smokers on either floor I’m on at the time. Reading some of your material on the operation of electronic vs. carbon filtering I’m wondering are these the right types of units for a cigar lounge ? The theory of op seems to me flawed as the air cannot circulate as prescirbed (out all four sides along the ceiling causing an intake up the unit’s body after ciruclatiing the room) due to obstructions (the walls are lined with humidors on level 1 and upstairs the unit is not mounted in the center of the room due to situation of an existing skylight.
Rather than ramble, I’d like to know your thoughts on air cleaners vs smoke eaters in the setting of a cigar lounge.
thanks in advance…
John R.