Is anyone aware of any trick to avoid nicotine patches on the walls and gear of a smokers studio (or any other room for that matter) ?

Please avoid answers like "air purifiers, qitting smoking, humidifiers and similar"
It has to be something simple and cheap, like some kind of "special" candles, a cloth that will attract/collect the smoke... or something like that ?!?

Cheers from an avid pipe smoker

 

SmokeBuddy. Its essentially a handheld carbon scrubber. Or what some people have called a 'spoof'.

But for an avid pipe smoker, there is nothing to stop the smoke off the pipe or a cigarette. But the carbon scrubber will help the majority of smoke, which is inhaled.

 

Tried many things. Never found an answer. Ionizers, so-called purifiers, air-con etc. etc. etc. It's a losing battle. They lessen but don't entirely eliminate the deposit of smoke particles.

The wife is a pipe smoker and I enjoy the aroma. Used to be a cigar fanatic, myself, but likewise found the tar and nicotine stains bothersome. Nothing that I've tried keeps the residue of burning tobacco off walls, ceiling, flooring and equipment.

I switched to vaping. It's been a while. "Dual-fuelled" for months; that is, alternated between tobacco and e-juice. By now, I just vape. No more cigars. The missus got her first e-pipe a couple of weeks ago. Looks like a traditional pipe, feels like a traditional pipe and smokes nothing like a pipe. It's not a substitute but an alternative. Neither her gadgets nor any of mine combust. Thus, we're enjoying a bonus of no more nictoine/tar stains, or stale smoke. I can't say that I'm any healthier for ditching the 'bacco but my cleaning cloths no longer turn orange when I wipe down the kit.

 

I don't know if this falls into you not wanting quitting advice since its kinda a half quit, but vaping e-cigarettes has been a great alternative for me.

The issue with smoking is the tar that gets produced. I believe that most gear will handle the residue fine but ones that do not are microphones since they are built with such small tolerances. For condensers and ribbons which have incredibly thin diaphragms will have their weight altered causing their motion to be restricted resulting in less top end response. I don't think it would be as big of an issue with dynamic mics.

 

Smoke is the quickest way to lessen the value of your gear. I used the E-Cigs to quit too and its the best thing I ever did. I gotta say just the money saved alone was worth it not to mention the obvious health reasons.

 

seriously just go outside, protect your gear.

 

Like MYCbeats and The Iceman suggested. Vaping is the way to go.
You will notice a big difference and improvement in your breathing and in your wallet. It's also cleaner for you studio and gear.

 

Thanks guys, but quitting is not an option... there is nothing better after a session with my friends, than lighting a pipe, relax and listen to what we recorded.
On top of that, all my band buddyes smoke and the so called "studio" acts also as a practise room.
Very often we spend the night there, playing, smoking, having a good time amongst us...

Devaluing the gear is not a problem, since all the instruments, except the guitars are covered with blankets when we don`t play; but having to repaint the room every 2-3 Years is a f*#king nightmare...
The guitars looks actually very cool with the tar "patina" on the bindings, pickguards and pickups so that doesn`t bother me... the mixer and the speakers require a bit of attention tho, a weekly cleaning with a dump cloth and a soft brush for the speakers.
But that is a 5 minutes job, and I am used to do it... wipe the mixer, piano, brush the speakers, check the tuning of the instruments, fill the pipe... it all gets done untill the amp tubes warm up.
...but the walls...

 

Last edited: Oct 12, 2015

Like "The Iceman" said before - the best way is to start vaping e-cig. I'm doing this since about half a year and also stopped smoking completely after vaping about 2 weeks.
The best is: there isn't any bad cigarette smell anymore and when it's cold, you don't have to smoke outside. Just take your e-cig and take a vape.


If you decide to try it, don't hesitate to ask me. I can help you getting the perfect e-cigarette and e-liquid/juice
that fits your needs.

greetings, r4e

edit:
There are also several e-pipes available on which you can use the clearomizer of your choice
(the part where the juice gets vaporized).

 

Last edited: Oct 12, 2015

I'm a former smoker. I won't tell you to quit, as I know how incredibly annoying and unproductive that is. But here's the truth about damage to studio electronics from smoke:

Years ago, before my time, ashtrays were built right into larger mixing desks. Smoke is smoke and it affected electronics back then, but today's electronics are far more susceptible to smoke damage. The difference between the '70s and today is the miniaturization of circuit components. It's the 'tar' in smoke, not nicotine, that causes the damage. It affects electronics in two ways: A) the tar coating restricts cooling and B) tar is electrically conductive, causing arcing. The miniaturization of circuit components means heat is focused into smaller areas with less surface area to dissipate it, making a tar coating a bigger problem. It also means PCB traces and component leads are closer together (by an order of magnitudes), making arcing from tar an even bigger problem. Also, '70s analog operated at whatever-ish volts (I'm somewhat exaggerating and oversimplifying that), but 'digital' operates at 5vdc exactly. The first sign of a tar buildup problem in a '70s desk may have been channel bleed or fader level jumping. The first sign in a 2015 desk may be no audio and 'ERROR 91745319' flashing on the LCD, which the manual translates to: 'Contact a certified technician'.

If I read your post correctly, you and your friends smoke heavily in your gear room / practice space. I understand that and I'm not looking down at you for it. For me, adding any form of alcohol meant I doubled or tripled my smoking.

So... will it affect your guitar? Aside from the patina you mentioned, no. Will it affect your amps, digital devices, or computer with its cooling fans blowing tar across every sub-miniature component and heatsink inside? Yes, eventually. I didn't include tape, tape heads, microphone diaphragms or other things in my examples, but of course those are concerns as well. The more exposed a component is, the more susceptible it will be, but generally easier to clean also.

 

There are a lot of chinese microphones out there today with harsh high ends. Maybe an easy mod would be to envite tobacco smoking friends over for a gathering. Set the mics up and just, smoke. Goodbye harsh, hello lovely.

On another harsh side note, my cig smoking step father just died a horrible, sensless and painful death by asphixiation on Friday. I wasn't there but it was described to me as cruelty incarnate The cancer killed him dispite his quitting 12 years earlier, but I 'm not saying to quit! Sorry, gotta run to catch a plane to a funeral.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Oct 12, 2015

Just smoke outside, that's what I do since I moved. I dont smoke in the (home) studio nor in the house, only in the terrace. As a result I smoke much less without even notice. And the whole place smells better.

 

Sounds to me Rhodes, like you just want a bit of sympathy! The advice to switch to vaping e-cigs is excellent (5-year vaper here). And you will not stop spending all-nighters smoking in the studio and then you complain about the result of that? Eh? You even find it funny to have to clean stuff? Eh? Your original post was serious and you got good, sincere advice from people who spent their time replying to you. And all along, you did not intend to do anything about your problem. Like I said, you know what the solution is, and you just want a bit of sympathy

 

did you e-vap users know that you are becoming the next enemy of the states?
governments, specially in europe, are desperate, trying to find the nano- loop hole, the tiniest piece of law, that would let them forbid the usage of those e-cigars.
i remember watching the 20h french news, an avid smoker was saying that he used to spend around 300 euros or more, on cigarettes, and with the e-vap thing, 35-40 euros per month were more than enough.

when we know the governments grab like 85-90% of each marlboro or philip morris... and in europe, that's almost 6-7 euros each... that makes some really easy billions.

i have my theory of conspiracy:
one day, someone will grab 1 million e-vap, they will add 100 toxic-cancerous products to it, will close all the packs, will put everything inside a big cargo-ship, that will come from China... they will then stop the cargo... because "they think there are some illegal stuff there, thanks to 007 agent", and, surprise, they will find the million e-vaps.
of course, they will send some samples to an "independent" lab, and they will show their results to the world... and will claim all those e-vaps were made with "bad" ingredients, in some hidden labs, in north korea or china.

and suddenly, all the governments, who, so far, had ZERO legal bases to try to stop, or slow down the expansion and success of the e-vap, have now ENOUGH material to make some laws... and make those e-vaps forbidden.

so here is how the e-vap will finish and vanish, guys. because otherwise, how could the forbid something that is 100000 times more health-friendly than the cigarette...

also, the french reporter was saying that the cigarette costs every year around 12 billions euros, with all the deaths, health issues, cancers, etc etc. VS 16 billion euros they make with direct taxes. crazy, huh ?

with the e-cigarette, we have the final proof those governments don't give a fuck about the citizens, and we are just little ants who grow up, study, start working and pay taxes until we have one foot inside the grave.
hundreds millions people die with cancers, have other health issues during decades, until they die, + many many other issues related to the usage of the cigarette, with the billions and billions it cost to the insurance companies...
and with the e-cigarette, the whole world has a chance to change all that, "all" that destroy so many people and families,
but NO. all the governments want is people to go back, or never stop buying those boxes of "free cancers".
if they have to choose : healing 1 million people from dying from cancer, or making another 50 millions with taxes... we can be sure that million people will die, because governments only care about those cute easy taxes.

i frankly HOPE and DESIRE every single smoker in the world will stop the classic cigarette and will move to the e-cigarette. prices will drop even further, people will save tons of cash they will then have, to be able to go on holidays with the wife and kids, or to buy some nice hardware or software for making music.
and NO MORE LUNG CANCERS.

 

I was traveling last summer and went to different countries and I was surprised that vaping was illegal in some countries claiming it could be used for drugs. Luckily, I managed either sneak my vaping kits in or the guys that searched my luggage were kind and understanding after I had to explain to them what it was.

They are scaring people away saying it's more dangerous than regular cigarettes.

On the topic of saving money. If you know how to build the coils for your whatever kind tank, atomizer, etc. and know to make your own e-liquid, you will spend $45-50 US dollars every 8-9 months. This way is even safer because you know what you're vaping.
In this case, Amazon is your friend. They have all the supplies needed or even sometimes your local grocery store does.

 

I used to LOVE to smoke while writing music in the studio. When I gave up I actually had to stop all music for a few months as it was a huge "trigger". My brain had associated jamming music with smoking. For months afterwards I still had an unlit cig in my mouth while staring at cubase!
My Studio always stank of cigs because I could never open the window otherwise the noise would piss off the neighbours!

You could try fitting a very powerful extraction fan directly above the control area and funnel the smoke out. Only it will make a noise and probably look ugly unless you chuck $$$'s at it.

 

wouala woualouf,
the governments can do what they want. Alot of vapers bought liters of liquid to vape the next 10 years or so
and atm it's still legal to buy a liquid base with lets say 72mg nicotine/ml for about 50€/liter. I vape with
3mg/ml so I can mix that liter with 72mg into 24 liters of "ready to vape" liquid using vg and pg which i can buy
in local stores for about 4€/liter. With that amount i can vape until the end of life when I store it in the fridge.
I also have a friend who is pharmaceutical chemist and he is able to mix my personal base for me with food flavours
and nicotine for free and to be sure - the only thing that can really get forbidden are the liquids.

retroboy,
If you vape an e-cig, you won't get unproductive because of associations. You are able to breath something that
looks and kida feels like real smoke (if you do it right with a good e-cig) and you get your
nicotine BUT it won't smell like hell afterwards and your gear stays untouched and clean.

Rhodes
If you really don't want to try vaping/stop smoking, you also could try a downdraft extractor for extracting cooking odors and stuff like that from steam/air. After smoking you are able to simply push a button and the extractor hides.

Like this:

or this

You can see the functionality in this example very good:

 

what a fucking stupid question??? I write a new post ; pissing in studio !

 

Why even vape? Nicotine just enslaves your psyche and controls your behavior to satisfy it's lust to dominate your body and mind, and it does so brilliantly.That's really it's sole purpose. It grabs you with it's barbed wire tentacles and does not willingly or easily let you be free of it's influence. One can rationalize till the cows come home and cite recent studies and literature that proffers and would taught medical use for conditions such as Parkinson's disease, Tourette's Syndrome and others on the horizon, but unless you are afflicted by any of these horrible situations, stay away from it else you become inflicted by it's own diseased, mind altering bidding. Before you started smoking or vaping, did you have an addiction to nicotine that needed constant nurture else you would be out literally of your mind when you had no access? Of course not, logically. The only thing besides being a bit of a thinking stimulus (that could easily be replaced by many other healthy or healthier substances) is it's obvious and insidious cycle of addiction that puts you through the ringer and literally controls your behavior, not on a day to day basis, but for some even a minute by minute dictate, enslaving you, controlling all aspects of your behavior as to make yourself available to it's selfish needs and not of your true own self. I should know as a tobacco smoker for 40 years and have personally understood the agony of quitting the nicotine addiction. Even now after the nearly 5 years that I haven't smoked, just writing about makes me want to light one up. Fucking nicotine and the fucking train it came in on. The only real way to grok this to view it from the freedom side. Then and only then will you be able to see the forest from the trees. It can be soooooooo bloody hard to stop because of the physical, emotional and social fabric that it weaves, but it is well worth the effort to once again be a person free from it's torturous and crippling bullshit.

 

@superliquidsunshine: Heartfelt condolences to you for the terrible news about your father. So sorry to hear about that, brah.

Loved the advice regarding a practical method of conditioning sibilant Chinese mics. Sounds to me like the perfect conditioning treatment for the bl**dy terrible speaking stick that SWMBO uses. Much more humane than extracting her front teeth with some rusty old pliers - and I get to stop tearing out my hair every time she uses it.