Smoking in your vehicle

There comes a time when you decide that smoking a cigar in your car out weighs the desire to retain that new car smell.

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 smoky 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 (cup holder 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 hope this helps and happy smoking!

~Mark


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good tips, if not raining I open the moonroof and back window that gives a great airflow without the roadnoise.
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I keep a couple of scented fabric softener sheets under the seats. Keeps the car smelling nice and fresh. :-)
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I smoke every day in my pickup n my house they both smell the same, GREAT
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Thanks for the tips Mark! :-)
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Those Bobken ashtrays are the shiznit, Mark! :-)
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Personally, I prefer the stale cigar smell instead of cover-up odors. Something about those things give me a headache. :-)
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Great tips Mark! Now if I only drove somewhere long enough to use them.
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Great tips. I guess I ghettoily (not a word) smoke in my car. I use an empty cup as an ashtray and hold my cigar the hold time (kind a pain)
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You know what they say... once you go Bobken, you never go back.

Here's a LINK, in case you needed to know where to get one, and because I like post-whorin' for cigarmony!!!
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I got one of those coming with my hat. I have just over an hour drive one way for work so it will get plenty of use.
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Buy a car with leather interior. :-)
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great info, thanks for the post!
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Thanks for the info, Mark! I'm just keeping the top off for now, but it's getting cold enough to require a coat.
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I prefer not to have my car smell, gotta make sure it smells nice for the ladies =)
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Ron Burgundy: Brian, I'm gonna be honest with you, that smells like pure gasoline.
Brian Fantana: They've done studies, you know. 60% of the time it works, every time.
Ron Burgundy: That doesn't make sense.
Brian Fantana: Well... Let's go see if we can make this little kitty purr.

I think they are talking about cigar smell :-) .... so you need to get on board the 60percenters
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I know...but I still have that new car smell and I don't want to use chemicals quite yet...I take care of the leather interior =P...it's not a big deal, I can wait what the half hour drive back home to smoke...and those endeavor from Gainesville to Orlando I prefer not to have the windows open at 90MPH
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quit smoking Labrador
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Excellent info Mark.
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Yep sounded good to me - I have a 35 min jaunt to work so why not enjoy a smoke with my coffee on the way in? All was going great for the first 20 min or so .... coffee tasted better, smoke was nice, radio was entertaining .... oops .... f'ing ash all over my white shirt. Lesson learned, can't smoke the same same I do outta the 4 wheeled cage. Gotta dump that ash out the window son!:-)

PS. It looked worse then it was, most blew away once I arrived.
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