[N2Advnture]

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


.