Smoking cigars in the lab - how to

[TAMHAN]

Hello Folks,
first of all, this thread is not a joke, even though I am sure we will get a lot of  and  in the process. I openly admit that cigar smoking is one of the few sources of decadence in my life which I enjoy. And I am not going to stop.

I might finally get my new lab this year or next year. Now, my question is - I dont really want to go out to a club or someplace to smoke while I would rather like to  and  . Sadly, smoking next to equipment really sucks - my HP 8753C, bought at mates rates actually had black SOOT in the PSU and it is a bitch to clean and stinks like a holy skunk.

Now I was thinking about ideas to allow me to light up a smoke while puttering around the lab, while not making repair of my equipment totally disgusting. Possible ideas I had was to make the lab "high pressure", aka to blow in air behind the devices with two air condition units and a fan and to suck it out via a fan mounted in the door.

Of course, I am open to criticism and ideas.

[TAMHAN]

Sorry to ask stupid, but you mean the things in the kitchen?

[TAMHAN]

Sorry to ask stupid, but you mean the things in the kitchen?

The thing that gets rid of your solder flux fume. Smoke on your soldering bench only and away from your test gear bench.

What gets rid of my solder flux fume? Nothing, it stays where it is. Seriously.

[CJay]

I gave up smoking over 14 years ago and some of my old radio kit still smells of tobacco so whatever solution you do end up with make sure it's a good one.

Decent airflow has to be the thing, fortunately it's fairly easy to see if your extraction system is working because you have a handy supply of smoke to watch, make sure to clean the filters and don't put the extractor near an easily stained surface because it'll suffer.

I've been told that ionisers do a good job of pulling tobacco smoke out of the air as well and my experience of them is that they do collect a *lot* of airborne dust/particles so it might be worth investigating that option too, maybe build one into an extractor?

[IanMacdonald]

In one place we serviced video gear from pubs. That was enough to put you off smoking. No need for a conformal coat, they acquired one in use.

[Kalvin]

Use nicotine chewing gum, tablets - or e-cigars if you need to keep you hands busy. You will get the active compound but it will better for your lungs than plain old smoking. Nicotine will still have some health issues though, and the e-cigars may have still some more unknown health issues compared to plain nicotine due to the vaporization process. But if you really want need to keep the old habit and need some nicotine, just try to minimize the hazards.

[bd139]

I cleaned my grandfather's house out when he died. He was a pipe and cigar smoker for 50 years in that place.

The best advice apart from giving the dirty habit up is to do it outside and wear gloves when you do it. Then burn the gloves.

Absolutely no amount of cleaning will get rid of it. I've tried everything from detergents to industrial solvents (right up to toluene) and you're fighting a losing battle. To get his place in a saleable condition, we stripped every carpet and surface down and redecorated it. We did this in large plastic disposable suits like you see coroners wearing in TV shows, filling two skips with everything that was exposed. Only then did we discover underneath the smell of nicotine, the cat piss soaked floor boards.

[TAMHAN]

Use nicotine chewing gum, tablets - or e-cigars if you need to keep you hands busy. You will get the active compound but it will better for your lungs than plain old smoking. Nicotine will still have some health issues though, and the e-cigars may have still some more unknown health issues compared to plain nicotine due to the vaporization process. But if you really want need to keep the old habit and need some nicotine, just try to minimize the hazards.

Nah, I am smoking for the taste. Not cigarettes, real cigars...

[Zero999]

Use nicotine chewing gum, tablets - or e-cigars if you need to keep you hands busy. You will get the active compound but it will better for your lungs than plain old smoking. Nicotine will still have some health issues though, and the e-cigars may have still some more unknown health issues compared to plain nicotine due to the vaporization process. But if you really want need to keep the old habit and need some nicotine, just try to minimize the hazards.

Nicotine itself is no more harmful than caffeine. With smoking it's heat and compounds given off by pyrolysis of the organic material in the cigar/cigarette, which causes the damage. One could smoke dried lettuce leaves and still be exposed to a similar range of carcinogens found in cigar smoke.

E-cigars are more risky than plain nicotine, because they're weakly regulated and the glycol can cause some respiratory irritation, but the toxic chemicals due to pyrolysis are not present, so the risk is several orders of magnitude lower, than smoking.

Use nicotine chewing gum, tablets - or e-cigars if you need to keep you hands busy. You will get the active compound but it will better for your lungs than plain old smoking. Nicotine will still have some health issues though, and the e-cigars may have still some more unknown health issues compared to plain nicotine due to the vaporization process. But if you really want need to keep the old habit and need some nicotine, just try to minimize the hazards.

Nah, I am smoking for the taste. Not cigarettes, real cigars...

There are cigar flavoured ecigs but I would expect they're not the same.

You can use a good fume extractor, but I suspect that won't prevent all of the smoke from gumming up your equipment. Sorry for being a killjoy but I wouldn't recommend smoking in a lab or any workplace, which is also illegal in some countries. Obviously if it's your own private property and your hobby, then the anti-smoking police can't get you.

[taydin]

A very powerful fume extractor (yes, like the ones in kitchens) that is placed at the center of the ceiling would be the best place i think. All smoke would be attracted to the ceiling center and will be less likely to get in contact with cabinets, shelves etc. But it really needs to suck

You would get the best suction if you use a powerful centrifugal fan with no filter in front. But you probably want a check valve somewhere so that when the fan is off, cold air from the outside doesn't flow in.

[TAMHAN]

Hello Folks,
thank you so much. The idea with the big sucker at the top of the room sounds workable.

Now I need to finish collecting me green...will take a few months at min, but Ill keep you posted...

Thanks again, and enjoy your smoke!
Tam

[tggzzz]

Nicotine itself is no more harmful than caffeine.

The plants make nicotine because it is an insecticide. It works by paralysing the insects.

In humans cilia in the bronchia and lungs sweep dust and fluids out of the lungs and into the digestive tract. Too much dust/fluids in the bronchia invokes the cough reflex.

Nicotine temporarily paralyses the cilia, thus suppressing the coughing. That was put to "good" effect in the 1930s by doctors, who prescribed cigarettes to reduce coughing fits.

[Cerebus]

The plants make nicotine because it is an insecticide. It works by paralysing the insects.

In humans cilia in the bronchia and lungs sweep dust and fluids out of the lungs and into the digestive tract. Too much dust/fluids in the bronchia invokes the cough reflex.

Nicotine temporarily paralyses the cilia, thus suppressing the coughing. That was put to "good" effect in the 1930s by doctors, who prescribed cigarettes to reduce coughing fits.

Nicotine does not paralyse pulmonary cilia, it actually stimulates them to beat faster.

[tggzzz]

The plants make nicotine because it is an insecticide. It works by paralysing the insects.

In humans cilia in the bronchia and lungs sweep dust and fluids out of the lungs and into the digestive tract. Too much dust/fluids in the bronchia invokes the cough reflex.

Nicotine temporarily paralyses the cilia, thus suppressing the coughing. That was put to "good" effect in the 1930s by doctors, who prescribed cigarettes to reduce coughing fits.

Nicotine does not paralyse pulmonary cilia, it actually stimulates them to beat faster.

Interesting; it looks like you are right. This is a definite difference from when I last looked at the topic, back in the 70s. Of course then info was hard to obtain and the few available resources might have been wrong - or perhaps more info has become available in the last 40 years.

Either way, smoking does stop the cilia, nicotine is an insecticide, and at very high doses it "dampen neuronal activity", and 500mg will inhibit breathing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5003586/

If I ever receive a piece of equipment that stinks because a previous owner smoked, I'll reject it as contaminated and unfit for purpose. I feared that was about to happen when I picked up a 7 decade KVD from a house (the smoke hit the back of my throat), but fortunately it had been stored in an external garage cupboard.

[james_s]

In one place we serviced video gear from pubs. That was enough to put you off smoking. No need for a conformal coat, they acquired one in use.

I've worked on gear that was from those environments, or homes of heavy smokers. In more than one instance I ran entire monitors through the dishwasher after removing the cover just to get all that disgusting sticky gunk off the insides before I worked on them. Sounds crazy but it actually worked in most of the cases and the equipment did work fine after I repaired it. Disgusting as it is, I'm not going to rip on anyone for smoking, it's their body and their choice, but something to extract the smoke from the room is definitely a good investment.

[Terry01]

You need 2 fans Neeb.

Both hooked up to some wavicoil leading outside so you have straight through access to fresh air. Have 1 pulling fresh air in from outside and one pulling rank air out from inside so you have a continuous ventilation system. Have them at opposite ends of your lab. Depending how big your lab will be will determine how large your fans need to be.
It's not that difficult to do and won't cost you too much ££££s either!
You'll be able to enjoy your cigars and have a constant supply of fresh air and no smoke settling on your equipment making it stink. 

[Zero999]

Either way, smoking does stop the cilia, nicotine is an insecticide, and at very high doses it "dampen neuronal activity", and 500mg will inhibit breathing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5003586/

Caffeine serves exactly the same purpose as nicotine: it acts as an insecticide. As with any drug, high doses can kill. It's not that easy to overdose on nicotine or caffeine, unless one takes them in pill form.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine#Natural_occurrence
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine#Overdose

[iwtommo]

Perhaps one of those window mounted in-glass extractor fans? Couple that with an hacked together ozone generator (the cheap ebay ones did nothing to keep my uni room smell free, definitely build your own)  and you have 'fresh' air coming in and the smelly stuff being sucked out?