What is a smoke sauna (savusauna)? Is it enough for a sauna to smell of smoke? And how do you know it is a genuine smoke sauna?
People have started to take an interest in the smoke sauna, and that makes us happy. In southern Finland, public smoke saunas are a rare treat, and we gladly welcome every newcomer who cherishes this tradition. At the same time, the word smoke sauna has taken on a life of its own. More than once we have come across a "smoke sauna" that is actually a continuously heated wood-fired sauna. Once it was an electric sauna with a tiny firebox where a few sticks could be burned to create a smoky scent.
At that point we had to rub our eyes a little. Is it really okay these days to call any smoky-smelling room a smoke sauna? We think the word matters. When we talk about a smoke sauna, we are talking about a specific way of heating a sauna.
A genuine smoke sauna is heated once
A smoke sauna has no chimney. The stove is heated so that the smoke stays in the steam room and leaves through a small vent hatch (räppänä) or the door. Single heating is the basic principle of the smoke sauna. The stones are heated red-hot so that the soot burns off and the löyly (sauna steam) is clean and long-lasting.
When the heating is done, the fire is allowed to die down and the smoke is aired out. Only then do people go into the sauna. By the time you sit on the benches, nothing is burning in the firebox any more, and the heat comes from the stones and the walls, where it was stored during heating. So how do you recognise a smoke sauna on the spot? One clue is that the sauna has no chimney. Another clue is found on the benches. Nobody adds wood to the firebox in the middle of bathing, because the fire went out before the first bather stepped inside.
There is no shortcut to this result. Heating a smoke sauna is artisan work. The weather affects the draught, and the moisture of the wood affects how the fire burns. Even the quality of the sauna stones matters. Above all, heating takes patience. It starts well before the sauna session, and the bathers only get onto the benches once the work is done. Careful heating shows no mercy, come rain or shine.
Heating a smoke sauna teaches you to wait
You can't rush a smoke sauna. If the stones aren't ready, they aren't ready, even if the bathers are already waiting in the yard with towels under their arms. How much wood goes into the firebox and when the stones are ready is something you learn by heating, time after time. Every sauna is a little different, and you have to get to know your own.
Here in Finland we have a smoke sauna tradition thousands of years old, and it doesn't come from half-hearted solutions. Finnish sauna culture was added to UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage in 2020. International guests who have heard about the Finnish smoke sauna tradition also come to Sipoonjoki. We want to offer them what they have read about.
A continuously heated wood-fired sauna is a fine sauna, and for many an electric sauna is a favourite place to relax. They are, however, different saunas from a smoke sauna. When things are named correctly, bathers know what they are coming to, and nobody has to be disappointed in the yard.
We are proud of this tradition and of the fact that a genuine smoke sauna awaits bathers at Sipoonjoen perinnesauna. The sauna is heated according to principles that are thousands of years old.
The next time you see the words smoke sauna in an advert, you can ask two things. Does the sauna have a chimney? Does the fire burn during bathing? If the answer is yes, it is some other kind of sauna.
You can feel it in the löyly.
Read also: Smoke sauna löyly is something else entirely and Smoke sauna soot and the art of brushing
Frequently asked questions
What is a smoke sauna?
A smoke sauna is a sauna without a chimney. The stove is heated once so that the smoke stays in the steam room, and before bathing the fire goes out and the smoke is aired out.
What is the difference between a smoke sauna and a continuously heated wood-fired sauna?
In a continuously heated sauna, the fire burns in the stove during bathing and the smoke leaves through the chimney. A smoke sauna is heated once, and when you sit on the benches the heat comes from the stones and the walls.
