Is soot dirt? And if it is, why do so many people want to sit in a sooty sauna? Smoke sauna soot raises questions for everyone who steps inside the black walls for the first time.
Our smoke sauna is a rather sooty place. The steam room is underground, and its walls and vaulted ceiling have been darkened by smoke. I have often wondered whether the magic of this underground steam room lies precisely in its sootiness.
On Mondays, the sauna heater's routine includes brushing the ceiling and wall blocks and washing the steam room. It is the everyday life of the sauna that guests usually don't see. The work is simple, and that is exactly why it is calming. The brush moves one block at a time, and the scent of smoke clings to your clothes and follows you all the way home.
Why smoke sauna soot forms
In a smoke sauna, you can't prevent soot from forming. When the fire burns in the firebox and the smoke has no chimney, the soot settles on the ceiling and the walls. It is part of the character of a smoke sauna, just like the scent of smoke. When the cleaning is done regularly, the sauna stays as soot-free as a smoke sauna can possibly be. You can never make it completely free of soot, and I don't think many of our guests would even want that.
For many smoke sauna regulars, a smudge of soot on the elbow or a sooty face after bathing is a familiar sight. In many ways they are part of the experience. The mark washes off, and the memory of the evening stays. For others, the sootiness of a smoke sauna may feel unfamiliar, even unpleasant. That is understandable too. We are used to sparkling clean washrooms, and a black wall can feel strange to a first-timer. At home, soot on the wall would mean something had gone wrong. In a smoke sauna, it tells you the sauna has been heated the way it should be.
A tip for first-timers: there is no need to worry about the soot. It comes off your skin with soap and water, and after a shower you are left mostly with the scent of smoke in your hair. If you don't notice a smudge yourself, a friend will point it out at the latest by the sausage fire. A sooty elbow is like a small keepsake of an evening spent together.
Even so, the allure of the smoke sauna is going strong. The scent of smoke and the atmosphere of the original sauna have kept their appeal for centuries. Could that be why soot doesn't feel like dirt in the sauna? Perhaps it is more a sign of something genuine and timeless.
Soot and the scent of smoke come from the same fire. If you want one, you get the other into the bargain. In an earth sauna (maasauna) this is even more pronounced, as the vaulted ceiling keeps the heat and the scent inside.
Cleaning the smoke sauna and honing the craft
In Finnish, the words for brush (harja) and for honing a skill (harjaantua) sound like relatives, and Monday's work makes them feel that way. The same movement is repeated week after week. The blocks are brushed and the steam room is washed, and the next week the work starts all over again. Guests mostly see only the end result of the brushing: a dark but tidy steam room. The work is never finished. Through repetition you hone your craft, just as the word suggests.
Looking after a smoke sauna has always been part of sauna life, just like heating it. The soot returns to the walls with the very next heating, and that is how it should be.
Either way, the brushing goes on, and our smoke-scented sauna will warm up again this week too.
Read also: What makes a smoke sauna a genuine smoke sauna? and Smoke sauna löyly is something else entirely
Frequently asked questions
Why is a smoke sauna sooty?
A smoke sauna has no chimney, so during heating the smoke stays in the steam room and the soot settles on the ceiling and the walls. Soot formation can't be prevented.
How is the soot in a smoke sauna looked after?
At Sipoonjoen perinnesauna, the ceiling and wall blocks are brushed and the steam room is washed regularly. This keeps the sauna as soot-free as a smoke sauna can be.
