tobacco-like smell in stove room

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Nutmeg Warrior

Nutmeg Warrior

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Dec 14, 2012
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Regardless of the wood I am burning, it smells like pipe tobacco in the stove room whenever I have a fire going. I never really smell wood smoke, just this odd tobacco odor. I don't know anyone else with a cat stove so I don't know if this is typical. My friends all have smoke dragons and I will occasionally smell a bit of wood smoke in their stove rooms, but that is all.

I am wondering if anyone else experiences this. It is strange!
 
How old is your home. It could just be that they stored tobacco in your basement to dry.
 
Nutmeg Warrior said:
This possibility had not occurred to me. Stove room is in the basement. Now I will run up the stairs even faster after I switch off the light!
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No need to fear the dead--it's the living you have to watch out for.

However, the smell might be a creosote problem--an acrid odor can "fit" into the tobacco smell receptors of your nasal system. Is it a smoking cigarette smell, or unsmoked tobacco?
 
firebroad said:
No need to fear the dead--it's the living you have to watch out for.

However, the smell might be a creosote problem--an acrid odor can "fit" into the tobacco smell receptors of your nasal system. Is it a smoking cigarette smell, or unsmoked tobacco?
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Too funny.

Yes, it is an acrid smell somewhere in between smoked and unsmoked tobacco if that makes sense. It's as if the tobacco is being superheated without smoking. I wondered if it was creosote but I have no visible buildup in the chimney.
 
A longshot, but you didn't happen to get a new stove? Sometimes the paint/finish can stink for a while.

At any rate, burn it hot--and I mean HOT, without overfiring--and toss in one of those kwikshot sticks just for the heck of it. I am still thinking there is creosote somewhere.
 
firebroad said:
A longshot, but you didn't happen to get a new stove? Sometimes the paint/finish can stink for a while.
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Well, I installed my stove in the Fall of 2012. Is that still considered new?
 
I just noticed you have a catalytic--not sure I know much about them. Wish I could help, but maybe a a smokers cessation excorcism might be appropriate?:)
 
XLarge Dutchwest, that is a mighty heavy unit, See if anyone got trapped underneath it;)
 
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firebroad said:
I just noticed you have a catalytic--not sure I know much about them. Wish I could help, but maybe a a smokers cessation excorcism might be appropriate?:)
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I think it's clear that I have smoking zombie trapped in the system somewhere. Maybe a hot fire will burn it out!
 
Is your chimney masonry or SS class A? I noticed an odor that could be described that way in my masonry chimneys, especially during wet weather, and really bad when I tore them down. Lots of creosote buildup from years past.

With a properly functioning system, you shouldn't smell anything creosote or smoke related. Basement installs can be susceptible to draft issues. Anything else pulling air in the basement? Furnace, dryer, etc? Groundwater infiltration thru the foundation of a masonry chimney could also be a problem. Is there a clean out in the basement?
 
jeff_t said:
Is your chimney masonry or SS class A? I noticed an odor that could be described that way in my masonry chimneys, especially during wet weather, and really bad when I tore them down. Lots of creosote buildup from years past.

With a properly functioning system, you shouldn't smell anything creosote or smoke related. Basement installs can be susceptible to draft issues. Anything else pulling air in the basement? Furnace, dryer, etc? Groundwater infiltration thru the foundation of a masonry chimney could also be a problem. Is there a clean out in the basement?
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SS liner inside masonry chimney. And yes, there is a furnace and dryer in the same area. However, I never have a problem getting the stove to draft when I light it or when I'm reloading. I never smell smoke.
 
Was the chimney cleaned before the liner was installed? Is there a fireplace or just a thimble to the stove?
 
jeff_t said:
Was the chimney cleaned before the liner was installed? Is there a fireplace or just a thimble to the stove?
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Chimney was cleaned, however the liner goes all the way to to the top anyway. Setup is this: rear exit flue to a few feet of horizontal pipe that does a 90 degree turn up the damper and then connects to the liner.
 
Was there a sealed block off plate installed at the bottom of the chimney? Just wondering if maybe the stove is pulling some combustion air down the chimney, outside of the liner. Is there a window near the stove you could crack open?
 
I'm starting the process of removing a unlined chimney that has needed repointing for quite a while. Water is getting in and oozing out further on down the line.
Sort of a creosote/ashtray smell.
I think it's a horrible olfactory assault and can smell it as soon as I walk in the house but others barely notice it.
Over the decades that chimney has been used for wood, then coal, maybe propane, more wood and oil.
 
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billb3 said:
I'm starting the process of removing a unlined chimney that has needed repointing for quite a while. Water is getting in and oozing out further on down the line.
Sort of a creosote/ashtray smell.
I think it's a horrible olfactory assault and can smell it as soon as I walk in the house but others barely notice it.
Over the decades that chimney has been used for wood, then coal, maybe propane, more wood and oil.
Click to expand...

Same situation I had.
 
I wonder if it is not actually the stove itself but the heat drying out something else.
 
Nutmeg Warrior said:
I think it's clear that I have smoking zombie trapped in the system somewhere. Maybe a hot fire will burn it out!
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Yes, hot fires are always good for exorcising the demons out of your chimneys. !!!

As others have suggested, I think your odor is most likely coming from the residual creosote in the masonry part of your chimney. Have you tried sniffing down the exact source?
One possible scenario is as the liner heats up it will warm up the air between the liner and the masonry chimney, normally that warm air would want rise and flow out the top, but if it is sealed up at the top better than the bottom the expanding air might escape out the bottom bringing the smell into the room with it.
If that is the case you could do 2 things, make sure your bottom block off plate is installed and well sealed, and check how tightly the top is sealed, and maybe open it up a crack if it is sealed too tightly.
 
The liner is really crammed in there. The heated steel would be in full contact of the masonry after passing through the damper.
 
You said your stove pipe exits the back of your stove for a couple of feet and then into a 90 that connects to your liner and proceeds up the chimney. Since you specifically say you used a 90 and did not mention using a T - connector to make your 90 degree turn up the chimney it's possible that some creosote could have flaked off your ss liner and fallen down the pipe and gathered in you 90 elbow. It is usually not good when this happens since a pile of creosote so close to the stove where exhaust gasses are hottest can spark a chimney fire. I think that's the main reason T - connectors are usually recommended for this type of installation. Any creosote that flakes off the inside of the liner falls to the bottom of the connector away from the hot exhaust gasses.
 
Nutmeg Warrior said:
The liner is really crammed in there. The heated steel would be in full contact of the masonry after passing through the damper.
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The liner may be in there tight, but if it's a round liner in a square hole then there will be air space. When the air in there heats up and expands it has to go somewhere?
That pipe tobacco is smell is similar to an old creosoted masonry chimney smell, I've smelled it in old fire places many times. That's why it makes sense as being the most likely area where the odor is coming from.
It should be pretty easy to check.
 
Long shot possibility: Could your liner have come in contact with wood framing somewhere and the smell is actually wood scorching around the liner?
 
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