Air purifier - new age stuff that works?

Check this out. What is it? A bug? A sex toy? No, it is the XJ-800 Silent Ionic Air Purifier For Vehicle.
I was becoming desperate for a solution to get rid of the "OleGeezer" stench in the ManCave. Not that it bothered ME, hell no, but SWMBO hated it with a vengeance. We were almost on the brink of getting into a fight over my right to smoke in my ManCave!

I had pondered aromatic candles but naah, a bit to girly for my tastes and then there was also the risk for a fire accident.

I checked out air purifiers, and was chocked at the kind of money they were asking even for the portable solutions. As I stumbled upon the XJ-800 I first just laughed at the spin:
"The XJ-800 needlepoints produce optimal negative ion levels. Your car can be among the most polluted atmospheres. You and other passengers can spend hours breathing the irritating and polluted air filled with smog, exhaust, pollen, dust, bacteria and other contaminants. With our XJ-800 you can breath air as clean and fresh as waterfall air even in your car. "

Yeah. And a tape recorder with whale song and a crystal mobile swinging from the ceiling I would probably soon be in touch with the inner leprechaun. Something about the pseudo(?)-scientific tone did ring a bell inside my befuddled mind. Ionizing?

I read on:
"Better air improves your health, energy, and mood. At Yosemite Falls, you’ll experience over 100,000 negative Ions per cubic centimeter. On the other hand, the level is far below 100 per cubic centimeter on the Los Angeles freeways during rush hour. With the XJ-800, you can experience air in Yosemite Fall while driving on a rush hour."

Well. I absolutely L-U-R-V running water in a stream, and a waterfall is even better. Might be that the Ions actually are playing a part in that?

"The XJ-800’s uniquely designed electrostatic charged rings efficiently absorb airborne dust, pollen, mold spores, pet dander and cigarette smoke near around."

Cigarette smoke, huh? Might just work on pipe smoke to, no? It cost a ridiculously low sum to order so I went ahead and did it. It arrived only a few days later with an extra Adaptor for a wall outlet, so I plugged it in. There was a slight buzz and I could se some iridescent sparks inside of it! Apparently it was shooting out Ions.

Let it sit in the ManCave over night and went down the next evening. What a shocking difference! It felt the same way it does after lightning has struck in an area and the rain has stopped! Fresh, yay invigorating almost! and the stale smell of old smoke was almost all gone! I could still feel those subtle aromas from the tobacco stored in the man cave but none of that "old geezer" smell!

I rang the guy who ran the website that had sold me the XJ-800 up, and told him. He giggled like a little school girl and said in a ridicoulusly high-pitched voice "Yes, they are quite effective!"
He must have inhaled Ions for a bit too long.

Necessity is the mother of invention

Even though I have sealed off my man cave thoroughly with rubber sealing in the doorway, bought a cataclysmic air purifier and everything, I STILL got complaints from SWMBO about the smell when I had been down there, smoking.
"It reeks as of an old geezer down there" she whined. Well, I thought, but kept my trap shut.

So I decided to do something about it. I had already bought a cheap table top fan, there was a ventilation hole in the wall so all I needed to do was to bring the two together, but how?

On my way bicycling home from work the skies opened and rain poured down so I went into one of those big flowershops just to look around and dry up a bit. Something circular and green in plastic caught my eye. It was a funnel for filling up garden watering cans. The narrow end was split in two so that you could fit the handle in between and still pour water into it.

It was just what I needed to build my new table fan holder ventilation funnel shaft thingamajiggy. I bought it and went home.

In my man cave I cut out a baffle plate from an old cardboard box and fitted it to the split funnel. I then showed the entire contraption into the ventilation hole where I had rigged up some wiring to keep it all in place.

I took a step back and checked it out. It looked like something a speed freak would have dreamt up in a blizzard heatwave. I strapped the fan to it, plugged it in and got most of the air straight back in the face. No good.

I took the whole contraption down again, but changed my mind and put it back up. What this thing needed was some constriction. I took the plastic bag that I had carried the funnel back home in and teared open a bit between the handles so that I could fit it around the fan and funnel without blocking the air intake. Instant success!

Only thing now was that it changed the look into something that had mated with a jellyfish. The plastic bag was immediately blown up and helping constrict the airflow down back into the funnel and it looked really cheap-o.

But it works! Function before form...

One step forward, two steps back

Made an investment in a power file from Black&Decker, hoping it would solve my sanding needs in pipe making. Full of excitement I went ahead with the latest perfectly drilled briar block, a 20 yrs old piece.

I was really happy with the way the drilling had turned out dead center bottom line with this one. I clamped the file in a vice and turned it on. It made a hell of a racket to tell the truth but I strapped on my goggles and started filing away.

Whoosh! there went a good piece of the superfluous wood to the left and Whoosh! to the right. Darned powerful action there, and the Cyclon DID seem to pick up at least 75-80% of the dust.

I did a few more Whoosh!es and too soon i was back to hand filing and sanding to finish off the bowl. I sat for a good hour fixing it up and then decided to take of a bit more of the stem "cause it looked so clunky". Big mistake.

I did a bit of the stem on the bottom and a bit on the top and before I knew it, the tip of the file ate into the wall of the bowl with a very satisfied Whoosh!

I held the bowl to the light and immediately spotted where it had eaten itself in. The area was now glowing with light from the top of the smoking chamber revealing the paper-thin wall that was left...

Ah, well. There's plenty more briar where that came from. I then lifted my eyes to the rest of the ManCave and discovered that 10% of the dust NOT taken care of by the cyclone were hanging in the air or silently setting on every somewhat horizontal plane that existed.

Red briar dust. On the clock, on the lamp, on the carpet, on the drawer, well simply put EVERYWHERE. I sighed.

Sanding problem solved but a bit of practice will be needed. Dust problem remains, at least 10% which is bad enough I found out. Pipe embryo sacrificed, and a new briar needed to start all over again...

Finally got a bamboo!

Scouring eBay for affordable 3-knuckle bamboos I finally struck gold! Mario Grandi must have picked up on my brainwaves when he gave up his usually wild designs to fulfil my search dreams with this virgin bamboo Dublin (or by any means "close" to a Dublin). I made the initial bid and won it!
Wohoo!
It even came with box, a bag and an extra stem! As a fellow SF:er put it, I can now decide "to boo, or not to boo" ;)

New (mini) pipe stand and tobacco jars

Found this on eBay didn't cost a fortune but shipping cost $20 :(