Casino’s choose to put “perfume on the pig” (cigarette smoke odor)

The indoor air quality at casinos is often a challenge for gaming facilities that permit cigarette smoking. Some casinos are choosing to treat their indoor air quality by adding scents (perfume) to their indoor air which we refer to as “putting perfume on the pig” Adding perfume to the indoor air already heavy and thick with cigarette smoke does not treat indoor air quality or reduce odor causing agents or high CO2 levels due to occupancy, it just adds a new smell, often on top of other agents and particulates.

The Aerisa team was recently asked to help a casino improve their indoor air quality. Improved indoor air quality creates a cleaner more breathable indoor air environment and gaming consumers spend more time in the facility with their gaming experience. We often work with the Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) team. In a recent meeting one HVAC manager at a casino, he described it this way…

“So for years I would come home at night and smell of cigarette smoke like I spent the day in a bar or bowling ally. My wife asks me to leave my clothing in the garage until she can wash them. Now the Casino decided to add a scent / perfuming system, so now I come home smelling like cigarette smoke and perfume, like I spent the last eight hours in a strip club…”

Another facilities director put it this way;

“ adding a scent to indoor casino air already heavy with cigarette odor, is like having a dirty smelly aquarium and adding food coloring to make the water look prettier…it does not treat the problem , it just tries to mask it with something else”

The word “odor” often has a negative connotation; however an odor is actually any smell in the air. It is the result of molecules floating in the air space and as much as 90% is actually electro statically connected to the room itself. The odor finds a home in carpeting, drapes, walls, furniture and so on. This is what makes treating indoor air quality so challenging when it comes to agents like cigarette odor and even perfume. Traditional methods of “dilution as the solution to pollution” require air exchanges that require energy to pull outside air into the facility while also sending, moving indoor air through various forms of filtration systems to clean the air.

So why do some casinos smell the way they do? The reality is there are metal devices the size of breadboxes attached to the ventilation systems of nearly every Strip resort in Las Vegas releasing scents, often unique to that particular casino.

As we shared with the casino who asked for our help recently, the Aerisa system attacks odors, bacteria, particulates and VOC’s in the air. If a Casino has a perfuming system or adds one after we install our indoor air purification technology, our positive and negative ions do not discriminate. The charged ions will attack the perfume and the cigarette odor.

Is your facility trying to put “perfume on a pig” where you work?

Do you work at a Casino? Does your facility perfume the air? What impact does it have on the breathability of the indoor air?

Reminder, if you add Aerisa technology to attack and destroy odors impacting your indoor air quality. Do not add a perfuming system as our technology will attack any molecules in the air including perfume.