Smoke sauna

October 13, 2007 

The smoke sauna is where the sauna story begins. Back in the day, saunas were smoke saunas. They did not have chimneys, not unlike regular buildings of that time. In a smoke sauna you have a fire in the stove, heating the stones on top of it. There are many-many more stones in a smoke sauna, as they need to store more heat. Once the stones are heated, the fire is put out.

The smoke is vented out of the room and the sauna is ready to be used. The heated stones have an immense amount of heat stored in them - you can throw leili in the morning of the next day. The sauna can stay warm for days from a single heating.

The majority of the smoke will be ventilated out, the door closed and the experience can start. The traditional smoke sauna is highly valued my avid sauna-goers, as the best form of sauna.

In 973, Ibrahim ibn Jakub visited the court of the german emperor Otto I in Merseburg. He also visited the saunas of Slavs and wrote "they build a wooden chamber, the cracks of which the stuff with moss. Into the corner of the chamber, they build a stove from stones and leave a hole into the roof above it, so smoke can escape. Once the stove has been heated, they stuff the smoke hole and close the door. Everyone has a bundle of hay that they swing around, so air would move and that they use to rub their body. It opens their pores and sweat pours like streams along their body."

The fact that there are written records from that old times is mind-boggling. Amazingly there are even older ones. For example that of Herodotos from the 6^th century BC. He described, how some tribes rolled hot stones into small tents, where they went to sweat. As with so much, our ancestors had already discovered the good and pleasurable.