The computer industry was one of the first industries to establish no-smoking policies. According to Hewlett-Packard: "Cigarette smoke particles are eight times larger than the clearance between disk drive read/write heads and the disk surface." The particulates in smoke especially tar, will embed on and in your equipment, including in the grooves of your vinyl. Why bother being an audiophile if you allow cigarette and cigar smoke to affect the quality of your equipment, which inevitably effects the sound?
Is Smoking Really That Bad For Audio Equipment?
I have my friends over periodically, and some of them smoke. At the moment, I ask them to go outside to have a cigarette because I'm concerned that smoke will be bad for stereo equipment. I don't worry much about the smell because I have hardwood floors and minimal furniture, so there's not much to trap the smell. Does cigarette smoke damage speakers or does it get into audio equipment and leave residue on electrical connections, etc? I am curious whether there have been any incidents where cigarette smoke actually harmed someone's equipment?