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An award winning large smoke sauna experience
Recommended
by the international Smoke Sauna Club
To get this award winning Finnish smoke sauna experience, Tomi,
Rosa and I are invited to the Huikanhovi farm for a smoke sauna in
Vesilahti.
Around our smoke sauna experience
It
is August, a bright and clear summer day at 6.30 pm as we arrive at the
Huikanhovi farm. Only a five minutes drive along a well kept dirt road
about 30 kilometers from Tampere. The ambient temperature is 70 degrees
Fahrenheit or 20 degrees celcius.
It is a short 400 meter walk down to the lakeside smoke sauna. Along
the path we see a gas grill for cooking out.
First - The warming of the smoke sauna - The same
day around 7 am morning
The smoke
sauna is warming -Opposite of lake view
Smoke escapes
out the top vent during warm up
The wheelbarrow with some half part Alder, half Pine. To give
it a nice aroma he may of added a piece
juniper. A few wheelbarrow loads will do the trick for the warming. No
need to add too much wood. This smoke sauna is more efficient than the
finnish electric or wood sauna.
Each piece of split wood for using in the smoke sauna stove is one
meter in length.
Making room for adding new wood into the stove.
After
all the batches of wood have been added it is good practice to remove
the remains of the burnt debri including the cinder since they may
cause the sauna to smell funny. - Plus for health reasons - avoid
poisonous gases from being in the sauna like carbon-monoxide.
Important tip
for the construction of smoke sauna stoves. Build the
stone stoves s high as possible. 80 centmeters or higher is
better! Why? The object here is that the burning flames should not
touch the stones inside the stove. That keeps the smoke to a minimum
and the aromas from the wood to a maximum.
A three storey smoke
sauna.
Top
left and right are vents, and on the window level there are
vents. (not shown). Plexiglas windows show where the changing
rooms are.
The changing room is on the lakes side. The side we are looking at now.
The changing room uses the whole space of the inside.
-Let's look at the second level more close in the next picture.-
The foundation -concrete blocks. In the bottom level there is storage
for hot and cold water, and extra changing rooms if needed.
Getting the best smoke sauna experience we can...the kids and I go right into the sauna room,observing the
rule of silence as we enter into the hot room. 
Right
picture: The kids are going into the hot room from the changing room.
Since
this sauna won an award in 1998 as being the best smoke sauna in
Finland, based on different criteria. A characteristic of a suitable
sauna design is that there is a seperate changing drying, or cooling
off area. This sauna's got it.
Notice
above the door where the darkened area is. You can see vertical lines
of thin dark streaks, extending from block to block. Inbetween the
streaks is where the chiselers chisel fell. Meaning...Those
marks above the door show where the blocks are chiseled.
The chiseled marks encompass the whole outside perimeter of
the sauna.
All this
chiselling is done to level
the outside. Making the outside even to the rest of
the
wooden blocks. After all that fine wood work... -a clean straight and
even look.
Going inside a
real Finnish smoke sauna for the first time
Climb
the stairs to the top. Sit on the left or right. I chose the right
side. -- The closest to the center of the sauna gives you the best
steam. Makes your sauna go more enjoyable!
A helpful tip.
-A recommendation from our host.
When you get into the sauna hot room
and sit on the bench. There
are only top benches in this smoke sauna. You can either
throw one ladle full of water onto the stove,
or many.
Let
the first few ladle fulls be only half full and
throw them on to the center of the stones. That gives your body a
chance to adapt to the sauna. The next go around, I promise, will feel
cooler.
Where I sat
is the best place to sit...
 ...according to our host.
The stove is to the right of this picture -- Not visible.
Kids can get
used to the gentle steam of the smoke sauna.
It
was Rosa's (age 5) first smoke sauna experience.
After
throwing some water onto the stove with a few half ladle fulls. Rosa,
sitting on the bottom, begs me not to throw on any more water. Not because she is too hot.
She
expects the heat wave to hit fast, after
the water gets poured on. In this finnish smoke
sauna,
the heat takes much longer to travel in a large space, and the hot-room
temperature is lower than in most other wood burning, or electric
driven finnish saunas.
Rosa is
used to our small home sauna, A 5 - 8 square meter room with an
electric sauna stove, where - the heat travels
fast and hits you fast. OUCH! Even when you pour the water on
slowly.
When
Rosa realizes that the heat
is not so intense she calms down. On our last time to get in
and
out and throw on the water in the hot-room, she bravely joins us
on top where Tomi I sit.
The smoke sauna experience is differenct to a Finnish home
sauna.
The first heat wave seems
like the temperature increases but not to an unbearable uncomfortable
amount. Just at the threshhold of pain. After throwing a few
more
ladlefuls onto the stove, you feel a drop in temperature. But not much.
After a few
ladle throws we go into the water for a 5 minute swim. The sandy bottom
feels refreshing on the feet. 
Back
into the hot sauna room we go. This time we throw on a few full ladles
of water onto the stones at a time. Now...
...it
feels like the temperature drops significantly. It feels, cooler and
the
heat is quite comfortable. Not the kind of heat that chokes
you or
smothers completely. A very soothing type of heat.
I am also
enjoying this smoke sauna with Tomi...
...who agrees with my experience
and even holds up his hands into the air. Meaning...the
temperatures high up inside the sauna hot room seem bareable.
The air is easy to breath. A good smoke sauna experience.
Toward the
end of our sauna routine...
...we go into the sauna hot room, washing off. And, then it
hits us ALL. A wonderful feeling. We all begin to feel
rather tired and sleepy.
!!--NOT
EXHAUSTED--!!
Like
the tired feeling after you have been on a long hike in the
woods
all day. Nice and tired feeling. A tiredness which makes you more aware
or keen on life. As if you had been working hard
physically and now your whole body feels relaxed. We spend about one
hour in the sauna, and now we are ready for bed.
We get
dressed and head out
After chatting with our host, he said
that that is exactly what happens after a smoke sauna experience. You
feel nice, tired, comfy and warm.
The
heat of the smoke sauna or the feeling of how hot it is is controlled
by the amount of water you throw on the stove. Our first smoke sauna
experience is a success.
What was your smoke sauna experience like? Do you have a picture to
share. Include it here. How did you feel after your first real Finnish
smoke sauna. Remember... It takes more than one try before getting a
refreshing feeling of wellbeing. It takes time and practice. Share your
experience here. What works for you?
Wanna try this award winning Finnish Smoke Sauna ? Go to the Vesilahti county pages here
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