I live in an old and small apartment that smelled musty and like smoke. The smell drove me crazy!! I wanted to get an air filter just due to the age and poor quality of the apartment, but an added bonus was that it has helped with the bad smells as well! I burned bacon the other night and turned my filter on the high setting - it eliminated the smell and the smoke fairly quickly. It was amazing! The fan is really quiet and easy to use. My only qualm is that the "auto" button that is supposed to tell you the quality of your air, does not seem to automate the colored light indicators like its supposed to.