Smoky cottages (so-called. kurne chaty) could be found in Poland almost until the end of the last century. In these huts there was a fire on the so-called "baba". It was a pedestal made of clay, on which a fire was lit, and the smoke spread throughout the room and out through the door and roof. The walls were smoky, black people, steeped in smoke. In the mid-nineteenth century, to remove smoke, chimneys were made of clay mixed with straw and led above the roof. There were also chimneys woven from thin twigs glued with clay on both sides, or from a rotten thick trunk, also stuck on both sides with clay. The first brick chimneys were built around. 1470 year. In the nineteenth century, ovens with cast iron hobs were already used for cooking, as well as large bread ovens occupying almost 2 rooms. The bread oven was connected with a heating oven with a hearth located on the side of the hall.

The vault of the bread oven and the heating oven were on one level and thus connected to each other, that they served as a sleeping place for the whole family. Due to this, that when burning, the amount of air entering the room through the gaps increases significantly, because to be burned 1 kg of coal is needed approx 17 m3, a do 1 kg of tree approx 11 m3 of air, therefore, to avoid cooling the room, the ovens were positioned in this way, that the hearth was outside the chamber, most often in the hallway or in the kitchen. Thanks to this, you also avoided littering the rooms when burning in the stoves. Even today, in Poland, stoves with a hearth located on the side of the corridor can be found.

In pursuit of refreshing the air at home in Poland, as well as in other countries, starting from the 16th century. various fragrant herbs were smoked in the apartment, grasses and roots. This continued until the end of the 19th century, when critical statements began to appear in the press, that fragrant smoke not only does not clean or refresh the air in the room, but, on the contrary, it pollutes it.