I hooked this thing up today and wanted to see how it would deal with the smoke coming from glowing paper (didn't want a soldering iron). I tried it first with the suction tube which slopes down to the table at almost 90 degrees - maybe 80 or 75 degrees. at least 3 inches before the smoke is drawn into the tube. I then tried the pipe at about a 45 degree angle and got the same results - maybe 3 inches before the smoke was drawn in. I didn't try it with the hose over my head like in the pics above - maybe that would be better? I doubt it a little. But the 3 inch spacing still gives you plenty of room to work. Until you can later upgrade to a more powerful machine, of course.