Smoke
2122-40 · Benjamin Moore
Benjamin Moore
Smoke
2122-40
Subtle blue-leaning green, a cool color
- Color family
- Neutral
- Sold for
- Interior and exterior
Benjamin Moore Smoke 2122-40 is a soft blue-green gray, the pale spa color people mean when they ask for a blue that is not really blue. With an LRV of 56 it is light enough to keep a room bright and deep enough to read as a color from the doorway. Our method reads it as a subtle blue-leaning green, cool by temperature, which is what sets it apart from the warm grays it sits beside on a fan deck.
Is Smoke warm or cool? Undertones by the numbers
leans blue-green
Undertone
Subtle blue-leaning green
A gentle lean, quiet on the wall.
Measured, Smoke has more blue than green and not much of either, a cool cast laid over a light gray body. On a wall the blue is what registers first, most of all on the side of the room facing away from the window. Clean white trim makes it look bluer and sharper; a cream trim muddies it and takes the point out of the color. Warm oak floors and brass warm it usefully. Marble, chrome and white subway tile push it colder. Yarmouth Blue HC-150 is the near relative with a touch more blue in it, and Wales Gray 1585 the one with more gray.
Smoke in north, south, east and west light
In a north-facing room Smoke goes bluer and flatter, and in a small north bathroom it can feel chilly, so sample the wall furthest from the window before committing. South light is the exposure that suits it: the warmth balances the cool lean and the color reads truest to the chip. East rooms are soft in the morning and cooler as the day goes on. West rooms look flat until the afternoon, when the low sun warms it briefly. Bulbs matter more here than in most rooms: 4000K makes it icy, 2700K turns it gray-green, and 3000K is the middle that keeps the blue.
Watch for
- Turns icy and clinical under 4000K bulbs
- Reads bluer in a room full of white tile than it does on a fan deck
- The step up its own column is fifteen points lighter, a bigger jump than it looks
Best rooms and surfaces for Smoke
Smoke is at its best in a room with daylight, where it holds the blue without going cold: a living room with two windows, a sunroom, a hall with a glazed door. In a bathroom it does the job people buy it for, reading clean against white tile and chrome, though it wants warm bulbs to stop it going clinical. On a ceiling above white walls it works, and it is one of the few colors at this depth that does. What it fights is warm beige: next to a tan carpet or an oak-heavy kitchen it looks cold and out of place. It is also the wrong pick for a dark north room used mainly at night.
Smoke on an exterior
Benjamin Moore sells Smoke for exterior use, and it turns up on shingled and clapboard houses near water. Sun bleaches it hard, so the south face can read as a pale gray while shaded elevations still look blue; put a board on both before ordering. It is a light siding color rather than a statement one. White trim keeps it crisp, with Chantilly Lace OC-65 the obvious pick, and a dark gray or black front door gives the elevation the weight the siding does not carry.
Try Smoke on your own walls
Upload a photo of your room, or the outside of your house, and TryMyHome renders Smoke onto the walls so you can judge it in your light, with your floors and furniture. Your first five renders are free.
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Smoke vs Pale Smoke, Upward and Sea Salt
Smoke vs Pale Smoke 1584
Smoke is noticeably darker; undertone subtle blue-leaning green vs faint blue-leaning green.
Pale Smoke 1584 is not simply a lighter Smoke, whatever the names suggest. It measures seven points lighter and quieter, with the blue nearly gone and a hint of green left in its place. Smoke reads as a color on all four walls, where Pale Smoke reads as a light gray with a cool edge. Take Pale Smoke for a small room or a ceiling, and Smoke where the blue is the whole point.
UpwardSmokeSmoke vs Upward SW 6239
Smoke is a touch darker; undertone subtle blue-leaning green vs subtle blue.
Upward SW 6239 lands within a point of Smoke and is the truer blue of the two: less green in the mix, so it reads like soft sky where Smoke reads like sea glass. In a nursery or a bathroom lined with white tile, Upward is the friendlier color. Smoke is the pick when the walls should sit closer to gray and hold their own beside slate or stone.
Sea SaltSmokeSmoke vs Sea Salt SW 6204
Smoke is noticeably darker; undertone subtle blue-leaning green vs subtle green.
Sea Salt SW 6204 sits seven points above Smoke in lightness and comes down on the green side of the same idea, where Smoke comes down on the blue. Both get called spa colors and either works in a bathroom, but the tile decides it: warm stone and beige grout suit Sea Salt, while white tile, chrome and marble suit Smoke. Sea Salt also holds up better in a dim room, since there is more light in it.
Questions about Smoke
Does Smoke read blue or gray on a wall?
Blue, more than the chip suggests. There is not much pigment in it, but what there is leans blue, and a large wall concentrates the effect. In a room with warm wood and 2700K bulbs it settles back toward gray-green. Under daylight bulbs or beside white tile it is plainly a blue, which is what surprises people who bought it as a gray.
Is Smoke a good bedroom color?
Yes, and bedrooms are its most searched use. It is restful without being dark, and it looks right with white bedding, linen and pale wood. The thing to plan for is the evening: under cool bulbs the room turns cold, so keep the lamps at 2700K to 3000K. In a bedroom with a north window and no warm finishes, it can feel chilly at this depth.
Is Smoke a good color for kitchen cabinets?
It works on lower cabinets, an island or a vanity rather than a whole kitchen. Doors in Smoke read as a soft blue against a white counter, and the color hides less than a darker one would, so it suits a tidy kitchen. Warm brass or unlacquered hardware keeps it from going cold. Against a beige stone counter it looks out of place.
What colors go with Smoke?
Benjamin Moore pairs it with Chantilly Lace OC-65 and Cloud Cover OC-25 for the whites, Wind's Breath OC-24 as the warm neutral and Steel Wool 2121-20 as the dark. In practice it takes white oak, chrome, marble and navy. Deep charcoal is the accent that holds. Warm tan and gold-toned wood are the two that make it look cold.
What is one shade lighter than Smoke?
Iceberg 2122-50, the rung above it in Benjamin Moore's own column, though at fifteen points lighter it is a long step rather than a nudge. For a smaller change, Brittany Blue 1633 measures about five points lighter and Wales Gray 1585 about three points darker with more gray in it. The step down the column, Cloudy Sky 2122-30, is a different color altogether.
Get a sample before you paint
Use the visualizer to narrow your shortlist, then confirm the finalist on your actual wall. A peel-and-stick sample of Smoke, checked in morning and evening light, is the last step before a gallon.
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- Peels off clean
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