soot tattoo soot tattoo soot tattoos are carbon stains made by inserting soot into the dermis layer of the skin via a drug injection. a drug user may try to sterilize the tip of a needle with a flame, leaving a small amount of soot on the outside of the needle. an injection can carry this residual carbon into the skin, leaving a mark known as a soot tattoo. soot tattoos are an accidental cutaneous condition. this is distinct from the intentional practice of a tattoo artist creating a tattoo with a design in the skin using soot as a pigment in tattoo ink.