A blower (1) has a housing (10) to which a blower pipe (2) may be removably connected. An internal combustion engine located within the housing (10) drives a blower wheel. The blower wheel, in turn, generates an air flow (11) within the blower pipe. To reduce the exhaust gases and the fuel consumption during idle operation of the combustion engine, a reduction device (12, 22), located in the blower pipe downstream of the blower wheel reduces the clear cross section of flow during idle operation of the engine.