The rapid processing of fractal soot by capillary condensation in a remote environment, as shown in our simulations, may alter soot properties and climate impacts faster than predicted in the atmospheric models using the spherical particle representation. Decreased size and increased hydrophilicity of such processed soot particles will shorten their atmospheric lifetime by accelerating coagulation and scavenging. Water taken up into pores of hydrophilic soot aggregates by capillary condensation can freeze homogeneously at cirrus temperatures and subsequently grow into macroscopic ice crystals. Soot particles acting as cloud condensation and ice nuclei can change the structure and radiative effects of clouds, e.g., leading to a reduction in low-level clouds and an increase in high-altitude cirrus cloud thickness, exacerbating the global mean surface warming. When embedded inside cloud droplets, soot particles show a significant amplification in light absorption, nearly by an order of magnitude. After droplet evaporation, thinly coated compact soot particles would have a comparable light absorption but a 50% larger light scattering than the original fractal aggregates, resulting in a larger single scattering albedo. We tested if it is possible to reproduce the aging rate of fractal soot by using spherical particles precoated with non-volatile and water-insoluble organic material (OC) to promote partitioning in lieu of capillary condensation. Fig. shows that at a 0.25 volume fraction of OC, spherical soot particles gain condensate at a comparable rate as fractal particles because OC absorbs subsaturated vapors.