Historically, people have known that filtering a solution through carbon would remove some "dark colors" and "bad smells". Over time, the advantage of "activating" the carbon, i.e. with heat, steam and pressure to increase it's surface area, made it even better for these applications. Compounds with multiple fused aromatic rings bind quite well to carbon's graphite-like structure, compounds which coincidentally, tend to be colored and have odors. You're initial assumption,
{here} that carbon binds primarily polar and ionic compounds, is not correct. Consider, everyone has the carbon filters on the kitchen tap these days, what do they say they remove -- pesticides, odors, yes, salts, not likely, no.