How to get rid of tobacco smell in your house.

Smoking is a great way to reduce your property’s market value. Not only does it have many negative health effects, it also comes with a reeking smell, that spreads and piles up, attaches to your walls, windows, curtains, chairs,– EVERYWHERE. Even casual smoking every now and then brings with it little brown particles that slip into the smallest gaps and within fabrics, catches on plastic, sinks into wood, and builds up, little by little, into a sticky, stinking goo.

Anyone who does not realize this, or who undermines the effect of smoking in a house, may be given the task of getting rid of the smell! I was facing this task lately, when I moved into a new apartment. The previous habitor was a smoker, - ‘casual’, the landlord said. ‘Outside on the balcony’ – he clarified. Yet somehow it took me nearly a week of frantic battle to get rid of the reeking stench that had built up inside every corner of the flat.

How did I achieve victory? Well here is my report:

What does NOT work

- Vinegar

As much as I love vinegar as a miracle treatment to anything, it does not work in this case. It only neutralizes the smell, and temporarily hides it from your perception. Those little smell particles still float in the air – without you knowing it. To think, that they catch on your clothes and hair without your notice, and then appear again, when the vinegar’s effect wears out!

The worst thing about this is that it does work temporarily. I scrubbed the walls and floors of the whole apartment with detergent-vinegar mix, and thought myself to be done by this – only to find out later, that I will have to do it all over again, with a better solution.

- Baking soda

Another neutralizer, and very efficient! I left some on a wipe plate in the closet, and it indeed neutralized the tobacco smell, and made the closet surprisingly fresh! However, as soon as I took the plate out of the closet, the smell began sneaking back in. So as with vinegar, the effect is only temporary, and the smell will still catch on your clothes in the closet and reappear later.

Still, because baking soda does not have a pungent smell on it’s own, it is a good way to trick someone to buying your smelly house.

- Air fresheners

Seriously, these smell even worse than tobacco, and only fill your room with chemicals on top of that.

- Chemicals

I tried two different market-bought detergents. One all-over purpose cleaner, an another, much more toxic bathroom cleaner. Both promised to battle against bad smells, yet neither my bathroom, nor my livingroom, were entirely free of tobacco smell, after a thorough scrubbing of walls, floors nad ceiling. The smell was still there, and a rainy weather revealed it even stronger, with humidity.

I also could not help but wonder, wether lathering with toxic chemicals in these closed environments in such a fevent manner would give me cancer. It certainly felt unpleasant, and even hazardous health-wise. Breathing these things is not recommende by any means, and even rubber cloves can only protect you until you get the stuff underneath them...

What DOES work

Laundry detergent

IT makes sense that since laundry detergent gets rid of smell in clothes, it will do that on surfaces too. And since it deals with both, natural and chemical fabrics, it can be assumed somewhat gentle to most surfaces. However, one must be careful with any residue it may leave behind, because it is very toxic stuff! Don’t use if you have pets in the house that might lick on it.

I removed the smell off an ancient plastic flooring in my closet by applying laundry detergent like regular cleaner, - let it foam and sizzle for a good while, then removed the foam, and finished the floor with a wet towel to remove residue. The smell is gone and hasn’t come back.

Mäntysuopa - Pine oil soap

All hail the queen of cleaners! The secret of finnish women! The Mäntysuopa of old!

This miracles stuff is worth of legends, and been around and trusted by generations! It is a pity, that it was the last thing I tried. In my silly mind I thought, that modern era chemicals would surely be more effective, - but I was so wrong.

I use this marvel to wash my rugs every summer, at the shore of the lake. It is bio-degrading, and safe for the environment, even so that women wash their rugs in Helsinki centrum by the highly protected northern sea, without even the officials worrying about it.

The best thing about it, that it is 100% safe to use. You can wash your walls and rugs and wooden deck with it. Your babies and your dogs and cats. Using of it is pleasant, and the fume from it is easy to breathe, with only the amazing sense of pine-freshness surrounding you and your home. You do not need cloves during te scrubbing – I even prefer not to wear cloves, because the feeling of the soap on my hands tells me if the mix is too heavy. The only downside is that if used too thickly in the mix, pine-oil soap can leave a bit of sticky residue.

The same pine-oil soap (Mäntysuopa) is not only used to remove bubble gum from fabrics and the hardest residue from the oven, but also used in the most varying ways, including treating atopy / eczema & psoriasis (Pine tar soap works too, btw. it's the magic of pine!), repenting pests in the garden, and making of felt.

With this simple old trick, by washing my walls and floors and ceilings with pine-oil soap, the brown tint and lingering smell were gone for good!

More info and History of Mäntysuopa (in finnish, use translator) 

NOTE: if you can't find Mäntysuopa available in your country, The british brand Sunlight is very similar and worth of a try.

Odour removers

I used a nordic brand called Softcare odour. It was somewhat expensive, so I used it sparingly, and only aimed to spray it in small gaps where I could not scrub with my pine-oil soap. For a while, it felt like the odor remover smelled worse than the tobacco residue, but then I figured it was likely because it actually lifted the tobacco smell off the surface and allowed it to float away. After airing the house thoroughly, the smell was gone and has not returned. 

I also have good experience from using odour-removers for car interiors, but these may not be suitable for wood, or home surfaces, and contain harsh chemicals. Always read the label carefully! 

Kitty-litter

To maintain odors in your house, you may try placing a wide dish of kitty-litter somewhere near the source of smells, or up near the rafters where moisture gathers. After all, kitty litter is made partially for the purpose to absorb smells. Odors are usually the strongest when there is moisture in the air, and kitty-litter absorb moisture and the odor particles within. Just make sure to get the kind that is not dusty, some varieties spread powder around and may even make your place dirty. They also come nicely scented if that suits your fancy.

Do you have any secret weapons of your own? Any stories of smelly household horrors and eventual triumph or defeat? Let’s hear them in the comments. :)

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