How to Get Rid of Smoke Smell

Co-authored by wikiHow Staff

Last Updated: September 7, 2020 References

Whether you smoke in your home or something recently caught fire in the kitchen, you’re probably looking for a way to get rid of that lasting smoke smell. You’ve probably also seen that this smell is tough to get rid of. But luckily, there’s hope! It might take some work, but you can get rid of smoke odors without having to call in an expensive professional cleaner. With the right tricks, you can knock out that smoke smell for good.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Airing Out Your Home or Car

1
Clean out any ash trays in your home or car. Ashes and cigarette butts will continue to smell, so get rid of these first. Wash or vacuum out the ashtrays in your home or car and get rid of loose cigarette butts so they don’t keep giving off a smoke smell.^{[1]
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- Make sure cigarette butts are completely extinguished before throwing them in the trash to avoid accidental fires.
2
Vacuum all of your floors, carpets, and seats thoroughly. If you’ve smoked inside your home or car, then ashes can get everywhere and continue smelling. Give everything a good vacuuming, especially fabrics and upholstery, to get rid of any leftover ash.^{[2]
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- Make sure you don’t miss any spots in your car. Vacuum under the seats, the dashboard, and in the space between the doors.^{[3]
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3
Open all the windows in your home or car to bring in fresh air. A good airing-out can be very effective. Try opening all the windows in your home or car to let some fresh air in. Opening windows will also pull out some of the smoke odor.^{[4]
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- It might take a few hours or days of airing out to make a big difference.
- Keep an eye on the weather if you're airing out your car. You don't want any rain getting inside.
4
Place fans in the windows of your home to pull odor out. Fans can get the air circulating faster. Put box fans in 1 or 2 of your windows so that they're facing outward and turn them on.^{[5]
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- Keep the fans running for a few hours or all day if you have to.
5
Put smelly furniture, mats, books, and other items outside to air out. Your couches, chairs, tables, books, and knick knacks absorb smoke smells. The same goes for removable mats or seat covers in your car. Move your smelly items outside on a nice, sunny day and leave them out there for a few hours to air out.^{[6]
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- Keep an eye on the weather. Make sure you do this on a day when no rain is expected so your things don’t get ruined.
- Give everything a quick smell test before you bring it back inside. If anything still has a smoke odor, don't bring it back indoors. Stow it in your garage or somewhere else.
6
Replace all of the air filters in your home. Even if you clean your whole home, the smoke odor may still be hanging around in your air vents. Replace the filters on your furnace and AC units so they don’t keep pumping the smell into your home.^{[7]
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- If you have central air and heating, vacuum around the vents and ducts to get rid of any lingering ash.^{[8]
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- If you’ve replaced the filters and the smell persists, then you may need a professional to come and clean the vents.

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Deodorizing Your Home or Car

1
Sprinkle baking soda on smelly surfaces to soak up the odor. This is a good, simple trick for homes and cars. Baking soda absorbs smells, so sprinkle a good amount around your home or car, including on all the carpets, furniture, beds or mattresses, rugs, and solid surfaces. Let it sit for a few days, then vacuum it all up.^{[9]
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- Baking soda won’t damage fabrics, so don’t worry about using it in your home or car.
- If you don’t want to get baking soda everywhere, leave bowls of baking soda around your home or car. This won’t work quite as well, but it will pull some of the odor out of the air.
2
Wipe down hard surfaces with white vinegar. If your home still smells after a baking soda treatment, then the odor may be clinging to the walls. Wet a rag with white vinegar and wring it out. Lightly wipe solid surfaces like the floor, walls, and wooden furniture to get rid of the smell. You can also wipe down lamps, picture frames, and any other solid items.^{[10]
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- You can use this trick to wipe down the steering wheel, dashboard, and other plastic spots in your car.
- You can wipe upholstered furniture with a small amount of vinegar if it smells. This also works for leather car seats as long as you dilute the vinegar with an equal amount of water.^{[11]
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- If you prefer not to wipe things down with vinegar, leave out bowls of vinegar to absorb odors from the air.
3
Clean your windows to get rid of smoke residue. Smoke can leave a smelly layer of residue on glass surfaces. Use glass cleaner to wipe down your windows and get rid of the smoke residue.^{[12]
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- Don’t forget to clean other glass surfaces like mirrors.
4
Leave a bowl of activated charcoal in smelly spots. Activated charcoal is a bit stronger than baking soda, so it may do a better job of absorbing leftover odors. Try leaving bowls of it around your home to get rid of any remaining traces of the smell.^{[13]
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- Keep the activated charcoal in a bowl or container since it can stain surfaces.
5
Steam clean your carpets, furniture, and car seats to deep-clean them. If none of your deodorizing tricks worked, you may need to give everything a thorough steam-cleaning. Luckily, many hardware stores rent these machines. Use the steamer on all the fabrics and upholstery in your home or car, and let them air-dry for a few hours to knock out the smell.^{[14]
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- You may need to use different shampoo types on different fabrics, so be sure to follow any specific instructions by the manufacturers.
- You can also call in a professional steam-cleaner if you don’t want to do this yourself.
6
Repaint your home interior if nothing gets rid of the smell. If someone smoked in a home for many years, then even your best efforts might not get rid of the smell. In this case, your only hope is repainting. Give the interior walls in each room of your home a fresh coat of paint to cover up any remaining odors.^{[15]
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- In very serious cases, you may need to replace the insulation in the walls as well. It’s possible for smoke smells to set in here.

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Cleaning Fabrics and Loose Items

1
Wash your clothes and fabrics with ¹⁄₂ c (120 ml) of vinegar. Put your clothes into the washing machine and adding ¹⁄₂ c (120 ml) of white vinegar instead of detergent. Then, run the cycle as you normally would. Smell your clothes when they come out and wash them again if the smell isn’t gone.^{[16]
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- Don’t put stinky clothes in the dryer before you re-wash them. You could set the odor into the clothes if you put them in the dryer.^{[17]
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- Use this trick for bedding and other loose fabric items like curtains.
2
Dry-clean fabrics if washing doesn’t help or you can't wash them. If you’ve washed your clothes and bedding a few times and the smell just won’t go away, then dry-cleaning can help. This is usually an effective way to get rid of odors, so drop your items off at the dry-cleaner to see if that helps.^{[18]
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- Make sure you tell the dry-cleaner that you want to get rid of the smoke smell so they can wash your items correctly.
- You can also dry-clean more fragile items like tapestries and wall hangings. These usually can't be put in the washing machine, so try dry-cleaning from the start.
3
Seal small items you can’t wash in a bag with baking soda. Other items like books can’t really be washed easily. In this case, the best way to fight the odor is sealing them in a plastic bag with some baking soda. Leave them in there for 8 hours so the baking soda can absorb all the smells.^{[19]
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- Baking soda doesn’t stain, so you can just dust off the items when you take them out.
4
Remove and replace carpets that you can't get the smell out of. Sometimes you can't completely get rid of smoke smell just by cleaning the carpets, especially if the smell was caused by a fire or years of smoking indoors. If you've tried baking soda and other washing tricks and the smoke odor is still there, then your only hope is removing the carpet. Pull out the old carpet and either leave the floor bare or install new carpet to get rid of the smell entirely.^{[20]
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- Clean the hard floor under the carpet with vinegar, just in case the smell soaked through the carpet. Otherwise, the odor might hang around after you put a new carpet down.