Smoke is one of the most pervasive smells out there. It doesn’t matter if you’re a smoker, enjoy a regular barbecue or have simply burnt something in the oven, smoke doesn’t like to leave. In fact, the smell can really linger. Discovering how to reduce this smell, getting rid of the smokey essence is the best way to feel comfortable in your own home. So, how to keep your house smelling fresh and free from odors? Well, you should discover why it smells in the first place, and implement some of these simple tricks below.
Why Does Smoke Stick Around?
There’s a good reason smoke doesn’t leave an interior space like other smells. This is because the composition of smoke tends to be comprised of more than 400 different smells. And most of them are unpleasant to the human sense of smell. Some of these smelly components include acetic acid, hydrogen sulphide, ammonia, and 3-ethenylpyridine. These actually stick together and make that unpleasant smoke odor. Worse, the smoke particles are sticky, attaching to clothing, furniture, items, and walls within the home, lasting a lot longer than you’d most likely want.
Smoker Tips For a Smoke-Free Home
If you’re a smoker, then no doubt you’ve tried to eliminate the smell of smoke from your house. It can seem impossible to shift, but there are some steps you can take if you like smoking at home. Make these into regular habits, and you’ll quickly see the difference in your house.
Open the windows
This may seem obvious, but the simple act of opening a window helps. Clean, fresh air can circulate into your house, diluting the smokey atmosphere inside. It’s good to start ventilating the house when you notice it’s smokey — this works for any smokey smell, including burning food in the kitchen. You can also try smoking next to an open window if you plan on smoking inside. This way the smoke doesn’t have time to pervade your home, stick to clothes, or furniture.
Empty ashtrays
If you like smoking inside, or it’s winter and too cold to go out, you’re going to be collecting all that ash indoors.
A major source of unpleasant smokey smells is the ashtray. Make sure you’re in the habit of emptying these out regularly. You will be amazed at the difference, as you can find that the small doesn’t linger quite as much.
Smoke outside
Of course, one simple solution to the smoke problem, is not to smoke indoors at all. This can be more problematic in the colder months though. By smoking outside, you can really make a difference to the smell of your home. However, it is not a complete solution. Even smoking outside means getting that smoke smell stuck on your clothes which is then brought back into the house. It’s still worth doing as it reduces the overall smoke smell in the house.
Switch to other nicotine products
A final option for smokers is to eliminate using cigarettes or cigars completely. If it’s the nicotine hit you need, nicotine pouches can do the trick. You can buy these pouches from SnusDirect that are thankfully smokeless as well as free from odors. In addition, you can buy these pouches in both different floors and different strengths of nicotine. By using a nicotine pouch, you can still get the same boost. But, without the lingering smell that typically goes with it.
Tools For Removing Smoke
While these are suggestions for eliminating the arrival of smoke smells in your house, you may already have this problem. For those with smokey smells, you may have already tried to use a standard spray or fragrance to remove or mask the smokey smell. This doesn’t really work. With this in mind, here are a couple of tips to get rid of that smell from your house.
Coffee grounds
Similar to baking soda, placing used coffee grounds in bowls around the house can absorb the smokey smell. If the smell lingers after a day, simply replace the coffee grounds with new ones and repeat this. You can also add coffee grounds to ashtrays as it can help deodorize this as well.
Air purifier
While it would be ideal to be able to wash down all clothes and furniture to really scrub the smell out, this is not always possible. With this in mind, an air purifier can really help. They use a fan and a filter to keep the air cleaner by trapping particles of odor. Using a HEPA filter means collecting smoke particles, making this an effective, though not perfect option. It’s still a good idea to use the air purifier in conjunction with the smoke-free habits listed and other cleaning methods.
Armed with these tips, and considering the use of baking soda, vinegar, and ammonia when it comes to cleaning your smokey clothes and furniture, you should be able to remove most of the smoke smell from your house.
