This Article Was Updated On September 26, 2023
The smell of smoke inside a car can be very unpleasant. Cigar and cigarette smoking is an easy way to get the scent of tobacco into your upholstery, clothes, and hair. Fortunately, it’s not difficult to remove this stench from your vehicle with these simple steps! Even if you buy the best cigars online, the smell of smoke can still lower the value of your car, which is why we recommend you clean your car on a routine basis.
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Items Needed To Remove Smoke Smell From Your Car
There are a handful of items and equipment needed to remove the smoke smell from your car. Most of these items are household items so you shouldn’t have to got to the store to buy anything new. Below are the items needed to thoroughly clean your car.
– Vacuum cleaner
– Bowl of water or pot with boiling water
– Baking soda
– Small bowl, baking dish, or coffee can to hold the boiling water (if needed) – Newspapers and paper towels for spills on carpeting, upholstery, and windowsills that may be from melted ice cream cones and other food items. *If you are using a carpet shampooer use before vacuuming*
How To Remove Smoke Smell From Your Car
This process will take about an hour so feel free to do it over two days if necessary. Start by setting your car’s air conditioning at maximum cold temperature while driving around during morning rush hour traffic.
With the AC on, it will get rid of any smoke particles in your car. The next step is to vacuum all areas that need attention and wipe down fabrics with a damp cloth or mop them with water.
Check for spilled food items by checking upholstery seams and crevices where food can easily fall into like seatbelt buckles. Once you have wiped everything clean use baking soda to deodorize carpets, seats, cushions, floor mats, headliners (ceiling), tray area (trunk) and anything else stinky including door seals if possible before vacuuming again to remove the odor from those surfaces as well.
Remove Trash From Your Car
The first important step to removing smoke smell from your car is to remove all of the trash and cigars or cigarettes from your car.
Check for spilled food items or old cigars by checking upholstery seams and crevices where dirty items can easily fall into like seatbelt buckles. It is common for cigarettes or cigars to fall under the seats or in hard to reach areas. These particles will cause the car to smell like smoke and will continue to smell unless you start removing the trash from your car.
Remove The Floor Mats From Your Car
In order to continue cleaning your car, we recommend removing the floor mats from your car in order to clean all of the dirt and smoke debris from the car. Depending on how bad the car smells, you can remove one or more floor mats to get access to all of the dirt and debris.
*Do NOT Remove The Headliner From Your Car- This Will Destroy It!
The headliner is a thin layer of padding in your car that not only looks good but also provides insulation from extreme temperatures. Do not worry though, because there are many other ways to clean it without removing it.
If you have removed the mat(s), we recommend vacuuming them out by using an attachment for cleaning carpets if possible; this will help remove any debris still stuck deep into the fibers of your carpeting. If a vacuum is unavailable, try shaking vigorously before dumping so as much dust and debris comes out.
Remove The Cabin Air Filter System
Removing the cabin air filter system is a necessary step. This will help get more fresh, clean air in your car which should help with how it smells.
Remove The Cabin Air Filter System: Remove filters and replace them with new ones; vacuum or shake out any debris that has accumulated on the floor to remove particles from deep in the carpeting fibers.
Home Remedies To Remove Smoke Smell From Your Car
Home Remedies To Remove Smoke Smell From Your Car: Get a can of Lysol or Febreze and spray it around your car, including seats, carpeting, seatbelts – every surface you can think of. This will help get rid of the smell as well as any bacteria that could be lingering in your car.
If you want to help remove tobacco smell from a car you can use baking soda or white vinegar battle the smell. Sprinkle baking soda on the floor and seats, then spray vinegar around to help get rid of that smoke smell.
Place bowls of potpourri in your car or place charcoal briquettes near vents for a week at a time to get rid of any lingering odors.
Fill a jar with water, drop some pine needles into it and use as an air freshener in your car! This is how my mom would make sure her house always smelled nice when I was growing up – she’d put these jars full of smelly pine needles all over the house!
If you follow all of these steps then your car should smell much better than before. If the smell of smoke continues after the cleaning, then we recommend you do this process a few more times. Each time your car should smell less and less like cigars or cigarettes.
If you want to learn more about cigars we recommend you read our best cigars for beginners guide or our best cigar humidor guide.
