Getting rid of smoking fumes

mudgekin

As Im sure a few of you know my 83 year old mum lives with DH and I. She is rather frail and suffers from pretty bad emphysaema. Despite that she continues to smoke and tbh she doesn't want to stop and at her age well I'm not going to nag her to.

DH and I have stopped smoking and I know from a previous attempt that mum's smoke fumes really disturb me. I am not going to ask her to go outside or hang out of a window to smoke esp in this weather and I would rather she didn't smoke in her bedroom as I feel at least when she goes to bed she isn't sleeping in a really smoky atmosphere.

That leaves the living room where DH and I are. We both find it disturbing, seeing her with a cig isn't the problem but the tendrils of smoke are and the smell that lingers when she stubs it out.

Does any one know of any gadget or whatever that removes the smoke from the atmosphere. I can't use fragranced sprays as they really make her wheeze and cough (ironic I know) and some candles do the same.

SunnyGirl

I used a bowl with some vinegar and half an onion in it to get rid of smoky smells. It also works for newly painted rooms, especially on the gloss paint smell which always ends up giving me a migraine :mad: I'm not sure if it really does work or just that the smell of vinegar & onion overpowers everything else but the smell does go. Could you have a window open a crack maybe & make sure that your Mum's ashtray is emptied & washed every few cigarettes it helps to cut down on the smell too. When I gave up smoking the smell offended me so much after a few weeks that I ended up washing the sofa covers, curtains, cushions, ornaments & re-painted the walls as well :rotfl:

Just had a thought too. I saw on How Clean is Your House once that they sprayed a clean ashtray with a bit of polish then wiped it out again before use. It stopped the ash etc sticking to the bottom so much. It may help with smell also. HTH.

mudgekin

Thanks for that SG. One thing we have all been quite fastidious about is emptying ashtrays. We always had no more than 2 cig ends in any of them and used the polish trick. I have been runnimg amok with febreeze but again that makes her very wheezy so if needs be I don't mind paying for some gadget type thing. I would just rather not waste money on one that doesnt work.

Will try the vinegar/onion tonight though

Olliebeak

I've seen this advertised on shopping channels - but haven't got any experience of it personally.

Maybe somebody else has an opinion on it - hope you find a suitable solution.

I've just googled 'how to get rid of cigarette smells from the home' and came up with a couple of sites:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/203089/how_to_get_rid_of_cigarette_odor_.html?cat=6

http://www.getridofthings.com/get-rid-of-smoke-smell.htm

http://www.beauty-cosmetic-guide.com/how-to/get-rid-of-cigarette-smoke-smell.html

mudgekin

Thanks Ollie, will have a look at that one. I just saw one that I liked but its £230 :eek reduced to £179 on boots.com I don't know if I can justify a spend like that though. I suppose the money that 2 of us save from not smoking would pay for it. Hmm..will need to discuss with DH on that one

sandiep

I think tea-tree oil in an aromatherapy burner is supposed to work well.

ExNicotineQueen

Me and my OH rent a room in a shared house so the only place we used to smoke was in the bedroom. I developed a smokers cough and my OH started getting a dry throat so we bought one of these:

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/4150798/Trail/searchtext%3EAIR+PURIFIER.htm

Not cheap however it used to clear the air of any residual smoke so at least when we went to sleep we weren’t breathing in stale smoke or the smell of tobacco lingering in the air.

beverleyhills

There is a (Johnson's) Glade Air Freshner spray that is a smoke odor neutraliser.

I have an Air Wick Decosphere which has a cedar and orange scent which claims to be anti-tobacco.

Bergamot combats the smell of tobacco smoke. You can buy candles

angelavdavis

Quite a few years ago, before smoking was banned in the workplace (and was even considered unacceptable), I had a boss who insisted on smoking his cigars in the office!

I was in an office a couple of doors down the hall from him, as an asthmatic, I had to be careful of smoke generally, so I brought an ioniser and had this in my office.

The difference between the air in the corridoor and my office was unbelievable, you really couldn't smell the smoke in my office at all - everyone commented what a difference it made.

Based on this experience, I would definitely recommend trying one out - why not see if anyone on freecycle has one to offer?

Seakay

I think that you are going to have to face the expensive option of filter or ioniser (assuming the latter work - never tried one myself) because all the other ideas are for cleaning and refreshing an area where smoking has happened in the past, whereas you want something to cope with the smoke which is continuing to be produced.
Even something which masks the smell at the time (assuming you could find something which does not affect your mother's breathing) would not prevent the impregnation of soft furnishings and the discolouration of paint etc.

mudgekin

Thanks for all the replies folks :T I think I will have to go for the more expensive option:mad: As Seakay says I really don't want to use any artificial sprays, candles etc as it really does affect her. Will have a look with DH tonight at the Argos one and the one from Boots. As he said, what we will save this month on cigs will cover it.