It’s time to clean cigarette smoke odor from furniture. This is one of the most rewarding steps in deodorizing your home. It can also be one of the trickiest.
st
The process to clean cigarette smoke odor from furniture can be very involved. Your steps will vary a lot depending on the specific furniture. Furniture is often the most challenging part of getting smoke smell from your home, but with persistence it can be done. You will need to be ready for some heavy scrubbing, As with much of the process of removing smoke odor from your home. You should also think in terms of slow progress with multiple passes because tar and nicotine is extremely sticky.
Cleaning the furniture will depend on the type of surface. Many pieces of furniture will have multiple type of surfaces which need to be approached differently.
A lot of modern furniture can be taken apart. Breaking it down will both make it a lot easier to clean and also expose pieces you might not otherwise have access to.
Fabric
Machine Washing
Steam Cleaning

Anything else will need to be cleaned in an alternative way. The next best thing to machine washing is steam cleaning. While steam cleaning is less easy than machine washing, it’s a straightforward process which lets a machine due most of the work for you. See our Steam Cleaners Guide for more info.
For furniture, I recommend this process:
- A first pass with the steam cleaner of just water. This will add both moisture and heat, which will begin to loosen things up.
- A second pass with equal parts water and vinegar. Dirt, dust, and odor will continue to be loosened, and the vinegar can work it’s magic on odors within.
- Finally, a last rinse pass with just water to collect as much of the dirty, dust, odor, and left behind vinegar as possible.
Baking Soda
Small Cushions
Big Cushions
Vinegar
Isolate
Experiment with Other Options
Lock Odors in
Wood
Wooden surfaces absorb smells very easily. Leaving any wooden furniture outside will help it to dry out and release the scents. While this can lead to some easy deodorization, you need to be very mindful of weather. Because wood is pliable, you should make sure the furniture isn’t outside during precipitation or high humidity. Furthermore, you should ensure the furniture stays within a moderate temperature range.
Vinegar
Baking Soda
Plastics or Other Surfaces
Plastic or any other surface types can be cleaned with equal parts warm water and vinegar to reduce any nicotine or tar buildup. You can then treat with the same odor absorption techniques used for other surface types. Baking soda is a good starting point when working with plastic, but coffee grounds or charcoal should also be effective.
Reupholster
If the furniture is worn, this may be a good time to consider re-upholstery to completely replace fabric surfaces. Consider price quotes from local re-upholstery services or furniture stores, or a fun family weekend DIY project. While it might seem like unnecessary work, it’s a step which removes and replaces materials in your home. This is one of the most valuable things you can do to clean cigarette smoke odor from furniture.
A Word on Mattresses
Mattresses in particular can be very difficult to fully remove smoke odor from. Boiling vinegar in a confined space with a mattress is your best option. I consider mattresses to be a particularly good option for replacement, both because of how difficult they can be to clean and also because high quality mattresses have become incredibly cheap in recent years. I can personally recommend Zinus Memory Foam mattresses, available on amazon. They earn amazing ratings with a huge number of reviews. If you do take my advice and replace your mattress, just make sure you do so near the end of your cleaning process to prevent the new mattress absorbing lingering odors through your cleaning process!