Cleaning Cigarette Smoke From A-2 Jacket?

[jswindle2]

Last year, I found a Roundtree and York A-2 repro jacket at a thrift store. It's in great shape, but has a heavy stink of cigarettes. I took it to a local cleaners, however it came back no better. I imagine the smell is in the liner as well as the leather. Does anyone know of a place I can send it to get it truly clean and stink free. I even attempted cleaning it by hand, but it still stinks. If I can't find a place, I'd be willing to sale it for a very good price. Any ideas?

 

[casechopper]

If you take it to a car detailing place they might be able to run their ozone generator in a closed space with it for a few hours. That's one of the best ways to kill cigarette smell. Lots of time and airing it out also works. Hanging it in a porch or any place that gets a good breeze for a few days should help reduce the smell greatly. Maybe hanging inside out outdoors for a few hours per day for a while?

 

[jswindle2]

If you take it to a car detailing place they might be able to run their ozone generator in a closed space with it for a few hours. That's one of the best ways to kill cigarette smell. Lots of time and airing it out also works. Hanging it in a porch or any place that gets a good breeze for a few days should help reduce the smell greatly. Maybe hanging inside out outdoors for a few hours per day for a while?

I did try the airing it outside, but it didn't do much good. I may check out the ozone generator thing. I live in a hick town, so I may have to go all the way to Dallas to find one.

 

[casechopper]

Lots of time is really the key with airing out. It can take weeks to months depending on how bad the smell is. You can buy an ozone generator online as well. Amazon has them for around $60 for a cheap one. If you ever have a smelly car or other item that's musty or smelly to de-oderize it could come in handy.

 

[Will Zach]

This forum, unlike many, has an excellent search engine. Just put "cigarette smell" into the search field and you should get a thread or two on this topic. Iirc ozone treatment was one mentioned.

 

[jswindle2]

This forum, unlike many, has an excellent search engine. Just put "cigarette smell" into the search field and you should get a thread or two on this topic. Iirc ozone treatment was one mentioned.

Thanks for the suggestion, man. I came across some great ideas and hope one or more of them will work. I'll likely sell it anyway in the future, but I imagine getting rid of the smell may help getting rid of it.

 

[belfastboy]

Thanks for the suggestion, man. I came across some great ideas and hope one or more of them will work. I'll likely sell it anyway in the future, but I imagine getting rid of the smell may help getting rid of it.

I purchased a wool jacket on Ebay that disclosed no odours but it arrived and it stank. I left it in the garage it was so bad. No totally cigarette smells but a weird moth ball, cloves odour as well. Took it to the dry cleaners but it came back only slightly better. I figured I had nothing to lose so I doused it via spray bottle with dilute vinegar. I used a cleaning grade vinegar 50/50 with water. Sprayed the coat liberally inside and out. It smelled like vinegar for a few days but the smell cleared. When it dried and aired the obnoxious smell was completely gone. The vinegar smell lingered for a few days but now the jacket has zero odour.

This might work for the lining ( I can't say if it would work on leather) and at least if it removed it then one source has been eliminated.

 

[AeroFan_07]

My suggestion, send this one along. I've tried many times to clean up Thrift-shop finds, with little, if any real sucess. I've given 3-4 jackets away to friends who are smokers, and they love them - "pre smoked"

 

[Carlos840]

The only thing i have found that works for stinky leather jackets is airing and time.
I have bought old jackets that stank, washed them, still stank, tried the old stick it in a bag with baking soda, coffee, dryer sheets, noting worked.
I just leave them to hang outside underneath my porch, putting them open in the sun when i can and usually after a few weeks/months the smell is gone.

I have had a jacket stay out for 6 months like that before it was allowed in...

 

[Austinite]

Hello, I am an ex-smoker and now very sensitive to the smell. Airing it out, inside out, in direct sunlight works the best. I even put a box fan blowing on it as well. I have cleared even my smokiest “smoke” jackets this way. It is usually the lining that absorbs the most. Hope this helps.

 

[Peacoat]

Lots of time is really the key with airing out. It can take weeks to months depending on how bad the smell is. You can buy an ozone generator online as well. Amazon has them for around $60 for a cheap one. If you ever have a smelly car or other item that's musty or smelly to de-oderize it could come in handy.

I posted this in one of the prior "odor" threads, but it bears repeating here. A friend of mine has a room in his basement he has converted to a small shop. That's where he smokes his daily cigar. He has an ozone generator down there which, I believe, is on a timer. I go over occasionally to work on various projects and smoke a cigar. As many times as I have been in that room, I have never smelled the odor of cigar smoke. The ozone generator works.

 

[nick123]

Have always thought it'd be a good excuse to swap the lining if one wanted to.

My Johnson still reeks of stale smoke. Thank goodness I'm halfway quitted; only vape now which leaves no smell. Can't kid myself; still dependent on nicotine. Worst decision ever to start smoking, but what sixteen year old thinks? Still have a jacket addiction. Pretty heavy; about a two a year jacketer.

 

[jswindle2]

Hello, I am an ex-smoker and now very sensitive to the smell. Airing it out, inside out, in direct sunlight works the best. I even put a box fan blowing on it as well. I have cleared even my smokiest “smoke” jackets this way. It is usually the lining that absorbs the most. Hope this helps.

I'm an ex-smoker myself and even when I still did, I hated the smell that was left behind. I got so sensitive that I eventually banned smoking in my house. It's amazing how our sense of smell changes after we quit.

 

[CatsCan]

You can also try gently soaking it in a luke warm water / sodium hydrogen carbonate solution (1/1) for two or three hours. After that you should soak it gently with a mixture of white vinegar and water (1/1) to bring back the acidic ph value. A good quality leather conditioner (foam) will help the leather to regenerate. You should apply it before it dries out completely. Most modern leathers are less vulnerable when it comes to water soaking, than we think. I have had very good results with this procedere. I can`t stand cigarette odor for a second! Important is the use of enough water. I would do this in a bath tub and let this thing be submerged completely. Be careful when you remove the jacket, it is very heavy when soaked and can be deformed easily. So don't lift it by the extremities! Place it on towels on the floor of your bathroom for some time before moving it to a rack, where you should place it lying flat, not hanging! After some hours you can hang it to be conditioned and remain hanging until dry. This is the cheapest of all ways.

Take this with a grain of salt. This is just, what I would do.

Btw: It is particles that cause the odor. These are chemically bound to salts. This is the reason, why water/shc and water/vinegar mix helps. The diffusion will transfer these particles into the water and be drained out eventually.

Cheers
Cats

 

[Will Zach]

^^
Might work. As a chemist I might just add that sodium hydrogen carbonate is your good ole baking soda and ask what percentage (strength) of the baking soda solution you use to mix 1:1 with water. 5%?

 

[CatsCan]

Unfortunately there is nothing about the percentage said on the package. Here in Germany I use the stuff which you can buy in any supermarket. I though it is the pure stuff. Called Holste Kaiser Natron. If you do a search on the bay, there is one offer that sells from Las Vegas, Nevada. But this is quite expensive (10 $) when you think at how much is needed in a bath tub. At least this is exact the stuff I had very good results with. I guess due to the size of a jacket 1/1 will be way to much with this German formula. I think one whole package (250g) per 5 liter would probably be what I'd try. Still quite a lot of Baking Soda needed for a full soak. But worth a try. Maybe there is a way to get it in big packs for smaller money..

Cheers
Cats

 

[Will Zach]

Ok, I understand now. You are using the baking soda powder mixed with 1:1 with water. Seems pretty concentrated. 250g in 5 L of water might work as well and be easier on the leather.

 

[CatsCan]

I just read on their website, that they recommend using even as little as one tablespoon on five liter water for removing odors from a piece of garment. But maybe this is too little for a leather jacket. I had used a lot of it on a leather jacket myself as a last ressort before I would have had to toss it. Jacket was saved from the trash bin.

 

[CatsCan]

....and if it is just the liner which has the odor, it could even work without soaking the entire jacket. Maybe the first thing to try could be hand washing the liner by pulling the jacket inside out and using a sponge to apply the mixture until the liner is saturated and repeat and repeat until the odor is gone.. Leather conditioner on the leather outer could do the rest. Does this sound probable?

 

[Dumpster Diver]

Just take up smoking.