Reduce/remove cigarette smell

[Coopers ST]

Hey all,
I am going to detail a car this week that was previously owned by a smoker. What do you recommend to use to help reduce the smell of old stale cigarette smoke?

[asianisafish]

Vinegar! Otherwise steaming

Very hard to get rid of

[craigdt]

Clean the surfaces with vinegar and steaming.
Then, run an ozone machine if you have access to one.

[Mad Wax]

ozone machine

[shagnat]

Vinegar! Otherwise steaming

Very hard to get rid of
How do you use the vinegar?

[JWilliams.RadiantDetail]

CarPro makes a GREAT product for this, iirc it's one of the CP products AG doesn't sell, if you know how to Google you should be able to find it pretty easy.

[asianisafish]

How do you use the vinegar?

Get some white vinegar ( the basic kind from wally world or wherever) and a bowl. Put some sponges or old rags in the bowl and then pour the vinegar until the sponges are saturated and then some vinegar begins to pool in the bottom. Leave in he vehicle overnight if you can.

If you can't leave it overnight, put some vinegar in a spray bottle, straight or diluted 1:1 and spray on all the cloth lightly, multiple times

[GSKR]

Hey all,
I am going to detail a car this week that was previously owned by a smoker. What do you recommend to use to help reduce the smell of old stale cigarette smoke?pretty much nothing you can use ozone sprays scent extraction scrub and rub till 2017 and it will return,seen some car deals fall apart cause of this promblem,it's everywhere deep in headliner carpet ac system,this is one area you will be defeated.

[GSKR]

I have a friend who is trying to sell there home in Long Island,they were both smokers indoors can't sell it cause of the smell.

[van185]

I had one a couple weeks ago that was so bad when you spayed APC on the interior surfaces you could run your fingers over the spayed areas and fell ridges from the smoke buildup over the years. I used the Tornado Black with APC and cleaned the interior and headliner. I then used a hot water extractor on the seats and carpet and then used an Ozone Generator for 30 minutes let it set for a couple hours and repeated the Ozone Generator a second time and the vehicle was fine. It actually was sold a couple weeks later with no smoke smell at all on the inside.

[CarolinasFinestDetailing]

Thoroughly clean all surfaces then steam. I would also recommend changing the cabin filter if one present. There is a discussion about not steaming vents due to moisture; but I steam them to help remove smell then run an odor bomb after. There is no "100%" guarantee that the smell will be removed honestly. Even with an ozone generator, I've seen the smell come back weeks later.

[DetailKitty]

Also heard really good things about this product from folks on here:

Dakota Non Smoke - odor remover, smoke odor eliminator, tobacco odor eliminator, odor remover, smoke odor remover, car odor eliminator, remove smoke (http://www.autogeek.net/smoke-odor-eliminator.html)

[GSKR]

Cat piss and nicotine are 2 odors that can be masked,but return shortly after.

[RaskyR1]

I've seen several users who swear by the DrivePur system for smoke removal. Haven't tried it my self though. I've used Ozone machines in the past but they never seemed to get them 100%.

[xabo]

Never tried it but I remember someone suggesting cutting a apple in half and leaving one half in the front and the other half in the back of the vehicle overnight.