Tobacco Smoke Odor Removal with Ozone

Anyone who has been around smokers, or visited an area where tobacco smoke has been present, knows all too well just how strong the scent produced by smoked tobacco is. Cigarette smoke contains a number of carcinogens which are well-known to physically (and aromatically) agitate and irritate individuals. As many people can attest, the smell from cigarettes tend to densely linger in an area, or on different materials. This is due, in large part, to the number of irritating components in the smoke (phenol, ammonia, carbon monoxide). However, the leading cause of cigarettes' “sticky” odor is the large amounts of tar vapors that cigarettes release.  

Where Cigarette Odors are Commonly Present:

There are many different circumstances where cigarette odors can be present, and these instances are seen (smelt) both on a personal level and at a business level. On a personal level, houses, clothes, vehicles, all begin to smell if someone decides to smoke. For businesses, some places allow for indoor smoking like casinos, while others don’t allow it, but may still have to deal with the odor like rentals. 

How to Remove Tobacco Odors:

The travelability combined with the stickiness of cigarette smoke is what makes the end-result such a nightmare to try and eradicate. The smoke's travelability creates a problem that can require multiple steps. Take cars for example, in most instances, simply ozonating the inside of a car is not going to completely get rid of the cigarette smell. The upholstery and carpets will need to be deep cleaned, along with the fans, otherwise the smell will simply come back over time. For houses, you will have to consider everything in the house that the smell has absorbed into like furniture, drawers, and even walls. This will be the case for the majority of instances where you are trying to get rid of cigarette odors. 

It can be tough to predict exactly how long it will take to completely get rid of the smoke smell, two main contributing factors are going to be how strong the smell is, and how large of a space you’re trying to get the smell out of. Odor strength matters because a stronger smell means that there are more carbon molecules present. For ozone to get rid of the smell, it will have to react with all of these carbon molecules, resulting in the additional time it may take to complete the odor removal process. As a general rule, you can expect to get rid of the cigarette smell in as little as a day, but it may take about a week at the most. 

Cautions:

It is extremely important to note that ozone, while indoors, at high levels, can become harmful to breathe in. It is also probable that to properly get rid of an odor with ozone (in smaller spaces) you are going to need ozone levels above the safety concentration (according to OSHA: workers should not be exposed to an average concentration of more than 0.10 ppm of ozone for 8 hours). Because of this, please make sure that there are no people or animals in an area where high concentrations of ozone are going to be present. For tracking ozone concentrations while you eliminate tobacco odors, we recommend using a handheld ozone monitor which you can find here. 

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