In this post, we’re going to discuss how to get rid of vape smells from your home, your car, and your clothes. You know, the same smells and flavors that you enjoy immensely — that even help you stick it out with your sometimes-annoying cart pen or vape pen instead of reverting to those filthy cigarettes — but that some people absolutely abhor.
This brings me to why we’re talking about it today.
The other day, I was cooped up in my air-conditioned house, when someone barged in unceremoniously.
“REALLY!”
Oookay… so it’s the mother-in-law Franny, I thought. No one says ‘really’ quite that loudly in my house.
I said: “What?”
And then I was treated to a 20-minute lecture on how she has asked me repeatedly not to vape in the house [she didn’t, ever], especially when I knew she was coming [I never know, otherwise I would plan a trip across the border that very day]. And how she doesn’t want to breathe in muck just because I have an addiction problem [I don’t, that’s the point of e-cigarettes… and it’s not muck, it’s just flavor particles.]
But here’s the thing… there’s no point in arguing with people like this.
So if you have a Franny in your life, and you absolutely need your house to smell of nothing other than unwashed socks and wet dogs [not peppermint, not strawberries, and sure as hell not cinnamon buns], here are 13 tips that will help you get rid of vape odor.
Let’s get into it!
Wait, Why Does Vaping Produce a Smell?
Oh yeah, before I dive into the tips, you might want to know why vape liquids smell in the first place.
It’s the flavoring, nothing else.
Flavoring particles are big and they quickly fall down and accumulate whenever you take a puff on your vape pen. Also, they are still present in your exhale — these particles don’t get readily trapped in your lungs, so when you blow out a cloud, they settle around on your floors and furniture.
How Long Do Vape Odors Linger Indoors?
Do you open your windows and regularly clean your house?
If the answer to this is yes, then these vaping smells won’t stick around for long. Sure, they’ll still be noticeable, especially by non-vapers. But that’s similar to how nonsmokers can whiff a cigarette 10 miles away.
It’s just a weird thing they do.
However, if you’re not in the habit of regularly wiping down surfaces and opening your windows, then the vape odor may linger for several months. That’s because the carrier liquids [PG and VG] evaporate slowly. As they evaporate, they release flavor particles trapped within them
So here’s a preview of one of my tips and tricks here — open the windows once in a while!
13 Ways to Get Rid of Vape Smells In Your House
Okay, so let’s head straight into my 13 tried and tested methods of removing any and all vaping smells from your floors, walls, and furniture. Oh, and just so you know — some of these ways are kind of obvious. They’re usually the ones that work best. Like this first one.
1 . Don’t Vape Indoors… Duh!
Are you taking this advice and running with it? Cool — my work here is done.
2. Change Your Indoor Location
So, of course, we all like to vape while curled up on the couch and watching the nth rerun of The Simpsons. But do we really need to? Think about it — if you know that, any minute now, someone will walk through that door and bust your chops for vaping there, is it worth the hassle.
Well, I have an elegant solution.
Create a vape cave for yourself! Go anywhere warm — the garage, the laundry room, the attic. Anywhere. Vape there until you’re blue in the face. And then come back to an unscented room. Flavor particles don’t travel far, and (even when they do) there aren’t so many of them that they’ll create an ongoing olfactory problem.
3. Blow Your Vapor Out of the Window
Hey, I don’t like it either, especially during the winter.
But…
It’s the exhale that contains a bunch of active flavor particles that end up accumulating on your floors and furniture. The more you can limit breathing all over everything when exhaling, the less problems with vaping smells you’ll have.
4. Avoid Strong Vape Flavors
This isn’t such a head-scratcher, right?
For example, cinnamon and patchouli? They’re both a no-no — horribly strong vape flavors that permeate everything they touch, and will linger for days, if not weeks in closed spaces, regardless of how many scented candles you burn.
But… jasmin or watermelon? Well, you’re in the clear here. Both of these flavors [and similar, low-key flavors] don’t really have that much staying power. They are either too subtle or they are too volatile to stick around for long. I mean, they’re also both horrible, which is why no one uses them… but you’ve got to make sacrifices, right?
5. Pick Up a Smaller Vape Pen
Smaller vape pen = smaller clouds.
Stands to reason, right?
Big-ass vape mods that vapers use for cloud-chasing literally envelop your home in vapor. There’s no escaping it. If that’s your thing — cool. But keep in mind that this means you’ll have flavor particles in every nook and cranny of your house. Every day. And there’s nothing worse than having to clean every day!
Soooo…If you want to cloud-chase, do it outside or at a vape meet. When you’re at home, stick with a small, not-so-smelly vape pen.
6. Choose Vape Juices With Less VG
Vegetable glycerin [VG] is a carrier liquid used to suspend vape juice flavors. And suspend them it does! VG is much better at this than PG. So what happens then?
When you vape on a predominately VG vape juice, it ‘captures’ a lot of those flavor particles. As you exhale, VG accumulates on your surfaces, and then starts to slowly evaporate. This happens for a few weeks, and as VG droplets are now loaded with flavor, it gets released on a daily basis.
So if you want to make sure that there’s no lingering vape smell in your house, switch to predominately PG vape juices. They will trap less flavor and won’t perfume your house so hard.
7. Air Out All Rooms on a Daily Basis
Open the windows!
Seriously, even if it’s just for a few minutes every day, air out your rooms to give those vape smells a chance to dissipate. You don’t have to keep them open all the time [or even every time you’re vaping], but a quick airing session will do you good.
8. Use Unflavored Vape Juices
Another no-brainer that works like a charm — if you don’t use flavors, you won’t smell flavors!
9. Deep Clean Your Furniture with a Steam Cleaner
Ahh… carpets and fabric sofas! These can be a bi*ch when it comes to removing any kind of smell out of them… especially e-cigarette smells!
But, there’s a solution — steam cleaning.
Steam cleaners shoot hot vaporized water deep into the fabric before pulling it back… usually all black and gunky. The reason why this is great for removing vape odors from furniture is that those odor particles dissolve in vapor — they disappear but your furniture doesn’t get damaged.
If you need to do this on a regular basis, I suggest investing in a small, portable steam cleaner — I have one, and it’s a life-saver!
10. Clean Surfaces with Water & Soap
This combo does wonders for removing smells from surfaces.
Simply fill a bucket with hot water, add a drop of detergent, and start wiping everything down. Focus a bit more on your immediate vape zone — the place where you vape the most — to pick up the accumulated layers of that invisible vapor gunk.
And it’s not just the floors that you’ll need to wipe down — clean your furniture, windows, tabletops, TV, and anything else that’s in the exhale zone.
11. Light Some Scented Candles
I mean… you can try this, sure. I just find it ALWAYS makes things worse.
12. Buy a Small Ventilator [or an Air Purifier]
Here’s an idea:
Buy a small ventilator. Position it so it blows in the direction of a window that’s cracked open. Blow all your vapor into the path of ventilator airflow.
This might sound silly, but it works.
Alternatively [if your window is too small or it’s just freezing where you are], you can invest in a small indoor air purifier. It will suck up the air, filter it AND remove vape smells from it before sending it back into circulation.
13. Try Pet Odor Eliminator [On Vape Juice Stains]
You spilled vape juice on your sofa!
Yikes — that’s gonna stain. And it’s gonna smell.
But… there are a few things that you can still try.
If your standard soap and water [or lemon juice and white vinegar] don’t do the trick, buy some pet odor eliminator. Dab it onto the affected surface, leave it for a few minutes, and then remove it with a damp cloth. Repeat as needed.
How to Get Vape Smells Out of a Car
In addition to the things listed above, here are a few things you can try if you need to get rid of vape odors from your car, fast.
·Get your car cleaned with ozon [works like a charm]
·Take it for a wash and to be chemically cleaned
·Leave a bag of charcoal inside overnight [captures the particles]
·Try the same with a cup of vinegar [should break up the smell]
·Sprinkle baking soda over the seats [remove by vacuuming the next day]
How to Get Vape Smell Out of Your Clothes
If you vape so much that even your clothes now smell as your favorite, cinnamon-flavored vape juice, burn the clothes!
Just kidding.
There are a few things you’ll want to try:
·Just machine wash it — it usually does the trick
·Try a scent booster — plenty of brands out there
·Add lemon juice to the washing
·If you don’t want to wash the clothes, try airing it out or using baking soda.
·Vodka is also great at eliminating vape odors [it goes into the machine, not your mouth].