# Smoking in yer apartment. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 18, 2015, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-yer-apartment/728157 "2015-08-18T07:16:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2015, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-yer-apartment/728157/21 "2015-08-18T16:02:45Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Huh. I was in Philly then and never heard of such a thing. Hotels rooms, sure, but I remember a friend who lived with his parents (30 years old) coming over many evenings to have a few cigs. Oh, I’m sure it wasn’t universal, but I was looking for nonsmoking apartments because I’m very sensitive to smoke. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2015, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-yer-apartment/728157/22 "2015-08-18T16:05:20Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Boy, howdy can he (if he’s a non-smoker)! I’m always amused at smokers who think they can hide/disguise the smoke. Beyond that, what kind of asshole rents a non-smoking apartment and then wants to smoke in it? What a dishonest dick. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2015, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-yer-apartment/728157/23 "2015-08-18T16:16:01Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Boy, howdy can he (if he’s a non-smoker)! I’m always amused at smokers who think they can hide/disguise the smoke. > > Yes, those of us who are not smokers can smell that you smoke in your apartment. **We can smell your desperate attempts to hide it. We can also smell it on your hair and skin and breath no matter how much you shower or how much mouthwash you swill.** > Yep. > > “Decontaminating” a smoked-in residence can be done but it’s a pain in the ass, at the least requires oil-based covering primer on the walls and ceiling, extensive cleaning or replacement of any carpet or fabric covered furniture, and in the worst cases would require replacing drywall. These days, lingering smoke smell and yellowing are considered damage. Jeez, have some issues, do you? Also, oil-based primer is not required and I cannot imagine in what situation replacing drywall would be necessary. The carpeting I can see, but then carpeting needs to be eliminated under all circumstances. As to the OP, yeah, if someone cares enough and wants to determine if you’ve been smoking they most certainly will be able to. If your apartment has a no smoking clause you are probably fucked if management is the type to enforce such things. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2015, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-yer-apartment/728157/24 "2015-08-18T16:51:39Z")
> [@Savannah](#): > > Yes, non-smokers and ex-smokers can smell it, no matter what you do to cover it up or air it out. I’m an ex-smoker, and when I was smoking on the sly, I was fooling no one but myself. Hell, even when I was a 2-pack a day smoker a decade plus back, I could smell it and for that reason, I never smoked in my apartment, but always outside. Even then, though, the smoke on my clothes would betray my smoking. I noticed it 100x more when I stopped smoking. What used to just be a faint, but noticeable, whiff of smoke on my clothes after coming home from a bar or club quickly became wretchedly malodorous, such that I couldn’t sleep in the same room as my clothes. Vaping, however, I do not notice unless it’s been done very very recently. And, even then, it’s not a particularly bad smell: just a faint, sweet odor. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2015, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-yer-apartment/728157/25 "2015-08-18T17:32:16Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > Also, oil-based primer is not required and I cannot imagine in what situation replacing drywall would be necessary. The carpeting I can see, but then carpeting needs to be eliminated under all circumstances. Just washing the walls doesn’t cut it. Oh, maybe if the smoke was recent and minimal, but if you are cleaning out the place of someone who smoked for decades yes, you’re going to have issues. That shit penetrates the drywall, I’ve seen situations were after a demo you can see that the smoke and residues have physically penetrated into things like drywall, or have been sandwiched between layers of paint over the years. Suspended ceiling tiles are also bad for that. And yes, I _loathe_ tobacco smoke. I wish “smoking” had never been invented. I understand that smokers are the victims of an addiction and do my best to keep my mouth shut when visiting their residences or vehicles or whatever, but don’t mistake politeness for approval. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2015, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-yer-apartment/728157/26 "2015-08-18T17:46:22Z")
> [@](#): > > We can smell your desperate attempts to hide it. We can also smell it on your hair and skin and breath no matter how much you shower or how much mouthwash you swill. > [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > Jeez, have some issues, do you?. yep, a lot us us have issues.Because, you see… SMOKING STINKS! Almost anybody who doesn’t smoke can tell if a cigarette has been lit anywhere nearby. If you lit a single cigarette in the room yesterday, the room stinks. If somebody in the office lit a cigarette while walking down the hallway to the outdoor smokers patio, the hallway stinks. If you smoke a half pack a day, you stink. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2015, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-yer-apartment/728157/27 "2015-08-18T18:54:26Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > Depends on how much you smoke, but if you’re a heavy smoker no amount of air freshener and candles is going to conceal the fact completely. Exactly. The air freshener/incense/whatever doesn’t really hide the smoke smell. It just smells like the apartment of a smoker who is trying to cover it up with cheap air freshener. To a non-smoker, it’s pretty obvious. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2015, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-yer-apartment/728157/28 "2015-08-18T19:05:17Z")
> [@Toy\_varen](#): > > Put it this way: if your apt does not allow smoking, they probably have a clause in your lease to kick you out. If they suspect weed, they don’t need a clause, they just call the cops to come and search your place. They don’t need to smell weed to call the cops. Depends if the State has medicinal marijuana, then just smelling it or seeing it growing in the front yard isn’t “probably cause” that a crime is being committed. If the State has legal recreational marijuana, then it’s not a crime at all. If the renter signs an agreement to not smoke anything in the unit … then the manager can and should kick the renter out. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2015, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-yer-apartment/728157/29 "2015-08-18T19:55:24Z")
Generally, air fresheners work by at least two of these methods: 1. masking the bad smell by overwhelming it with a less-bad smell (this one is pretty much universal) 2. deadening the nerves in the nose 3. coating nasal passages with an oily film Note that none of those actually do anything to the chemicals in the air that cause the bad smell. And their effects are very temporary unless you have one of those plug-in things that constantly produce the stuff. It’d be better to get an activated charcoal filter which absorbs the bad odors. But even those won’t get the smell out of furniture and carpeting. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2015, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-yer-apartment/728157/30 "2015-08-19T00:21:48Z")
And I’ve heard it said, by connoisseurs of oral sex, that they can sure as hell tell. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2015, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-yer-apartment/728157/31 "2015-08-19T13:37:33Z")
Not only will the maintenance guy know, all your neighbors will too – unless they smoke like you smoke. ---
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2015, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-yer-apartment/728157/32 "2015-08-19T14:00:39Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Just washing the walls doesn’t cut it. Oh, maybe if the smoke was recent and minimal, but if you are cleaning out the place of someone who smoked for decades yes, you’re going to have issues. That shit penetrates the drywall, I’ve seen situations were after a demo you can see that the smoke and residues have physically penetrated into things like drywall, or have been sandwiched between layers of paint over the years. Suspended ceiling tiles are also bad for that. > > And yes, I _loathe_ tobacco smoke. I wish “smoking” had never been invented. I understand that smokers are the victims of an addiction and do my best to keep my mouth shut when visiting their residences or vehicles or whatever, but don’t mistake politeness for approval. I’ve turned apts. for years, and yes, I allow smoking. Wash the walls (& ceilings) Kilz the same, maybe 2 coats if it seems bad (or add some pure vanilla to it), run an ozone generator in there for a couple of days and you’re good to go. Of course I have no carpet in those units, and I never put anything but mini-blinds in a rental, although tenants are free to put up what they’d like as decor. I’ve rented to a non- right after a smoker and never heard a word. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-yer-apartment/728157.md?page=1)