How to Get the Cigarette Smell out of a Fabric Handbag

Cigarettes can leave odors in fabrics.

Keep cigarettes in your handbag and the bag could smell due to the dried tobacco and the other chemicals present in cigarettes. Expose your handbag to cigarette smoke and the odor will permeate the fabric even more strongly. Cigarette smoke also damages fabrics. Lingering cigarette odor can ruin a perfectly good fabric handbag. Unless you get the cigarette smell out of the handbag, you may feel that you can never comfortably use the handbag again. Before you throw out the handbag, though, try to get the smell out.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Four fabric softener sheets
• Plastic grocery bag
• Fabric refreshener spray
• 1 cup distilled white vinegar

1. Place two unused fabric softener sheets inside of the handbag. Close the handbag with the zipper or closure. Put the handbag in a plastic grocery bag and put two more fabric sheets in the plastic bag along with it. Tie the grocery bag's handles together. Leave the grocery bag alone for two to three days. Open the plastic bag and remove the handbag.

2. Spray the handbag with fabric refreshener. Spray both the inside and the outside of the bag until the bag is damp. Allow the bag to sit for several hours.

3. Fill your bathtub with hot water. Add 1 cup distilled white vinegar as the tub fills. Hang your handbag near the bathtub. Shut off the water. Leave the bathroom and shut the door. Do not turn on ventilation fans or open windows. Wait several hours. Return to check on the handbag. The steam from the vinegar and water will remove trapped odors. Drain the water, turn on the ventilation fans or open windows after you finish.

Tips & Warnings

• Do not smoke and avoid secondhand smoke whenever possible if you want your handbag and other fabrics to smell fresh.

• Test the fabric refreshener on a small swatch of the handbag before you clean the entire bag. Some fabrics stain. Do not use fabric refreshener to clean leather handbags.

• Do not touch the hot water in your tub. Allow the water to cool before you drain the tub if you must dunk your hand in the water to remove the drain cover.

References

• Good Housekeeping; Expert Q & A - Odor and Stain Removal; Carolyn Forte
• Reader's Digest: Remove Cigarette or Cigar Smoke Smells
• University of Kentucky College of Agriculture: Odors - What's That Smell
• American Cancer Society: What Is in Tobacco
• American Cancer Society: Secondhand Smoke
• The University of Southern Mississippi: Smoking/Tobacco