I've been off the cigs for a couple of years now. Last year, my leather jacket bothered me because it smelled horrible from all the old smoke smell. No surprise there, as I was a heavy smoker and I'd had it for awhile.
We had a cold spell last week, so I got it out again, and naturally, it still stinks. I was going to take it to the dry cleaner - but they told me it would be $60 to clean it. If I'm going to spend that much, I may as well put it towards a new jacket.
So I googled around a bit, and found a forum thread where someone said they had successfully solved that problem by running the jacket through their automatic dryer with 6 or 8 fabric softener sheets and a few new tennis balls. The theory is that the fabric softeners soak up the smell, while dropping off little bits of something that smells better, and the tennis balls help move those sheets around. Run it on low heat/no heat.
So I tried that out, and I'm pleasantly surprised. I hadn't really expected it to work, and I thought there was a chance it would ruin the jacket (but I was considering the jacket a hopeless case unless I could fix the smoke smell.) I think I used around 12 dryer sheets. They are cheap, so I figured more is better.
When I've noticed the jacket the most is when it's been sitting in my car for awhile, and I come back to the car. Last night, after running the jacket through the dryer with the dryer sheets (for about 2 hours), I put it in the car, and I went out. When I got back to the car, I could smell it - but just barely. And I may not have even noticed it if I hadn't been thinking about it.
Before, the stench was very strong. Now, I can barely notice it.
I figured "If a little bit is good, more is better", so it's running through the dryer again now, fresh dryer sheets and the same tennis balls.
I've been very pleased with the result, and I know a lot of other vapers probably have a leather jacket they would like to clean up.
We had a cold spell last week, so I got it out again, and naturally, it still stinks. I was going to take it to the dry cleaner - but they told me it would be $60 to clean it. If I'm going to spend that much, I may as well put it towards a new jacket.
So I googled around a bit, and found a forum thread where someone said they had successfully solved that problem by running the jacket through their automatic dryer with 6 or 8 fabric softener sheets and a few new tennis balls. The theory is that the fabric softeners soak up the smell, while dropping off little bits of something that smells better, and the tennis balls help move those sheets around. Run it on low heat/no heat.
So I tried that out, and I'm pleasantly surprised. I hadn't really expected it to work, and I thought there was a chance it would ruin the jacket (but I was considering the jacket a hopeless case unless I could fix the smoke smell.) I think I used around 12 dryer sheets. They are cheap, so I figured more is better.
When I've noticed the jacket the most is when it's been sitting in my car for awhile, and I come back to the car. Last night, after running the jacket through the dryer with the dryer sheets (for about 2 hours), I put it in the car, and I went out. When I got back to the car, I could smell it - but just barely. And I may not have even noticed it if I hadn't been thinking about it.
Before, the stench was very strong. Now, I can barely notice it.
I figured "If a little bit is good, more is better", so it's running through the dryer again now, fresh dryer sheets and the same tennis balls.
I've been very pleased with the result, and I know a lot of other vapers probably have a leather jacket they would like to clean up.
I have a full length leather trench coat that my oldest used for Halloween. I ran it through my dryer's sanitizer setting and it helped but did not remove the smell. Tried fabreeze, again helped but still strong smell after awhile....years and years of smoking. My daughter won't admit it, she loved the coat but hasn't worn it since...I'm guessing since she's 12 and it smells like an ashtray she doesn't want people getting the wrong idea lmfao.
