Once a table is around smoke, does it smell?

dearnold

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I'm looking for a gold crown and a lot of them have been in smokey bars. If you bring one of those home, is it going to smell like smoke forever? Does it go away? Is there a way to mitigate it?

Regards
 
New cloth and rails and a good scrub of all the seen and unseen slate, wood, laminates, and plastic will eliminate the smell.
 
EVERY thing porous will absorb smoke, and therefore will stink.

Cloth, wood, leather, all porous materials.
 
The mechanic that set my table up said yes, they can stink for years. There is a ton of unfinished stained wood under a Gold Crown. How are you going to clean that? I guess you could paint it.
 
Cleaning the smoke

Call a cleaning company. They have ways to get the smoke smell out, just like they do for drapes.
 
if you get one....

if you have an unoccupied space to store it, or are planning on leaving the house for a weekend, try an ozone generator, you can rent one for a reasonable price. it should do the trick.
 
Baking Soda. Works in the fridge as we all know, but also works elsewhere. When I quit smoking, my Dr. told me to put an aluminum pie pan full of baking soda under the passenger seat to remove the smell in the car. 2 days, and 0 smoke smell. May take a little longer to absorb everything out of a table, but it should work in the long term. Maybe put a pie pan full under the table on the floor?
 
The smoke smell comes from the tar that condenses out of the smoke onto surfaces. You can cover it up for a bit using stuff like Febreze or baking soda, which absorb odors, but unless you keep applying it, the smoke will always return. What you have to do is remove the tar. For that you need a solvent that will dissolve it. Water will not work. Alcohol will get some of it. Mineral spirits (or kerosene) applied with a cloth and then scrubbed with a brush, and wiped off with clean mineral spirits (repeat until clear) will get it all. It may also remove some of the stain finish on the wood. Slate is porous, but I don't think mineral spirits will harm slate. Best to check on the underside first, though. It won't harm unfinished metal. New cloth, and then you are permanently rid of the smoke. (BTW, I smoke). If you need to get all the mineral spirits absolutely off a surface, use brake cleaner.

Do all this outside.
 
You should definitely buy a new table then you will have that fresh new chemical smell of formaldehyde and the other chemicals in the glues and binders of the materials.
 
The fire restoration companies can tell you what to use, or even do it for you...I have seen them save furniture that was in a heavy blaze.
 
At one time I had a GC from a bar/pool hall. The felt smelled bad. When I put new cloth on I wiped everything down real well. I never noticed any odors after that and I hate the smell of smke, so I would have noticed it.
 
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