We bought a new car, obviously test driven by an I imagine 50 cent cheap cigar smoker, you know one of those big cigars that smell like crap, but got a good deal on the car and did not take but a couple of weeks for the smell to fade. Wonder if there are plants to smoke a stinky cigar in new cars at another dealer to screw up sales. Sorry the fabreeze story earlier was a bust, would have been my suggestion. But I do have some Jovan musk in my glove box I use occasionally as I am a smoker to cover the smell for friends I need to give a ride to whom I know are offended by the smell. Now it reminds me of a dear love of mine, and people are like, gosh your car smells nice.
I bought a smokerâs car once and eventually the odor faded out. Just leave the windows open so the out-gassing chemicals can escape if you have a safe place to park it. Eventually, youâll run out of chemicals to out-gas.
Just as the new car smell eventually goes away, so does the cigarette smoke smell.
I used to work as a TV tech and when you turned on a TV in the shop, the smell of the ownerâs house would cook out of the TV as the tubes warmed up. You could definitely tell who the smokers were. The bar and bowling ally tvs were the grossest.
While this is a very old thread brought back to life Iâll throw in this obversation. I smoked for 40+ years and then quit. The smell of cigarette smoke lasted for several years in all my vehicles but I put up with it. Then when the headliner on my pickup began to sag I replaced it and there was a significant improvement according to the non smokers who sometimes road with me.
My grandmother smoked most of her life, from her early teenage years until her death at age 82
Anyways, her cars always smelled unpleasant to me. The headliners had soaked up all that stuff, and were visibly stained
Ozium doesnât fix that. I mentioned that, because some of the really old comments are just plain incorrect and/or misinformed, imo
Air fresheners donât remove whatâs already soaked into the headliner, upholstery, etc.
Kind of like if youâve been working hard and are sweating like a pig. Deodorant isnât going to get rid of the sweat. At some point, you need to take a shower, and nothing will change that.
My 1997 Ford truck came to me in way worse shape than this. It was filled with dirt, beer can tabs and bottle tops, shell casings, cigarettes, shell casings, discarded fast food, roaches, a few dead mice (and living ones too), mouse urine, and droppings. The aroma was less than pleasing to put it nicely.
So, I disconnected the battery and basically sprayed a mixture of laundry detergent and vinegar all over the interior of the truck. I then took a garden hose and began just hosing the thing down inside and sucking it out with a shop vac. This didnât seem to be making a dent so I broke out the pressure washer. One of my neighbors thought I had lost my mind when I was pressure washing the interior of the truck. I used the most gentle spray tip that came with it.
I sucked out like two whole shop vacs full of dirt and debris from the inside of the truck. I even removed the trim from the rocker panel area as it was full of dirt and the water wasnât draining out of the body so I blasted that clean as well.
The sound system was about shot but this finished it off as you can imagine so I found a set of speakers on sale online and fixed that after this cleanup. This is basically my winter beater and firewood truck so I didnât want something fancy. I just didnât realize quite how bad of a mess it was before I got it. Anyway, it doesnât reek inside anymore. This might be a little extreme for your car but I thought I would throw it out there.
I just spray Lysol in my car the night before with the windows open if I know the wife is going to be riding in my car. Seems to work but guess Iâll find out at trade-in time.
I sat in a used Mini Cooper at a high line imported car dealership. I commented that I could smell stale smoke. The salesman replied that ants had gotten into their cars and I was smelling bug killer. Points for imagination; but no sale.
A friend bought a BMW that had had some type of stink bomb set off inside. The carpet and headliner had been thrown away. It smelled like rotted meat, but was also peppery. He used a hot plate and a junk sauce pan to boiled urinal cakes. It helped the smell, but he always had the urge to pee when he drove it.
We bought a used Dodge Colt from a smoker. Although the car had only 20,000 miles on it, the smell was bad.
We parked it inside the garage with all the windows open after cleaning out the inside. As well we put Bounce drier towels under the seats.
It took about 3 months to get rid of the smell.
People with severe allergies should not buy cars owned by smokers.
The other problem with smoke is that the tar cements all the dust going through the ventilation systems to the insides of the ducting, etc. I work on computers and fine the cooling system heatsinks completely packed with tar and dust. People are in shock when I show them why their computers are overheating and donât realize what an impact second hand smoke has on their computer. You have to think that if someone has been smoking in their car for hours and hours, there could be a considerable amount of tar adhered to the insides of the ducting. With a computer you can take everything apart relatively easily. With a car removing the dash can be a time consuming and expensive job to get to all the HVAC ducting and such. I suspect that the dark recesses of these cars will look a lot like the insides of the computers I see. I donât know how you can get all the good out of their without complete disassembly.
If I were trying to remove such an odor in my car, Iâd start by saturating the entire interior with baking soda and then Iâd vacuum it up, maybe after letting it sit for a while. Then Iâd begin a regimen of spraying Ozium air sanitizer in the car on a regular basis, closing it up, and then airing it out before driving it.
If youâre willing to mask the smell, you could try one of the many air fresheners on the market, but I prefer to focus on removing or neutralizing the odor rather than masking it.
If you get a chance, leaving the car open in direct sunlight might help. Sunlight is a good disinfectant, but be careful not to leave it open and unattended.
Been there, done that, bought the tee-shirt.
No big deal.
Clean vinyl trim with a damp sponge and dish soap.
Leave the car parked with a large area pan of vinegar (shallow is Okay), widows closed, preferably warm weather, sun if possible. Take it out to drive, of course.
Do that for about three days then switch to a shallow container of ground coffee.
Do that a few days then follow up with a spritz or two of Ozium spray.
Voila!
CSA 
I posted something like 4-5 years ago here about using a chlorine dioxide gas to address odor issues from mouse nesting in the HVAC ducts of a car (I still own). It was nasty odor, especially on hot humid days. After cleaning out the mice and nest materials, the smell remained. I spent a lot of time researching it and found this product that produces chlorine dioxide gas (the same gas they use in old-fashioned libraries to kill mildew for example). It actually worked and lasted for many years-
https://www.amazon.com/Auto-Shocker-ClO2-interior-eliminator/dp/B001H8VLFC
You can find other references for the gas and this product, including some videos of it being used.
YMMV.
I purchased a used GMC pickup from a private party that had been carrying around a dog. Plus the heater core had leaked antifreeze on the carpet. The first time my wife got in the passenger seat she started gagging. I took out the seats and the carpet. I turned the seats over and applied lots of one-drop deodorizer to cushions. I replaced the carpet with full fitting rubber mats. All that worked.