How to Get Smoke Smell Out of Clothes After a Campfire (2023)

Everyone loves a campfire! But nobody likes the smokey smell that permeates clothing (and the RV!) once the fire is out. Since it’s campfire season, we thought we’d share some ideas for how to get the smoke smell out of clothes after a campfire.

Grab the marshmallows and chocolate, and let’s dive right in!

How to Have a Smoke-Free Campfire

First, let’s give a quick shout-out to smoke-free campfires! (Yes, there is such a thing!)

You may have read our post all about the portable propane fire pit. If not, we suggest you check it out because propane fire pits are among the best ways to prevent your clothes from absorbing smoke smell… by avoiding it altogether!

The reason for this is that propane fires don’t produce smoke. You don’t need wood with propane fire pits and fire bowls, so there’s simply no smoke to cause a smell in the first place.

If you’re interested in a portable propane fire pit, check out our video showing to connect a BBQ grill to an RV’s onboard propane tank. A propane fire pit can be connected the same way.

How to Get Smoke Smell Out of Clothes After a Campfire

Not everyone has the space to carry a propane fire pit, and lots of people love authentic wood campfires. And lots of campsites have fire rings. So let’s get down to business on the subject of how to remove the smoke smell from clothes.

Note that these suggestions will work for cigarette smoke as well.

Odor Eliminators

Using an odor-eliminating spray can help to remove the smell of smoke from clothing. Some odor eliminators come in a spray bottle. You can spray it right onto your clothes and then hang the clothing out in the fresh air.

Alternatively, (if you’re able to do laundry right away), you can spray your clothes with the odor eliminator and toss them into the laundry.

You can also get a liquid odor eliminator that goes into the washing machine and serves as a laundry booster.

We’ve used this ourselves and found that it worked well.

Following are two popular odor-eliminating products from Febreze.

Note: Don’t use Febreze products on leather, suede, silk, or fabrics that show water marks.

Scent Boosters

We don’t generally use scent boosters that are supposed to mask odors, but many people swear by laundry scent boosters so we’ll include a couple here.

Laundry scent boosters are designed to hold the “fresh laundry” scent long after the laundry has been done & folded, and you’ve worn the clothes. Some work better than others. The following two are popular and have good reviews, and are available in a variety of scents.

Vinegar

If the smoke smell in clothing is really bad, washing alone may still leave them with a smokey odor. Vinegar, among many other things, is an excellent odor remover. If you soak your clothing in equal parts vinegar and water for about an hour, the smokey smell will dissipate. Pre-soaking the clothes this way, then rinsing them out under clean water before tossing them into the washing machine will eliminate the smoke smell from your campfire clothes completely. Washing will remove any vinegar smell.

It’s best to use distilled white vinegar for any type of cleaning.

You can also add 1 cup of vinegar to the washing machine when you launder your campfire clothes.

Rubbing Alcohol

Rubbing alcohol is actually a pretty powerful odor remover. Most fabrics that are washable will do fine with rubbing alcohol.

Use one part rubbing alcohol to five parts water. Mix and add your clothes. Hang to dry, or launder as usual, and this should completely eliminate the smoke smell.

Or, if you’re able to do a load of laundry, simply add a half-cup of rubbing alcohol to your regular wash load.

How to Get the Smoke Smell Out of Clothes Without Using Water

For RVers who boondock and conserve water, there are a couple of great ways to remove the smoke smell from clothes without using any of your precious water!

Baking Soda

Pour a half cup to a cup of baking soda into a plastic bag and put your smoky clothes into the bag. Tie the bag up tight and then shake up the bag to distribute the baking soda.

Leave the clothing inside the bag at least overnight to allow the baking soda to absorb the odor. Then thoroughly shake everything out in the morning.

Dryer Sheets

You can also try essentially the same “trick” with dryer sheets to get the smoke smell out of clothes.

Toss a few dryer sheets into a large bag along with your smoky campfire clothes. Seal up the bag and leave the clothes in the sealed bag with the dryer sheets for a few days.

Some say this works, and others say you end up with clothes that smell like smoky dryer sheets! LOL But if you’re looking to conserve water when you’re boondocking, it’s worth a shot. If you’ve tried this, be sure to let us know if it works for you in the comments below.

Dry Clean

As a last resort (or if you happen to get a smoky smell on clothing made of fabrics that aren’t machine washable or are otherwise sensitive), you can always take the clothing to dry cleaners.

Dry cleaning can take care of most odors, but of course, it’s a more expensive alternative. Maybe best to avoid wearing non-washable clothing on camping trips. ????

How to Keep Your Campfire Clothes from Bringing a Smoky Smell Into Your RV

Now that you’ve got multiple ways to try removing the smoke smell from your clothes, go ahead and enjoy your next campfire!

If you don’t want your RV to take on the smokey smell from your campfire clothes, at the end of the evening when you shower and change, toss your smoky campfire clothing into a plastic bag along with some dryer sheets or baking soda, seal up the bag, and leave it outside.

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