What Does a Vape Smell Like?

When it comes to smoking, just about everyone can agree on one thing: It smells terrible. Even many smokers can barely tolerate the smell of cigarettes, and everyone hates the stale smell of smoke that lingers in homes and cars after people have smoked in those environments. It’s no surprise that when people switch from smoking to vaping, one of the first things they often do is look for advice about how to remove the smoke smell from their environment.

Based on that, it’s no surprise that you’ve discovered this article. If you’re thinking about switching from smoking to vaping, it’s only natural that you’d want to know what a vape smells like and whether the smell of vaping lingers like smoke does.

So, what does a vape smell like? If you vape in your home or car, how long can you expect the smell to last?

We have some good news. Although vaping does have a slight smell, it’s so mild compared to the smell of cigarette smoke that there really is no excuse not to switch to vaping if you hate the way smoke smells. The difference in the smell of vaping vs. smoking is so profound that you’ll wonder why you didn’t switch years ago.

What Do Vapes Smell Like?

The biggest difference between smoking and vaping is the fact that vaping doesn’t produce smoke. The fact that vaping doesn’t involve the inhalation of smoke and tar is one of the biggest reasons why smokers switch to vaping. This key difference extends to smell, which actually makes perfect sense if you consider what’s happening when you smoke a cigarette.

When you smoke, the smell that’s created doesn’t really come from tobacco – it comes from the smoke. Cigarette smoke doesn’t just make a room smell bad when you’re actively smoking. Because cigarette smoke is such a sticky substance, it adheres to everything and creates a stubborn smell that refuses to go away. That’s why smoke remediation is such a big business; many people get frustrated when they try to get rid of the smoke smell in their homes and cars. Removing the smell of smoke is very difficult to do, and it often requires professional assistance.

The smell of a vape, on the other hand, is completely different because smoke doesn’t get in the way of the smell. A vape simply smells like the e-liquid that’s in it. So, if you’re using a blue raspberry e-liquid, your environment will smell like blue raspberry while you vape. For most people, that’s not a bad thing at all.  

Does the Smell of Vaping Linger in a House or Car?

The smell of vaping generally doesn’t tend to linger in the environment at all. After you exhale the vapor, it dissipates within a few seconds – and once the vapor is gone, there’s usually little to no lingering odor. The only real exception to this rule is if you’re vaping in a small, enclosed space with no airflow. If you have a powerful vaping device that creates huge clouds and always vape in your car with the windows rolled up, for instance, it’s reasonable to expect a mild lingering odor.

If you vape with a window cracked and always blow the vapor out of the window, on the other hand, the smell won’t linger like it would if you were a smoker. If you’ve ever smoked in a car, you know there’s no way to prevent the smell from permeating every crevice. Even if you smoke with the windows down, it won’t make a difference. With vaping, on the other hand, having a window open in your home or car is typically all that you need to do if you don’t want your environment to smell like your e-liquid.

Maintaining airflow in your environment isn’t the only way to minimize the smell of vaping. There are a few other things that you can do as well, and we’ll discuss those next.

To Minimize the Smell of Vaping, Avoid Strongly Flavored E-Liquids

As we explained above, vaping does have a mild smell – the vapor smells exactly like your e-liquid tastes. With that in mind, it’s important to realize that the strength of the smell will depend on how strongly flavored your e-liquid is. Fruit and dessert e-liquids, for instance, often have very high concentrations of flavoring agents and will therefore produce stronger smells.

Since a more strongly flavored e-liquid will produce more of a smell when you vape, switching to a more mildly flavored vape juice is a wise idea if you want to reduce any lingering odor that vaping might create in your environment. For example, many people enjoy unflavored e-liquids because they don’t want to taste something sweet all day long. Unflavored vape juice can also be great for preventing or curing vaper’s tongue. E-liquid that has no flavor also has no smell. Alternatively, a plain menthol e-liquid can also be a great choice if you want to make sure that your home or car won’t smell like vape juice.

Vaping Hardware Also Has an Effect on Smell

You should also consider what vaping hardware you’re using if you want to control the smell as much as possible. Just as the intensity of your e-liquid’s flavor has an effect on the smell when you vape, so does the amount of vape juice that you exhale with each puff. Naturally, an enormous vape mod is going to produce much more of a scent than a smaller pod-based device or disposable vape. Luckily, many of the best vapes are smaller devices that are completely satisfying even though they’re quite discreet. Try an Innokin INNOBAR vape for a perfect example of a device that provides a great vaping experience while producing a mild scent that fades quickly.

How to Get the Vape Smell out a Car or Room

As we mentioned above, it’s very rare for a vaping device to produce a smell that’s detectable for more than a few minutes unless you’re using a device that generates enormous clouds and are vaping in an enclosed room or car with no airflow. If you happen to be the type of person who loves filling your environment with a thick haze of blue raspberry, though, we’ll provide some tips that can help. Here’s how to get the vape smell out of a car or room.

Removing the Vape Smell from Your Home

Vape juice is a fairly sticky substance – so if you vape heavily in a small room with no airflow, the e-liquid is bound to condense on just about every surface. Luckily, though, e-liquid is also water soluble, which means that cleaning it won’t require a great deal of effort.

• Vacuum or mop the floor thoroughly. If you’re trying to remove the vape smell from a carpeted room, you may also find it helpful to rent a carpet cleaner from your local supermarket. Try the other steps on this list first, though, because steam cleaning the carpet may not be necessary.
• Clean the upholstery of the chair where you normally sit while vaping. If the upholstery can safely get wet, you’ll find it easier to do this if you use a wet rag and some mild detergent.
• Clean any walls or windows situated in the direction where you usually exhale the vapor. If you look at these surfaces closely, you’ll probably see some small, sticky droplets indicating that the vapor has condensed on these surfaces. The droplets will come off easily with a bit of soap and water. You can also clean your windows with vinegar or any glass cleaner.

Removing the Vape Smell from Your Car

Because the interior of a car is such a small and enclosed area, we recommend always cracking a window when you vape while driving. Even if you do that, though, it’s possible for your car to smell like vapor if you use a strongly flavored e-liquid. Here’s how to get the vape smell out of your car.

• Vacuum your car thoroughly and clean the seats. Use a leather or upholstery cleaner that’s appropriate for your vehicle. Since e-liquid is water soluble, any liquid cleaner should work for this task. You may also find it helpful to clean your car’s floormats with an upholstery cleaner.
• Clean your car’s interior plastic surfaces with a damp rag and a little mild detergent. Just as we described in the section above, you’ll be able to see small droplets on these surfaces where the vapor has condensed if you look closely. The droplets should come off easily.
• Clean the interior of your car’s windows with vinegar or glass cleaner. If your windows are tinted, don’t forget to use a cleaning agent that won’t cause the tinting film to peel. By the time you’re done with this, you’ll have removed the last traces of vape smell from your car. As an added bonus, you’ll probably also notice that your windows are much clearer.