Nicotine colored walls

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paintingdusk13@reddit

No, but when my grandfather died in 1990 he left me his 1972 Oldsmobile 98 and it took me forever to clean the cigarette smoke off the windows. He also told me many times his hacking cough was from all the cigarettes he smoked.

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GOW_Grashopa@reddit

OMG when my dad moved out of his place we moved the couch and there was a white rectangle on the wall. LOL.

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byrdinbabylon@reddit

Sounds like a cool album name...

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ATLBrysco@reddit

Both of my parents quit smoking in 1991. I didn't know until my father passed away in 2007 (my mother preceded him by almost 10 years); we kids decided to sell the house so removing pictures and furniture left a ghostly outline of what used to be there... that's when we knew it was time to paint and remove wallpaper... 🤔

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Extra_Rice_2977@reddit (OP)

My mom died of emphysema 10 years after she quit smoking.

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ATLBrysco@reddit

Sorry to hear that, Rice. My mom died of COPD. My father, who quit before she passed started smoking again afterwards (I think due to stress; just reinforced all that nicotine on the walls). He did quit again, but then had a heart attack almost two years after he quit.

Gonna get you one way or the other... 😕

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Extra_Rice_2977@reddit (OP)

Sorry for your losses. Both mine are gone and have been for almost 30 years. The unwanted guest comes for us all

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LadySlayinem@reddit

Granny used to mix up instant nestea good n thick and add it to her paint so it would 'blend'. Worst was stuck in the car with her with the ac on and the windows up.

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astro_nerd75@reddit

Yuck!

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LadySlayinem@reddit

Indeed

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TLKimball@reddit

I referred to gramma’s car as “The Rolling Ashtray.”

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LadySlayinem@reddit

Yep. That's what is was too

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jseger9000@reddit

That was my grandparents house. My grandmother in particular was a chain smoker all her life and the walls were nicotine stained. it made me never want to smoke.

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Extra_Rice_2977@reddit (OP)

I never picked up the habit. I always say I smoked enough from the womb till I was 13 from my mom’s second hand smoke. I’m pretty sure she smoked while pregnant.

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TehFuriousOne@reddit

When my mother died I took a china cabinet from my grandparents' house that had sat in their dining room for many years. When I got it home, I started cleaning it off with som3 Murphys and was aghast at the amount of nicotine residue that came off that thing. Even 8 years later, I was still pulling nicotine off that thing.

I didn't realize it at the time but wonder now if I had smoke smell about me as a kid

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Extra_Rice_2977@reddit (OP)

It’s okay. I believe 90% had smoke smell as kids

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lscraig1968@reddit

Yeah, we all smelled like smoke back in the day. I could always tell when my mom was smoking while she was folding laundry. Even the clean clothes smelled like smoke.

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FelinusFanaticus@reddit

Yep. I remember an incident in 6th grade, where some girls teased me about being a secret smoker, because my freshly laundered gym clothes, that my mom had lovingly folded and placed in a plastic bag, before delicately tying the handles into a knot, reeked of smoke. Of the Viceroy nature. I refused to leave Mondays clean clothes tied up in the bag after that, in hopes that some of the smoke she blew onto it all, while getting it ready, would air out somewhat.

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DamnItDarin@reddit

You absolutely did.

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Extra_Rice_2977@reddit (OP)

Did they use lead paint

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FelinusFanaticus@reddit

Once a year, my mom would wash the ceilings of the tiny bathroom our home. They would turn a yellowy brown, because my folks smoked like chimneys, while spending lengthy amounts of time shitting and perusing the National Enquirer. I noticed the light brown outline of nicotine around edges of pictures and decor hung on walls, too, when she’d rearrange, or paint.

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Extra_Rice_2977@reddit (OP)

The national Enquirer! I had forgot about that thing.

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ErnestBatchelder@reddit

My parents didn't smoke, but I did from an early age. I'd sit in the smoking section of Denny's and look up at the yellow-stained asbestos tile & know exactly what was going on.

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psoriasaurus_rex@reddit

So I vividly remember my aunt purposely repainting her living room a dingy nicotine beige because she chain smoked and didn’t want to worry about staining her walls.

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iamnotyounorwouldili@reddit

I knew froma early age what cigarette smoke did to walls. Grandparents would repaint the whole damn inside of the house every 2 years. That was back when people could afford to do that kind of thing though

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HandleAccomplished11@reddit

Did the stains bleed through the paint, or did they actually ckean the walls first? I had to paint a smoker house once, the damn nicotine/smoke bled through the paint. Had to scrub the place with TSP.

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iamnotyounorwouldili@reddit

They hired painters and I clearly remember a painter complaining about having to wash the walls, and I think my grandmother washed them down herself at least once a year. They were both heavy smokers but my grandfather was an actual chain smoker. The only time he didn't have a lit cigarette in his hand or mouth was when he was sleeping or in the shower and only in the shower because he couldn't keep one lit.

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Cheezelover99@reddit

The smoking or the painting?

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iamnotyounorwouldili@reddit

Yes on both accounts!

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Impressive-Shame-525@reddit

Yes

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MyriVerse2@reddit

We were a non-smoking home, but my grandma and uncles smoked. I saw their walls.

And I worked for a time at a hotel in housekeeping before the smoking bans. Once a year we scrubbed the walls with bleach.

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Phobos1982@reddit

Yes. I remember that. I also had trouble with some of my friends’ families because I smelled like smoke. They thought I would try to get their kids to smoke.

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Mjhandy@reddit

Old pubs in the UK. Look up.

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Historical_Touch_124@reddit

An ex of mine bought a condo in the early 2000's from an old smoker. Tar covered walls (yellow to tan), and we pretty much had to replace all the HVAC ductwork that was coated in that shit.

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Extra_Rice_2977@reddit (OP)

Yuck!!!

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EttaJamesKitty@reddit

Yup. The only white spots (on our white walls) was behind pictures on the wall or above plants hanging from a macrame holder from the ceiling.

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DNAprototype@reddit

Tar stains, not nicotine.

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splorp_evilbastard@reddit

One of my grand aunt's apartment walls were not only nicotine stained, but they were literally dripping with it. She had to smoke 3-4 packs a day.

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CqwyxzKpr@reddit

The worse for me was tasting the difference in a smokers baked goods vs ones from a non smokers.

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lazygerm@reddit

Yes, right here.

I used to wash my walls with Spic and Span starting when I was 12. Both the walls and windows would covered with this brown-orange staining. One time, I actually washed my curtains once and made the made of looking at the color of the water.

The thing is, yes, both my parents smoked. But they weren't chain smokers or a pack-a-day types. Just a pack every three days or so.

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One-Earth9294@reddit

Back when everyone smoked things were brown preemptively. Walls, carpet, curtains. The 70s was drowning in brown.

Even early home PCs were like dingy cream color to make the smoke stains not so noticeable.

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TheAmazingBildo@reddit

I used to work at Walmart in the early 90s. We still had a smoking room, and once a month a couple of maintenance guys would come clean the walls. The cleaner would turn brown and run down the walls. It was nasty, but I still smoked and that room had all the cool people in it.

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FlavorBlaster42@reddit

I think that's tar.

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Vintagedoll78@reddit

The house I currently am renting has had smokers in it prior to me living there. I see the remains of it every time I have a shower and the brown cig grease starts running down the walls

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chubbyrain71@reddit

Yup, but in my case it was the framing of the drop ceiling in the kitchen. One day the old witch decided to paint it brown-brown.

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OutdoorRaleigh@reddit

I worked a restaurant in the 80s, part of the job was washing walls and do dads displayed on said walls. The difference between the smoking and non-smoking sides of the dining room was amazing.

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Mysterious-Dealer649@reddit

Was semi lucky in that my dad was the only smoker in my house. One of my moms besties also smoked and when we got together with them which was often, it’s amazing how much worse 2 of them lighting one menthol off the last was then just one doing it

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Ill-Tomorrow2681@reddit

My parents repainted the house every year.... ugh. Mom finally stopped smoking when she had a massive heart attack at 58. Dad smoked (only outside) until the day he died. While on oxygen, after lung cancer, COPD, and emphysema diagnosis.

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she_slithers_slyly@reddit

Thank goodness for the tropics. Back then they didn't have ac's so everyone kept their jalousie windows open. But when it rained the indoor smoking was so gross. The smoke bonds with the water molecules in the air and clings to everything + smells wet.

I never could understand people who smoke in cars with the windows up. And had a friend who's mom even did this on rainy days. Just gross.

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TacoTico1994@reddit

I lived in an apartment 25 years ago and the bathroom walls bled brown after a couple showers and wreaked of my great grandparents house and not in a good way.

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floofymonstercat@reddit

After mom died of lung disease, of course. The painting contractor had to use an oil based primer cause the latex paint wouldn't adhere to nicotine infused walls.

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Jebgogh@reddit

My parents smoked in the house until sometime in the 80s and it became less accepted. They stopped smoking in the house and would smoke outside or in the garage if it was cold. thinking about it now, wonder if it had to do with them finally buying a house and it being theirs so they didn't want to smell it up.

My dad quit in the early 90s and it took my mum another 5-6 years I think. Dad died of cancer anyways but that was also probably from all the chemicals he was exposed to in the Air Force for 25 years of flight line and munitions work.

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