As the saying goes, some things get better with time. This might be true for wine and cheese, but not in the case of tobacco smoke residue. Tobacco smoke residue sticks to surfaces and becomes embedded in materials. Further, the chemicals are released back into the air in the form of toxic aerosols. Research shows that tobacco smoke residue gets even more toxic as it ages. Adding insult to injury, your cleaning products might be making it worse. 

Dr. Liu Yang at the Chinese Academy of Sciences recently led a study that observed how smoking and cleaning create and impact indoor organic aerosols. First, the researchers lit cigarettes and measured tobacco smoke aerosols in the air, continuing to measure the air overnight. The next day, the researchers cleaned surfaces in the room using common household cleaning solutions and measured the aerosols again. They found that the tobacco smoke aerosols chemically changed over time—and not in a good way. The changes resulted in creating new toxic chemicals. In addition, during cleaning, the tobacco smoke residue interacted with the chemicals in the cleaning solution, creating new, chemically different toxic aerosols.