I find that Fabreze leaves a tacky or sticky feel to whatever it is sprayed on. I don't think it would hurt the fabric itself, though, but I'm no expert.

One time my sister went through her clothes and got rid of a lot of items that just reeked with cigarette smoke. I took them home to wash them and donate to our church. I washed them 5 times and used everything I could think of. Baking soda, vinegar, different fabric softeners etc. They were ok after the 5th time but you could still smell it in there. I think now I would use Simple Green. It does work well to remove such smells but you have to test a small area to make sure you don't get color loss. I would rinse them a couple of times then. I learned this from the owner of a fishing camp. She said Simple Green was the only thing they found that would take odors out of their fish cleaning gloves and sacks. I would use a strong solution of it in the washer.

I love vinegar to deal with problems such as this. If you are not comfortable putting the quilt in the washing machine, consider soaking in the tub with water and vinegar. Tumble on low, or no heat, as you see fit. If you do not feel comfortable with the dryer than lay flat outside on a clean surface.

Did you try vingar and baking soda? Usually a mix of this gets out all smells. Wash on gentle cycle, if you can wash the quilt.

i had a problem with smoke last year - not cig smoke tho - had hung a couple of quilts out to dry - nice warm non humid day and didn't realize until later that the neighbors burned trash that day and all the smoke was blowing right into the direction of my quilts. took lots of washing to get odor out. didn't have any of the helpful hints I read here at the time. which I had.

a quilt has soaked up months or maybe even years of smoke smell, instead of just one day. Still think an Oxy-clean soak and a gentle wash would be the best.

That would be my advice also. I've never had smoke smells to contend with, but sometimes after cooking a big Cajun meal, fabrics in the house tend to smell last night's awesome meal. A good airing (especially on a morning like this one with brisk autumn breezes coming into the windows) and a spray of Febreeze will do the trick. I recommend hanging or laying the quilt outside for a while. If the smoke odor is persistent, then continue to air out.

My hubby works at a feed mill and his clothes stink so bad. I use borax and laundry soap in my wash water and add some liquid softner to it as well. For some reason when I use the softner in the wash water the odors and stains come out a lot better.

I would wash it in warm water with detergent and borax. Borax is a natural deodorizer that works great and will also boost laundry detergent. Hang the quilt outside even if it's cold. I find that hanging clothes out in cold weather whitens whites and the freezing does something for them, also. Bring it in and hang on a rack to finish drying. You could also add some vinegar to the rinse water.

So far the smells are coming out and there is no staining from the tar when I washed 2 quilts!!!! The one airing outside seems to be good too but I'm going to wait and see if just the airing takes care of everything. This has been great info and I REALLY appreciate all the advice/info! The water was so nasty in the machine- you would not believe. I threw a color fast sheet in there too (just in case).