A video of a cleaner removing smoke stains from an apartment that housed a smoker for 10 years has gone viral on TikTok.
The clip was shared by Kaylee Marie Green (@aliyahsmamaxox), 31-year-old mom who lives in Tennessee. The clip has garnered 10.1 million views since it was shared on August 13.
Text overlaid on the video reads: “More from our day of removing nicotine from the apartment of a 10 year smoker.” The clip shows smoke stains being scrubbed off of what appears to be an air conditioning unit, as well as a door and a floor.
The poster told Newsweek that she was cleaning the apartment for a customer who had just moved her father out of the house. “He lived there for 10 years. It took us eight days to clean the stains and smells,” the poster said.
She said: “We used Zep [a brand of cleaning products] purple degreaser in a pump sprayer, sprayed the walls down and wiped them with a paper towel.”
The viral post comes as cigarettes are reported to be the most commonly used type of tobacco product in the United States, according to a 2022 report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In 2022, 49.2 million U.S. adults—nearly one in five—reported current tobacco product use, the report said.
While cigarette smoking among adults has declined over the past decades, the use of e-cigarettes, also known as vapes, among adults increased from 2019 to 2022. Those aged 18 to 24 had the highest prevalence of e-cigarette usage, while those aged from 45 to 64 years old had the highest prevalence of cigarette smoking, the CDC report found.
The national health body warns that “tobacco product use remains the leading cause of preventable disease and death” in the U.S., noting that “smoking causes many diseases including cancer and cardiovascular and lung diseases.”
‘Crazy’
Viewers on TikTok were shocked by the scene of the apartment captured in the viral post.
User huccimamatay asked: “Isn’t that really dangerous?” and the original poster replied: “To live in? Yes. To clean, not if you take the proper precautions and do it right which we did.”
User @thecinnamonspide wrote: “unfortunately no amount of cleaning is going to make this sanitary and livable in my opinion.”
EleanorKerry78 said: “So this is NASTY. I’ve never smoked, never will…I’ve been friends with people who had parents that smoked and I literally couldn’t be around them without having an asthma attack. There’s no way to hide the smell of cigarettes. Sorry, there just isn’t. Perfume and air fresheners do nothing btw [by the way].”
User curte wrote: “Imagine his lungs! Why would anyone want to put toxins into their own body,” and user935794600848 agreed, saying: “Just imagine the residue on the lungs.”
User libby said: “what’s crazy is this could’ve been completely prevented if they had just stepped outside. Smoking should NOT be [allowed] inside on any property. I don’t care how old you are.”
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