Anyone any tips for this - Had a great reference book as a swap and I need to use it on a regular basis, however it absolutely stinks of smoke and whenever I've finished with it, my hands smell too!  Swapper never mentioned this in their description, however I think that people who smoke themselves don't necessarily  notice it themselves..... Any tips on how I can rid this great book of this awful smell?

Not sure if this will work but you could try putting it with a box of tumble drier sheets such as bounce.  They smell really strong even in the box,  they may remove the smokey smell a bit. 

Yes that's worth a try. Thanks.  I'll have to go and buy some as I don't use them.  I'm happy to try anything as the smell is awful.

 Try putting fabric softener on a piece of material like an old tea towel or something,apparently it works just the same way as the things you put in the tumble dryer,according to Tesco tips you can even use fabric softener on your hair as it is the same stuff as they put in conditioner !

Thanks Shirley! It's such a thick book that I'm not sure how I'm going to do it without damaging the book, but anything is worth a try.

Also, if you have a garden or a balcony and the sun ever comes out again, try leaving it out in the sun, standing up, with as many pages slightly open as you can.  If you can only lay it down, put something (like a knife, or spoon) in between every x pages.  Worth a try.

From previous threads about this sort of problem, I seem to remember the best suggestions seemed to be:

1) Air outside, if possible standing the book on its end so the pages will fan open a bit and get air between them.

2) Tumble dryer sheets between the pages, or even spray very lightly with Febreze if you're not worried about tiny water mark splashes.

3) Put the book in a plastic bag with some bicarb of soda, seal the bag and leave for 24 hours.  The bicarb should brush off easily enough if it gets in the pages and is brilliant for absorbing smells. 

Perhaps if it's really bad a combination of all the above will do the trick! 

Thanks everyone. I will try all the tips, although I won't be leaving the book outside today to air the pages as it's chucking it down!!

 I just got the stinkiest book EVER. It is so bad. I have to wash my hands after touching it. I have put it in a bag with one of the silca gel packets that you get with bags and am hoping that will help...if not, I'm getting bicarbonate of soda tomorrow from the co-op! I hope they sell it...

 I got a rather stinky one recently and I ended up spraying it with Febreze - not too much, so it didn't make the pages crinkly, but it did do the trick!

The silica gel packets probably wont help with the smell much, though they are great if a book has got damp

How clean is youir house was on the other night and they put used tumble dryer sheets between some of the pages of a smelly book, then put the book in a plastic bag and left it for about a week.  After this time the smell was gone. 

 I managed to get that "stinkiest book ever" mentioned above de-stinkified by leaving it outside for a few hours. Smells of nothing now!