Secondly is smell. Smokers tend to have a distinctive smell because the tobacco odor clings to their hair and clothes. Their houses and vehicles also pick up the smell if they regularly smoke indoors at home or while driving. Nick Gromyko and Rob London of the National Association of Certified Home Inspectors explain that tobacco odors often persist long after cigarette smokers move out of a house because it saturates the living areas and circulates through the ventilation system.