I get excited about new species of orchids in my collection. I can wait a long time to fill in a missing gap. I like to vary my array of this delicate flower by including some rare items now and then. I have a dendrobium on my list right now and am looking for an orchid grower in the region to supply my need. I heard of someone about an hour away, which in my book is very convenient. I put in a call. Meanwhile, I have my watering and misting to do. Life is wonderful. Try living with these blooms and see what I mean. They relax my body and fill my mind with pleasant thoughts. It’s better than any medication.

The grower was pleased to offer me the perfect color—white tipped in a deep fuchsia. It is a kind of reddish purple typical of orchids that is beyond belief. I have plenty of yellow, pink, violet and two-tone. Sometimes I group them, and at others I mix it up. It is a game that only an orchid grower would understand. When I arrived at his “farm,” I took in the beauty and splendor of his greenhouse. I didn’t want to leave. Only the enticement of taking home my dendrobium motived me out the door. It was an amazing experience, except…

Now there was something wrong with this almost perfect picture. The grower is a heavy smoker and his clothing and hair just reeked. He lit one up as I selected six plants and he wrapped them up for transport. I was hopeful that it wouldn’t take much time. I was absorbing the smoke minute by minute. When I got home, my clothes (like his) stank to high heaven. I set them out to air on the back patio. I expected to wash them in a few hours. No one wants to walk around smelling like a chimney. Only a nonsmoker doesn’t notice. Wherever you go indoors, you are a source of odor pollution. No one wants you around. The grower didn’t greet many people, so he felt quite content to indulge as often as he liked.

I am not around smokers very often so ridding clothing of the musty stale smoke smell is not something I understand. I washed my hair and face and then changed to a fresh outfit. The shirt and pants outside still had a telltale odor. I brought them in to assess the need to wash them. The answer was yes. After reading https://www.nomoresmokesmell.net/hard-get-cigarette-smoke-clothing/, I put them in the machine by themselves, so they wouldn’t tarnish other items. I added the soap and some eucalyptus oil. People often use it in a vacuum cleaner to get rid of heavy odors like cigarette smoke in upholstery and carpets, so why not clothing.

The trick worked, and the shirt and pants were good as new. I made a vow on the spot not to visit that orchid grower again. Maybe I would send my brother who smokes.