Goodbye to Smoke Smell: Recover Your Clothes after Magosto and Templar Night

Here in Ponferrada, we have two moments of the year that are lived on the streets and, inevitably, are brought home impregnated in our clothes. One is the Magosto, with that unmistakable smell of burning oak wood and roasted chestnuts that gets right into the seams of your coat. The other is Templar Night (Noche Templaria), where the dust, sweat, and hustle of the medieval market put tunics and capes that aren't exactly easy to wash to the test.

Every November and every July in our laundry in Ponferrada, I see the same thing: people coming in desperate because they have washed their clothes at home twice and they still smell like smoke, or they are afraid to put their Templar costume in the washing machine and ruin it. Today I am going to explain to you, from a technical point of view, why this happens and how to fix it for real, without grandmother's remedies that sometimes end up being expensive.

Why is smoke smell so hard to remove?

Surely it has happened to you: you wash your jacket after being at the Puente Boeza or at a communal bonfire, you take it out of the washing machine smelling like fabric softener, but as soon as it dries or you put it on and it warms up with body heat... bam! The smoke smell returns.

This happens because wood smoke isn't just "dirty air." Chemically, it is a combination of soot particles and, most importantly, volatile organic compounds and resins. These particles are microscopic and oily. When clothes heat up near a fire, the fabric fibers expand, and these particles get deep inside. Upon cooling, the fiber closes and traps the smell inside.

A standard domestic washing machine, if it doesn't have perfect maintenance (something I rarely see in my home repairs), usually washes superficially with water and soap. Soap traps external dirt, but often lacks the chemical strength to break the molecular chain of those embedded smoke resins. Result: you mask the smell, you don't eliminate it.

The Technical Secret: Active Oxygen

This is where the difference between washing at home and using industrial machinery like what we have at LaColada comes into play. The key is not to add more soap (that only cakes the clothes), but to use the right chemical agent: active oxygen.

If you have read my article on active oxygen vs. chlorine bleach, you already know what I'm talking about. Our machines automatically dispense a professional oxygenated product. Upon contact with water, it releases oxygen bubbles that cause an oxidation reaction. Basically, they "burn" or break down organic smoke and sweat molecules at a microscopic level.

The best part is that, unlike chlorine bleach, active oxygen respects colors. This is vital if we are talking about your daily clothes after Magosto or, even more delicate, your Templar attire.

Recovering clothes after Magosto

During Magosto, we usually wear durable clothing: jeans, fleece, wool coats, or down jackets. The problem here is the intensity of the smell and, sometimes, ash stains or stains from the chestnut itself (which stains a lot).

• Do not iron dirty clothes: If you iron a garment with a smoke smell, the heat will set the resins forever.
• Heavy coats: A wool coat absorbs odors like a sponge. If you bring it to the laundromat, use medium temperature programs (if the label allows) and ensure complete drying. If you have doubts about the fabric, check out our guide on how to wash a wool coat.
• Industrial drying: The airflow of our industrial dryers is much more powerful than home ones. That air forces out soot particles that may have remained trapped in the fabric after washing.

Special care: Templar Night Costumes

Here we change gears. We go from battle gear to fabrics that can be natural linens, woven cottons, or even velvets. Many of these costumes are expensive or have great sentimental value.

1. Check the materials

If your costume is pure linen (very common in quality tunics), you have to wash it with enough space so it doesn't wrinkle excessively. Our 15kg machines are ideal for the tunic to "dance" inside the drum. For specific details, don't miss the post on how to wash linen.

2. Watch out for ornaments

Many costumes have trimmings, golden ribbons, or even sewn-on leather pieces. Leather must not be washed in water. If your costume has fixed leather pieces, you will have to opt for specialized dry cleaning. If they are fabric or synthetic, use a mesh bag to protect embroideries from rubbing against the drum.

3. Post-event disinfection

After four days of partying, street markets, and medieval dinners, clothes need more than just water. Here I return to the subject of active oxygen. It not only removes odors, but it also sanitizes. It is essential to store the costume clean until next year to avoid yellow oxidation stains from stored sweat or mite proliferation in the closet.

Final tips from our laundromat

Whether you come from roasting chestnuts or parading with the cape, my advice is not to leave clothes in the laundry basket for a week. The smoke smell contaminates the rest of the laundry, and stains set more the longer they spend dry. Bring it all together, use a large machine, and in less than an hour, you take everything home clean, dry, odorless, and ready to store until the next festival.