Does Vape Smoke Stain Walls Cleaning Smoke off Walls: Cigarette and Nicotine Everyone wanted to know how I cleaned the nicotine residue off of the walls during this free cleaning!! This was such an satisfying transformation, despite being so physically tough #residue How to remove nicotine stains from bathroom walls? After 23 years of cigarette smoke, these walls were coated in sticky yellow residue. A deep clean with TSP, followed by a shellac based primer, brought them back to life like new.