Q&A: Blocking Nicotine Stained Walls & How to Paint Over Them How to remove nicotine stains from bathroom walls? How to Paint an Interior with Smoke Damage: The Right Way to Block Nicotine Stains Painters Serving Indianapolis 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.