system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why do some odors (garlic, onions, cigarettes, smoke) cling to us -- especially our hands -- more than other strong smells like citrus, leather, gasoline, etc.?
gpt
The answer is different for different smells.

For cigarettes the smell comes from the oils and tar that vaporizes when you smoke it. This oily substance will then settle on surfaces, your clothes, hands etc. Your hands especially since that is what you use to hold the cigarette.

Clothes and skin happen to absorb the oils and they don't wash out easily. So the smell lingers.

Other smells may be made of water soluble molecules for example, and will wash out easily.