surface chemistry

Cigarette tar doesn’t just stain gypsum board — it forms a chemically anchored bond that standard cleaning and repainting cannot fully reverse. The culprit is a surprisingly complex interaction between tar’s polycyclic aromatic compounds and the calcium sulfate dihydrate matrix beneath the surface paper. Understanding this mechanism matters more than most manufacturers realize: it directly affects warranty claims, renovation cycles, and the performance of next-generation surface treatments. This article explores why tar penetration is fundamentally a materials science problem, not merely a cosmetic one — and why the answer may lie in the microporosity of the gypsum core itself.