Valerie de Moore hopes the buzz around her new product will lead to the sweet smell of success.

The Niagara Falls entrepreneur has created a spray that she says removes the pungent odour of marijuana from the air.

"Cannabis smell is a big problem for some people, and they don't know what to do," she said. "You can't just mask it with air freshener."

She began selling PotAway, a chemical-free and fragrance-free product, at local flea markets a few weeks ago. She's also delivered bottles to more than a dozen hotels in the Lundy's Lane area of Niagara Falls.

"We're not at the investor stage yet but we have been getting a lot of attention," she said Sunday at the St. Paul Flea Market in St. Catharines. "It's blowing up."

The electrolyzed water spray can also be used to eliminate other funky smells such as animal odour.

"It doesn't just mask odour, it destroys it."

De Moore recently found an unlikely ally in a professor at Guelph University.

She reached out to Dr. Keith Warriner, a professor of food science, after she saw him in a 2010 episode of CBC's "Marketplace" during which he looked at surface sanitizers, particularly in the hotel industry. One of the products evaluated on the episode was electrolyzed water.

"Back then, I mentioned that electrolyzed water was good for sequestering odours, but there was little interest from hotels to adopt," Warriner recalled.

When recreational marijuana became legal in last fall, he suggested de Moore re-visit her idea.

"I think Valerie is a classic example on how you can take an idea and solve a real need," Warriner said.

"This is not only because the odour of marijuana will become an increasing issue in residential places, but also the health effects of current air fresheners that contain a diverse range of agents to more cover up odour rather than degrade."

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PotAway is available at www.potaway.ca and de Moore will be at the Niagara Falls 420 Expo at Scotiabank Convention Centre in April.

Marijuana can only be purchased legally through the online Ontario Cannabis Store. Brick and mortar stores are expected to be up and running by April 1.