What's that smell?

[Archive]

Posted By: T206Collector

If the following process, used for books, damages your priceless tobacco cards, don't come calling on me --- you act at your own peril:

1. Deodorizing a Musty Book - Tip 1
Sometimes you will buy an older book, and find it has a musty odor. I have seen a number of recommendations about putting the book in a bag with cat litter, activated charcoal or baking soda. This can work with books made of a fairly coarse paper, but not coated paper. Place the book into a paper bag with a container of baking soda (which seems to work best) and close the bag; leave it alone for about 2 weeks. According to one source, this works "about half the time." Libraries sometimes place such books into a fume hood with a container holding Lysol-soaked cotton balls. After leaving the fume hood on 24 hours a day for a week, they report the odor is "greatly diminished."

2. Deodorizing a Musty Book - Tip 2
One-Drop Deodorant for Smelly Books Look for a small bottle of liquid deodorant (maybe 6 inches high, including a drop dispensing lid) at the drugstore or grocery store. The pet food and car product aisles are good prospects. If the instructions say to place one drop of the deodorant on/in a glass container, you´ve found the correct product. (There are many brand names; most of the liquids I´ve seen are green.) It is most effective to build a small chamber for the books by putting a cardboard box into a plastic trash bag. Then stand the books open, put one drop of the deodorant onto a glass dish in the corner of the box, and tie up the plastic bag. Check the books daily, at which time another drop of deodorant can be added. Mild smells are gone in a couple of days, and nasty problems can take a week to cure. I´ve described this product to dozens of callers over the last 10 years, and no-one has called back for further help.