Received records from an online seller, and they reek of cigarettes

Hope you don't mind me bumping this post back up Jon but you got me wondering if this problem corrected itself, or if you were able to find a solution on your own.

 

It's true. Cigars have such a nice smell, but cigarettes. ...bad

 

Professional cleaners and disaster recovery firms use ozone generators for difficult odor
removal. You may want to contact a few for advice.

 

i have a couple that smell like bong water..

i love it...

bringing used vinyl then smelling the history in each one...

love how mildew smells..

 

I hate the smell of smoker's smoke and feel a bit insulted when I encounter it. It's bad enough that I grew up in a generation where smoking was mainstream and cool. Not to mention that my entire formative musical years were spent playing huge gigs in the most foul smelling, smoke-filled environments found on the planet.

That being said, it's my experience that heavy smokers don't realized that they stink of smoke. They also don't realized that their clothes, rooms, items they touch etc, most likely also reek. I dunno.... it's as if they get used to it... or smoking kills their sense of smell.

In any case, my vote is for the op to fully EMBARRASS the seller by sending a note, complaining of the smell. If the seller indeed is a heavy smoker and simply not aware of the stench he/she is shooting out into the public.... the fact will be known once you bring it up. And will.... or should.... cause the seller to wake up.

At the very least, the seller may feel enough embarrassment to call in a non-smoking friend to analyze what needs to be done to clean up the operation.

 

Damp Rid.

Helped get a lot of the smoke smell in a condo I helped someone sell. Put them in each room. They are essentially containers with moisture and odor absorbers.

 

When a (cheap) used CD is delivered with the stink, I wrap the booklet and tray card with something dry and more absorbent - usually just plain Kleenex.
Then just close up the CD jewel box, and keep it far away from others.
Days/weeks later, take a look. Change the Kleenex and repeat as necessary.
Finally, give it a new CD jewel box home.
It's much more frustrating if it's a funky smelling yellowing cardboard Digipak tray. I feel like I'm S.O.O.L.

 

I have done the Bounce sheet in a bag thing for movie posters too. Sometimes things are so brown and nasty I just toss them. I ordered a Les Paul 4 CD box set a year or two ago and the box had a brownish tint (that got tossed) and I tossed the jewel boxes. The cd art and discs eventually got de-smoked with a Bounce sheet but the booklet still has a combination of smoke and Bounce. I just threw away a book a got on Amazon as it was all yellow and stinky. Hate that!!! Most of the time it is not worth it.

 

I live in a house with FOUR SMOKERS. And man do they smoke. We have a house built in the late '40's where the layout runs in a circle. My bedroom sits off to the left BEHIND the living room (next to my sister's bedroom....the most adamant smoker in the household). NOW because of where my room sits, I don't get the cigarette smoke as bad at all but the smell will filter in on the air sometimes. My records are all in Japanese resealable outer sleeves and for the last couple of years been in record storage boxes with lids on top. ARE MY RECORDS STILL SAFE IN THIS ENVIRONMENT? With all that protection, and due to the fact that I don't take them out in the daytime, should I have peace of mind that they're not being affected? Has anyone else been in a similar situation?

 

I have with three smokers, and unfortunately, if you've been there for any appreciable length of time, your records (and most of your other things) probably already smell like cigarettes--but you wouldn't necessarily be able to tell. it won't be as strong as if the records had been in the same room as the smokers, but cigarette smoke is absurdly pervasive.

the best way for you to gauge this is to go stay somewhere else for a couple days where there are no smokers. take a couple records with you in a bag. do your laundry and hang out in the smokefree environment for a while, then smell your records.

I have no solution for this problem, sadly. every attempt I made to eradicate the smell from my possessions, including most of the methodology above, was fruitless.

 

This is the correct answer, and just about the only way to completely remove the smell of smoke or various other tough odors. It's called a "High Ozone Shock" and you need to leave the place while the generator's running because high levels of ozone are at least bad for you, and at worst toxic. The good news is, there are companies who sell Ozone Generators and it's something you can manage yourself. I'm a smoker, and when I was considering freshening my apartment I spoke with this company:

Ozone Generator | Ozone Machine for Odor Removal | OdorFree »

They were very helpful, and their generators are reasonably priced and look cool, too.

Ozone shocking a room takes about 24 hours, but of course to get the smell out of a few record jackets I'm sure it wouldn't take that long. A couple of hours, maybe.

Two things worth noting: Ozone shocking does effect plastic and rubber, so you'll want to put the discs themselves in another area. Leaving them in the jackets during a couple of hour shock probably won't harm them at all, but why risk it?

Secondly, odor removers like Febreze have a really strange way of working, They don't change the chemistry of the odor causing particles at all. They coat the particles like the candy coating on M&M's so you can't smell the odor, but the nasty stuff is still there inside those little capsules. It's an interesting approach, but not really the most effective solution.

Back in my Vinyl days, I'd regularly clean my discs with a little dish soap in our kitchen sink. That seemed to do a fine job of making the discs shine, got rid of noise & crackle, and it was really easy to do. Kind of just like washing dishes. So if you don't want the ozone to get to the disks, the dish soap technique will probably get a lot of the odor out of the vinyl.

 

What a sterile, careful world we have moved to.
Nothing dares to offend, no sharp edges ...
I'm not saying this new world is a terrible thing as a matter of fact I'm sure it's better for us ...
but I kinda miss the bad old days and that stinky, funky, dirty world.

 

Ugh! How's 15 years for an appreciable length of time! I've always hoped that if the smoke was lingering in the air it was only hitting the outer sleeves and not reaching the covers and certainly not the vinyl. I have an opportunity to move out coming this late winter/early spring so I'm looking forward to that. So even with all that I've done to protect them, my record jackets might still have smoke contaminating them?

 

I'm always saddened by people who feel the need to put up an umbrella at the first drop of rain. Or kids who are chauffered everywhere. Lazy sods who think a twenty minute walk is a hike in the Himalayas.

On the other hand I do not want to pay good, clean money for stinky/ funky /dirty records previously owned by dirty, funky, stinky people. I suppose I'm picky...

 

It's very rock & roll.

Rock on dood!

 

If the sleeves are laminated you can try to wash both them and the records in Isopropyl Alcohol a few times. It'll also work on most label structures without damage. I use that stuff for about anything concerning vinyl...except drinking it

 

possibly. try my 'vacation' suggestion above--the idea is to get away from the smoke, the apartment, and your smoke-imbued clothing for sufficient time for your olfactory sense to deacclimate. it should take a couple days maximum if you're not a smoker yourself. bring along a few records and anything else unwashable you want to test and keep it in a bag. after that, you'll absolutely be able to tell what in the bag does and doesn't smell of cigarette smoke.

 

Could be worse-could smell like feet!

 

I'll have to try some of these tips on a pile of classic rock and oldies LPs I got from a pub acquaintance. They smell like they were hotboxed with cigarette smoke for a couple of decades, and no way do I want them anywhere near my other records - or books, or furniture. They're currently stored out on my patio.

 

I'm surprised that this isn't a bigger problem than it is. I used to smoke (quit about 1991) and have bought hundreds of used LP's over the years and I've never had one that reeked of cigarette smoke. I have one book that I bought on eBay that smells like smoke. It really makes me wonder what volume of smoking, and at what proximity, causes LP's to reek of smoke. It can't be just the average smoker, because there's no way that all the used LP's I've ever bought were from non-smokers.

 

I bought a couple very musty smelling albums a couple years ago.
I washed the records and put them in new MOFI sleeves.
Then, I gently sprayed the jacket with Febreeze, (and just a pinch of baking soda) gently wiped the jacket so there were no beater stains, and let it dry for a couple days on my porch (to air out). It definitely got rid of damn near all the bad smell.

 

Easiest way to get rid of cigarette smoke is to put the records in a big enough Ziplock back with either a spent or brand new Bounce dryer sheet. I deal in vintage toys/action figures and there are a few times I've gotten action figures that smelled of cigarette smoke. Usually does the trick in getting rid of the smell. Hope that helps.

 

Hey! You know I just tried wiping off some of my Japanese outer resealable sleeves with a little bit of Windex sprayed on a paper towel, just a little bit on the paper towel, not much. When I rubbed some of my outer sleeves that are at least 10 YEARS OLD I only saw a faint hint of nicotine on the paper towel. I hated seeing that but I was a little comforted by the fact that I'm only seeing a small hint of it after having the same sleeves for so long. I guess that means my records have been safe and if the jackets got any on them, it's probably not enough to worry about or that's noticeable. AND THAT IS WHY I RECOMMEND JAPANESE RESEALABLE OUTER SLEEVES FOR EVERYONE!

 

Sorry....this thread got moved and I didn't see it. I've tried the suggestions with dryer cloths inside , pulled these records out a year later...and they still smell like crap.

 

Did you try baking soda?