Hasn't happened to me, or at least I haven't noticed smells on new clean chips. Could the smells in the chips have come from the room/air (like from cigarette or cigar smoke), or the playing surface? Or do you think they smells are being picked up from the players hands?
Brand new chips? Did you use mineral oil on them before playing?
If not, this could be a good case study/real life example to determine if mineral oil would actually help coat clay chips to prevent 'smelly stuff' from getting into the chips, like sweat, hand oils, dead skin cells, food oils, etc. I'd suggest a quick clean in a sink with warm/hot water and dish soap (or ultrasonic), see if that removes the smell, and then give the chips a good coat of mineral oil, and see if that helps next time.