It's been a week! I am creating a rating system. If 0 = "zero cig smell" and 10 = "sticking my nose in a full ashtray" then the untreated chips I have are a 4. They don't reek, but have a discernible smell that bothers me and would bother a number of other players. So, for our tests, I'm going to rate them from 0 to 4.
0 = no discernible smell
1 = very slight smell. I can live with these.
2 = smell cut about in half
3 = slight reduction in smell, but disappointing
4 = Like the original chips. No improvement.
I have a stack of untreated next to me and am using it to compare to each batch. Here are the results:
| Agent | Method | Smell after 1 hour | Smell after 1 week | Comments after 1 week |
|---|
| Dish soap | Cleaned with dish soap | still smells like cig | 4 | chips smell "fresher" but cig smell just as strong |
| Simple Green | Cleaned with Simple Green | smells cleaner, but I can detect cig | 3 | I think the simple green oil is masking cig slightly |
| Vinegar | Soaked 10 minutes in vinegar + water solution | smells like vinegar mostly - I'm optimistic | 2 | noticeable difference, but cig smell def still there. Slight sour smell, but only if I put my nose on the chip. |
| Hydrogen Peroxide | Soaked 5 minutes in hydrogen peroxide + water | smells distinctly different than others...like a new car smell. Not bad. | 4 | Smells just like my untreated batch. Weird since the 1 hour smell was so promising |
| Oxyclean | Soaked 5 minutes in oxyclean + water | smells much better, but I can detect some cig still | 2 | Comparable to vinegar. But no sour smell. |
| Dryer Sheet (not in photo) | Cleaned with dish soap and then a dryer sheet is placed in the rack | N/A. This one has to set | ?! | Holy Laundry Fresh Scent Batman! I took the dryer sheet out 24 hours ago, but these chips reek of fake laundry perfume. I can't smell cig, but this is worse than cig smell for me. I'm going to let these air out for a few days and then come back. |
| Baking Soda +Water | Soaked in baking soda + water for 10 minutes | mitigated smell some, but I can detect cig | 2 | Comparable to vinegar but no sour smell. |
| Baking Soda | Dusted with dry baking soda and set for 10 minutes | eliminated most of the smell...I'm optimistic | 2.5 | Almost as good as baking soda+water, vinegar, and oxyclean. |
| Whiskey | Soaked 10 minutes in 50.5% ABV bourbon | smelled like bourbon - no trace of cig. I could play with these all day! Dried the hell out of the chip though. | 1 | Barely perceptible cig smell. Def has a bourbon smell. Kind of pleasant. |
| Ever Clear | Soaked 10 minutes in 95% neutral alcohol | eliminated most of the smell, but I think I could detect a trace. Dried out the chip. | 0 | No smell of cig, even with my nose pressed against the chip. No trace of smell in the plastic container it was in. (as a comparison, ever other container had varying cig smell coming off the rack itself). |
So, the treatment I did as a joke (whiskey) ended up leading me to the most effective treatment: almost pure ethanol (Everclear). I only treated 2 chips in the ethanol because it was an afterthought and mostly a joke. But I'm going to rerun the below again, treating them all for longer:
Ethanol (95%)
Vodka (40%)
Vinegar
Baking Soda + water
Oxyclean
Whiskey (why not?)
And I'm going to let the dryer sheet ones air out.
If anyone has a good idea for another treatment to try, please speak up now!
