Cigar/Cigarette Smell on Chips (3 Viewers)

[gmunny]

I can't remember where I read it, but unused Kitty Litter can work to absorb smells.

 

[GreekRedEye]

Maybe you can beat the smell out with a rock tumbler.

With some whiskey in the tumbler, it might just work!

 

[GreekRedEye]

I can't remember where I read it, but unused Kitty Litter can work to absorb smells.

Hmmm...might have to pick some up next time I am at the store. Or, awkwardly ask a friend with cats if I can have a small baggy of kitty litter.

 

[GreekRedEye]

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!

 

[GreekRedEye]

A couple more thoughts on the ethanol...

The ever clear and whiskey dried the chips out more than the other treatments. But an application of mineral oil should bring back the shine. I also recall getting a whiff of the ethanol I had soaked the chips in before tossing it out and the ethanol smelled strongly of cigarettes. Like I had made a cigarette infusion.

This leads me to think that the ethanol is acting as a solvent for oils and extracting oils from the chips. And these oils are what accounts for the smell. I'm not an expert...maybe someone who knows more about this can chime in.

Also, the containers. I did not rate the smell left in these racks, but I did notice some of the cigarette smell transferred to the plastic justin racks for every sample, except for the ever clear ones. It has no smell.

 

[BGinGA]

If anyone has a good idea for another treatment to try, please speak up now!

These three are probably worth consideration:
~ rubbing alcohol
~ Nature's Miracle
~ Pooph

 

[GreekRedEye]

These three are probably worth consideration:
~ rubbing alcohol
~ Nature's Miracle
~ Pooph

I will see if the grocery store has these. Making a run today. I can add them and kitty litter to the experiment.

By the way, the seller of these chips reached out and offered to refund me. I said, "no way, I love these chips!" I really do. This thread is not to shame the seller. He fully disclosed the condition, priced these below value, and is a great chipper. I'm mostly having fun here and excited to turn these into a great limit set.

 

[GreekRedEye]

Alright, timer set for 20 minutes.

Back row, left to right:
Natures Promise, Kitty Litter

Front row, left to right:
OxyClean, Baking Soda + Water, Vinegar, Vodka, 95% ethanol, 97% isopropyl

 

[GreekRedEye]

I do not know if the camera picks it up, but at the 15 minute mark, the 95% ethanol liquid has turned a shade of yellow at 15 minutes in. The other liquids have not visibly changed color.

Decided I am going to let the experiment run for 30 minutes and not 20.

 

[GreekRedEye]

I have taken out all the chips out of the various solutions, rinsed them, and have them drying on towels. In an hour I will give them a sniff test and then put them away to check them again in a few days.

The 95% ethanol continued to yellow. And when I took the chips out, there are little black specks. None of the other solutions have the little black specks. That is worrisome, athough I don't see initially any damage to the chips. The isopropyl solution started to turn a hint of yellow by 30 minutes. None of the other solutions changed color.

 

[Coyote]

All this may make new candidate members run away, goddammit

 

[BigJackJones]

All this may make new candidate members run away, goddammit

Is it better to rinse your hussy off in public or take her out in private knowing it's all still on her?

 

[Coyote]

Is it better to rinse your hussy off in public or take her out in private knowing it's all still on her?

Hardly comprehensible, but it still improved my English.

 

[BigJackJones]

Hardly comprehensible, but it still improved my English.

Literally everyone I know stares at me in confusion at least once a day. I'm used to it.

 

[upNdown]

there are little black specks

 

[GreekRedEye]

Okay, 1 hour sniff test done. I'm putting these into labeled baggies and I will check them again in a few days.

Alcohol continues to be effective, however, I can feel pitting on the chips left in the 95% ethanol for 30 minutes. They are damaged (for me usable still, but not a good result). Isopropyl and 40% ethanol seem effective with no visible or tactile damage to the chip. It may be that 95% works but for shorter period of time.

The real surprise here is the kitty litter. I thought a longer treatment would be needed. It is a pain to work with though, and I fear that the abrasive litter could scratch the chips when getting them in and out of the powder and rinsing them off.

I'll check back in after a few days.

Agent	Score after 1 hour	Comments after 1 hour	Score after 1 week	Comments after 1 week
OxyClean	2	smell still disappointingly strong
Baking Soda + water	1	slight cig smell
Vinegar	1	slight smell + sour vinegar smell
Vodka (40% ethanol)	0	smell is gone
95% ethanol	0	smell is gone, but chips damaged
91% isoprophyl	0	cig smell gone, but there is isopropyl smell
Nature's Promise	1	slight cig smell
Kitty Litter	0	no smell, I'm surprised! Thought longer treatment would be needed

 

[BGinGA]

The 95% ethanol continued to yellow. And when I took the chips out, there are little black specks. None of the other solutions have the little black specks. That is worrisome, athough I don't see initially any damage to the chips.

View attachment 1298498

Watch for the original chips to possibly crumble when drinking a post-ethanol chaser.

Or maybe the remaining charcoal bits will simply self-ignite once dry.

Hard to tell; caution advised.

 

[GreekRedEye]

2 additional things:

I put another batch in kitty litter and I will let those sit for 12 hours, so we will have 2 kitty litter batches.

I just checked the dryer sheet batch. The perfume smell is gone and the smoke smell is as strong as the untreated. So fail for those.

 

[BGinGA]

2 additional things:

I put another batch in kitty litter and I will let those sit for 12 hours, so we will have 2 kitty litter batches.

I just checked the dryer sheet batch. The perfume smell is gone and the smoke smell is as strong as the untreated. So fail for those.

Sill think Pooph and Nature's Miracle are worth checking out. They both alter organics at a molecular level, and are quite effective at eliminating a wide variety of odors.

 

[GreekRedEye]

Sill think Pooph and Nature's Miracle are worth checking out. They both alter organics at a molecular level, and are quite effective at eliminating a wide variety of odors.

Grocery store does not carry Pooph. And I misread "Nature's Miracle" as "Nature's Promise." My store does list Nature's Miracle on its website. Next run I'll get it.

 

[Huskerchipper]

I would think this is the same problem the China clays have with their shitty smell. Smells like burnt wood or something.
I sprayed a rack of Royals with Febreze and kept them in a Matsui rack with a lid and the next day they smelled like Burnt Wood & Febreze

I can't believe that didn't work

 

[GreekRedEye]

Grocery store does not carry Pooph. And I misread "Nature's Miracle" as "Nature's Promise." My store does list Nature's Miracle on its website. Next run I'll get it.

Added Nature's Miracle to the experiment. Submerged for 15 minutes (per the instructions on the bottle). After 1 hour I cannot smell cig. It has a strong but pleasant laundry detergent odor. I've set it aside with the other experiments to see how it does over time.

 

[GreekRedEye]

Okay, final results in table below.

For taking away smell, the winners are:

• high % ethanol and isopropyl alcohols
• kitty litter if chips left in overnight
• Nature's miracle (if you don't mind laundry detergent smell)

Some things to keep in mind:

• I tested ASM clays. Your mileage may vary with Paulsons, TRKs, or newer CPCs. YMMV
• prolonged ethanol exposure pitted the chips. Short exposure was effective at removing smell and did not visibly damage chips
• I don't know how these chemicals might damage labels or hot stamps - I suspect the alcohol might remove labels
• the kitty litter is abrasive and could possibly scratch chips

As for myself, I'm going to use kitty litter. My chips are pretty old, worn, and scratched so I am not so worried about the litter acting as an abrasive. I'm going to put a layer of chips in a bucket, then sprinkle litter over, then new layer, then more litter, etc. Then leave it for a day or so.

I might also quickly dip them in a diluted Nature's Miracle solution after rinsing off kitty litter dust.

I hope this helps others!

Agent	Score after 1 hour	Comments after 1 hour	Score after 1 week	Comments after 1 week
OxyClean	2	smell still disappointingly strong	1	somehow got better? But cig still detectable
Baking Soda + water	1	slight cig smell	1	no change
Vinegar	1	slight smell + sour vinegar smell	2	got worse
Vodka (40% ethanol)	0	smell is gone	1	some smell returned
95% ethanol	0	smell is gone, but chips damaged	0
91% isoprophyl	0	cig smell gone, but there is isopropyl smell	0
Nature's Promise	1	slight cig smell	1
Kitty Litter (30 min)	0	no smell, I'm surprised! Thought longer treatment would be needed	1	some cig smell returned
Kitty Litter (12 hour)	0	smell gone	0	most neutral smelling of all experiments
Nature's Miracle	0	cig smell gone; strong but pleasant detergent smell	0	still has strong but pleasant detergent smell

 

[GreekRedEye]

Thanks @BGinGA for the good suggestions of nature's miracle and isopropyl. And @gmunny for the suggestion of kitty litter.

 

[kaimat]

I wonder if kitty litter would work with china clays.

 

[Coyote]

Is "kitty litter" cats' excreement?

 

[Marius L]

Thanks for sharing the results! Appreciate the scientific approach.

 

[GreekRedEye]

Is "kitty litter" cats' excreement?

In case you are not joking...it is technically called "cat litter filler" or "cat box filler." It is the clay/silica mix that you put in the box that cats excrete into. It is designed to absorb the smells. I was surprised how effective this was at drawing out the smells of the smoke. Appreciable and lasting effect after 30 minutes. Completely eliminated the smell after 12 hours.

But, that does make me think that not all cat litter is the same. So, here is what I used. It does not list the active ingredients on the box, but it does mention "ammonia" and "febreze." All I know, is this stuff worked.