When Your OA Smells like Tobacco Smoke 1 1

[John E.]

Hey Friends,

Just in time to coincide with that "Your first comics" thread, I recently won an auction for two pages from one of my early childhood comics. I was so stoked because I waited so long for something from this issue to turn up; although to be specific, 5 pages from 4 different sellers popped up at once, of course. I got what I felt to be the better of all the pages. 

But, alas, the pages arrived smelling like tobacco smoke. It turns out that these are the inker's share of the pages and the inker was a smoker. Nevertheless, I'm put off by the smell, or otherwise, the condition issue. I already started airing them out, only at night because I don't want to unnecessarily expose the pages to light. After about a week of doing that, the smell is still present.

I've already contacted the seller and he said I can return them for a full refund, no problem. I did state that these pages are nostalgic so I'm torn about the whole thing and that I'll mull it over for a few more days.

So I ask the Boards: do any of you have any experience getting rid of odor from your pages? Is the scent of smoke even an issue for you like visual conditions? Would you keep the pages or send them back?

[vodou]

Laminate 'em. That's be the end of that.

(j/k!)

[Ironmandrd]

Shouldn't you contact a conservationist?  Can't the pages be given a wash/bath by someone like Robert Dennis?

This reminds me:

For the desperate at-home remedy I did once:   very early in my collecting days I bought a bunch of not that expensive pages that smelled badly of cigarette smoke---I didn't want to return them---it was driving me crazy though and also I thought it would make other pages start to smell too--if I am recalling correctly I very gently Fabrized and/or Lysoled them on the back side (sprayed above them and let the mist settle down on the back side) and then aired them out by an open window --it took a fair number of tries.  To much spray though and the page could get "wet" and warp (thankfully that didn't happen).  I think other pages I put in a box with two Bounce drier sheets.  By some minor miracle it worked.  The pages smelled like Fabrize/Lysol/Bounce for awhile but over a reasonable time that faded and the pages then didn't smell like anything. 

I'm sure I'll get bashed for the above but I was a newbie and it worked with no discernable damage to the pages (probably someone will say I damaged the pages in some chemical way--since the pages are forever keepers, I guess it won't really matter for the next 25+ years).  

[vodou]

14 minutes ago, Ironmandrd said:

Shouldn't you contact a conservationist?  Can't the pages be given a wash/bath by someone like Robert Dennis?

This reminds me:

For the desperate at-home remedy I did once:   very early in my collecting days I bought a bunch of not that expensive pages that smelled badly of cigarette smoke---I didn't want to return them---it was driving me crazy though and also I thought it would make other pages start to smell too--if I am recalling correctly I very gently Fabrized and/or Lysoled them on the back side (sprayed above them and let the mist settle down on the back side) and then aired them out by an open window --it took a fair number of tries.  To much spray though and the page could get "wet" and warp (thankfully that didn't happen).  I think other pages I put in a box with two Bounce drier sheets.  By some minor miracle it worked.  The pages smelled like Fabrize/Lysol/Bounce for awhile but over a reasonable time that faded and the pages then didn't smell like anything. 

I'm sure I'll get bashed for the above but I was a newbie and it worked with no discernable damage to the pages (probably someone will say I damaged the pages in some chemical way--since the pages are forever keepers, I guess it won't really matter for the next 25+ years).  

Heh. Your solution doesn't sound awesome to me but...it does remind me of what others have done - put 'em in with a box of Arm & Hammer, somewhere tight or sealed, for a couple of days, maybe a week at most and TA-DAA!! smell all gone.

[aokartman]

I am thinking along the same lines as Ironmandrd.  A homegrown remedy should work for you.  Indirect daylight (clothesline) shouldn't materially affect your page quality versus the benefit of a good airing out.   Or... the baking soda remedy (never tried it, thanks, vodou!).

My opinion, David S.Albright

Edited November 29, 2017 by aokartman

[▫️]

I picked up some art directly from Gene Colan around 2007 and as soon as I opened the box, I was hit with the cigar smell. I hadn’t even pulled the pages out yet. I did absolutely nothing to them. The pieces were oversized and would not fit into my largest portfolio so I bought two huge acid free foam boards and sandwiched it in there.  Years later, no smell at all.  

Edited November 30, 2017 by Reader

[pemart1966]

Wasn't there some technique using kitty litter that people found worked?

[PhilipB2k17]

14 hours ago, vodou said:

Heh. Your solution doesn't sound awesome to me but...it does remind me of what others have done - put 'em in with a box of Arm & Hammer, somewhere tight or sealed, for a couple of days, maybe a week at most and TA-DAA!! smell all gone.

Yep. Buy a plastic bin with an airtight lid, and put an open box of baking soda in there with the art (not spilled out, obviously) for a week or two to absorb the smell. Not sure if that will work, but it's a cheap and harmless thing to try. Just make sure the thing is not in a palace where it can be jostled.

Edited November 29, 2017 by PhilipB2k17

[MagnusX]

If you smell tobacco,
and you were put off by the odor.
I could only wonder what collectors of
Robert Crumb pages could smell...

Edited November 29, 2017 by MagnusX

[JadeGiant]

only you can answer the question of keeping the pages or not. 

 

If they were pages from my grail issue, it would not be a question ... I'd figure out a way to remove the smell or keep them, smelly or not. 

[hhwolfman]

Scented trash bags stuffed with news paper, seal up, wait a week. No smell.

[Dokstarr]

I've never had the issue with art - but other items I've collected. I've done the same things as above. Sealed up in plastic container along with some fabric softener sheets in there. I usually leave it in there for a few weeks or so just to make sure and things have been good after. Of course the items then smelled like fabric softener, but that is better than smoke.

For odors in apartments, landlords usually try use an ozone machine to eliminate smoke and other smells.

[BitterOldMan]

I had some old brochures and a paperback book that reeked of cigarette smoke. 

I tried stuffing the brochures in a sealed box with baking soda, but could not get the smell out.  What finally worked was hanging the brochures on a clothesline out in the sun for a couple of days.  Remember that leaving the paper out in the sun will fade some items.  Consider laying the art on a plastic sheet with the back facing the sun may work.

I also hung the paperback book on the clothsline, which got the smell out.

I tried clothes dryer sheets, but disliked the perfumed smell.

[John E.]

Thank you all for your responses and your very interesting home remedies 

Apples and oranges here, but earlier this year I bought an action figure off eBay and it arrived smelling like smoke too. After some quick Internet research, I found that giving your toy a baking soda bath and airing it out should do the trick. Well, I gave it more baking soda baths than I cared to do that resulted in partial success. I then stuck in my pantry that gets some outside ventilation and forgot about it for a while. The smoke scent eventually did dissipate. Well, baking soda baths is not an option for this OA, but many of you did suggest using it in pragmatic ways. I did have a Board member with experiential advice contact me privately whose conclusion was that the scent will eventually dissipate over time. I used his suggestion of placing it in front of a fan which is what I did last night for a few hours (see photo of my setup). I can only fan one page at a time and the one that got the treatment now smells less of smoke than the other. I've decided to keep the pages after all and just let the chemistry take care of itself.

[Skizz]

Others have suggested some versions of it, but here's a video by a comic collector to get rid of odour to a comic that ought to apply to art as well

disclaimer: I have not tested it myself. 

[All-Star Squadman]

My comic art does not smell, none if it has a nose.

[Unca Ben]

If I recall, back in the day some of the art sold by the Kirby's reportedly smelled of cigar smoke.
I'd guess no one minded it too much, and for me it would add a certain panache.

[Brian Peck]

 

[*paull*]

I had a smelly book from the mid-1880s that I needed to deal with.  I bought the Bad Air Sponge (available on Amazon) and a MOSO Natural Purifying Bag (bamboo charcoal, I believe) and put them in a sealed box with the book for a few weeks.  I rotated and flipped the book a couple times during that period.  The result was a book that had no smoke smell at all, only the very faintest fresh smell of the Bad Air Sponge.  Consider giving this a try... you could do it with an inexpensive item first as a test.