Help With Used Book Smell

Send it to me.....

If it's just the dust jacket that stinks, then baking soda would work, but it will take a while.

If every page is stinky, I'd try using activated charcoal from the health food/vitamin store. You'll need a safe place like an under-the-bed storage box. You can break the capsules and empty the contents onto little dishes or shot glasses or dixie cups -- whatever you have. Change the charcoal often and turn the pages often as well. It will take about a week. If you're not home during the day to fuss with it, then it will take longer.

Cat litter will help. Can you put it in a box with litter around it? It will absorb the odor.

Nice article allranger! I will have to try that myself. Never would have thought of the crate to raise the books up and get maximum coverage.

I have had some decent success with plain old sunlight outside for musty books, gotta watch the wind and weather carefully though, and birds or other critters from getting to the books. Don't think the sun would get enough smoke smell out though, I'd go for following the above link allranger has provided.

Thanks again for the replies ...

I decided to try the "Gonzo odor eliminator"

I hope it works

When I was putting the lid on ... I thought the same thing ...

It is standing up now, with a few coin tubes separating section of pages.

GR58: Just thought I'd pass along some info on your book gift. That book, long out of print, can bring hard to come by. With a issue price of $100, many times they sell for multiples of that price.

Yep it's a good book, probably the best book that trys to include every coin in the US series, varieties and all. I picked up my copy while they were still new for $75.00, and have bought and sold a number of them up to $250.00 in the past. Hope you can get that book back to smelling right. Let us know how the chemistry experiment works. I have a few books I need to work on, not so much cigarette smell, but the musty odor from long term damp storage.