Hey everyone. Just wanted to get some others’ thoughts/opinions on this.
Last year I bought a complete set of Stormfront cards of which 90+% of them were bang on (mint) with a few extremely close with perhaps a nicked corner or light surface scratch.
Only down side was they reeeeked of cigarette smoke. I put them in a box with some rice and it took the edge off the smell pretty well and you can only smell it if you put your nose very close to the pages (i have a sensitive sense of smell for cigarette smoke).
Anyway in a bulk lot a while ago i received another set of stormfront (missing 2 cards) and have the dilemma of do i bother going through the entire set and replacing as long as they’re mint, or just replace the cards that aren’t mint or just replace the whole set due to the smell?
Interested to see how others value the “smell” of their cards haha!
It’s quite annoying, I always prefer smoke-free items, even if I don’t mind too much the smoke smell.
Nice to see that you manage to decrease the smell, I wouldn’t bother replacing the mint ones.
A couple times I received something, IMHO, really worse: cards that smelled of pets. I actually asked for a refund, they were quite disgusting, you should never let your cat play with the cards box.
Except cigarette smoke can smell even worse. I dare anyone to stand next to a smoker on a crowded Tokyo subway and tell me his or her breath doesn’t smell like the bottom of a septic tank. Gross!
This is definitely a hot-button subject for me
There are very few smells I hate more than that of cigarette smoke. I’ve been known to return orders to our wholesalers (we buy art supplies in bulk) when it’s clear they were packaged in a facility that allowed smoking.
I’d sell the card set. Be honest with the buyer, though, and explain that the cards have the odor of tobacco.
I’ve also heard that smoke can degrade the look of cards but have never actually found evidence on this. Some of my cards that I got back from my mother’s place REEKED of cigarette smoke but there didn’t appear to be any harm to the overall look of the cards.
I bought a joblot of cards randomly just for some nostalga purposes when was getting back into Pokemon cards
put them to one side till the other day
went to open what they was in and as it I did bam
such a strong odour of cigarette smoke
luckily the cards all uncommons and commons so doesn’t really mean too much to me but still as I only bought them for the sake of it pretty much lol
This conversation is actually really interesting to me as Il admit, I do smoke cigarettes. I wasn’t aware of how responsive people are to second hand odors (I actually kinda thought that was a bit of a myth lol).
As a neurotic collector everything I have is nicely wrapped up in something or other and I never smoke inside the house. I’ve never noticed any residual scent on my stuff and certainly never gotten a complaint from anyone. Because of this, for the lot of cards you got, for them to have such a strong odor like you say I imagine the seller blowing smoke into the box before sealing it and sending out lol
Bottom line: if it bothers you enough just return or replace them. If you can manage and it’s not really a priorty, keep em and spend all your money on the next set knowing that youl want to buy from a ‘smoke free home’
Wow a lot of non smokers here. Me also, I don’t smoke, but don’t mind being around it, and would really hate it in the house or on my cards!
This one time… I bought a bulk lot from America… of something over 4000+ cards, with sets etc… 100% stunk of cigarette smoke… sigh…
One thing you can do, I learnt from a game collecting vlog that you can wrap these with scented paper sheets, and after long enough, the smell will go away, and be lavender or whatever your sheet smells like.
I think you find these in the laundry section of the supermarket usually.
That’s my thought as well, though I’m not sure of the science of it. The cards I had collected were either stored in top loaders or kept in a plastic bag. However, it didn’t protect them from the smell because my mother smoked enough to the point that the walls DID turn yellow/brown over time.
The smell permeated through the bags, but when I hold those cards alongside newer cards or cards that didn’t smell like smoke, they looked exactly the same. So maybe it just takes a while for it to degrade the card and you can pass it by?
Also, over time, if you keep the cards exposed to fresh air, it will go away over time. None of the Gyarados cards I had, my Original 5, smell like smoke anymore.
Thanks for the input everyone, Think ill just leave them until i can be bothered going through and switching, may also try the scented sheets idea. Azul my guess would be that unless constantly exposed the cards wont degrade, as with acid based sleeves.
I like the smell of tobacco, I don’t mind smokers but I certainly wouldn’t want my cards to smell like smoke, I also don’t let people smoke inside my car nor my house, on my home’s gardens or terrace it’s fine.
