Taking the Smokey Smell Out of a Deck: Your Methods

So, how do you take odors, particularly cigarette smoke and moldy smells, out of a deck?

I currently have a deck in a small plastic food storage box. I put some baking soda in a zipper baggy with a few drops of citrus oil and lavender oil in it. I left the baggy open and have half the deck on the top of the bag and the other half under it. And I figure I'll shuffle the deck every day...and let it sit in there for a week. I already notice it smelling sweeter, and I just put it in there last night.

I used the baggy because I thought the oils might ruin the cards, though I did mix the oils into the soda pretty thoroughly.

Can't wait to hear what you all do.

Thanks!

I have a box of 100 lavender scented candles (proper essential oil ones). I take all the cards out and put them in there loose for as long as it takes. Works for all vile pongs so far - even the stench of the card sized Lunatic. Though that one did take 3 weeks !

As I use the candles, this method is going to become harder to use, of course

I find a room where I can lay out all the cards in a deck, then I burn lots of Nag Champa incense in the room over the next few days. Depending on the strength of the smell, it can take a few days to a few weeks.
Satori, I'll have to try your idea with the baggie and essential oils next time I need to air a deck. Of course if I had 100 lavender candles, I'd have a go at Gregory's method.

I inherited a deck that just honked can't even tell you what of it was putrid ......but... I popped it in an organza bag with 2 nag champa incense cones & just left it out in the room hanging on a hook,in the "smoke path" of where I burn my incense..... every day I took it out & shuffled it & "aired" the cards a bit then popped it back. It did take a while...a good while actually....but now its de-pongified & a delight to handle rather than needing asbestos gloves

MM

Spreading the deck out and leaving it for a few days has taken care of all "new" smells so far.

I have a way harder time with getting rid of any smells that previous users have scented their decks with (purposely or not I don't know).

I never noticed how much it bothers me when a deck doesn't smell "right" (i.e. neutral or a smell I like and that suits the deck), but it does.

So, if anyone has any advice on how to get rid of previous scenting, please let me know. I'm not sure that covering one scent with another will help much, in my experience you just get a mix of the two...

I got a 1JJ Swiss deck over at eBay that came with a book and something I'd never seen before, a spread mat. Now, the deck and book were fine, but the mat is like carpeting, not a spread cloth, and, needless to say, it was so musty I couldn't stand it.

I let it air-out a few days, then took a bunch of 'Mystic Temple Charcoal-Burning Incense' packets (powdered Royal Amber), laid them down the long-side of the mat, and rolled the thing back up in new saran wrap. It was quite an ordeal, the mat is big and bulky, but I got the job done. I put it in one of my back-bedroom closets and left it there for a couple of months. Now, it's great... the musty smell is gone. I just love that powdered packet incense... it permeates everything, *s*

Incense Packets:
http://www.mysticunicorn.com/etemple.html

http://www.theluckshop.com/product_detail.asp?productId=91

Well, the baking soda will absorb odors. So probably there is no harm in laying the cards on the soda? Someone just pm'd me about that...will check to see who and give them credit. I didn't because I was thinking about scratching more than anything.

Well, unless they post here I'll keep them private, but this person left the cards in a box of soda and shook them around for a week, then left them in a box of candles (ala gregory?) to further air out and absorb some nice odors.

You know gregory, that is a great idea...but I don't have any scented candles! I am chemically sensitive, and well, even though I have the good oils I still don't use them much. My oils are really good oils, from Young Living, and the baking soda is fresh too. Will just have to wait and see. I just shuffled them again...and put them back in.

Great ideas, and FaireMaiden that incense looks great. Seems inexpensive enough too.

Thanks for the great ideas! I also leave stuff out on the altar to air out...I'll build a crystal grid and give this one a good airing out too. The box also has the odor, has anyone ever tried to air out the box?

I have a beautiful, ornately-carved wooden chest that I keep my most precious decks in. As well, I keep two packets of the Royal Amber incense in there too... and everything just smells so wonderful, *vbs*

I'd put the cards and tuckbox in a shoebox with a couple of those packets I mentioned. The thing is, unlike the baking soda, you don't take the powder out of the packet, so you're not using it 'loose' so-to-speak... so there is no danger of oily residues, or contact with the paper or inks on the cards... something I'd be afraid of... Even tho the powder comes in small plastic bags, the smell is very strong... like I said, it just permeates everything.

Good luck with whatever you try... I hope you find a happy resolution, *s*

Satori said:

Well, the baking soda will absorb odors. So probably there is no harm in laying the cards on the soda? [...] this person left the cards in a box of soda and shook them around for a week

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I did just that with one of my second-hand decks that smelled a little musty. Now the cards still smell like "old cards," but that's a smell I like. I also put the LWB in with the soda and the cards. When the smell was gone, I just wiped off each card and LWB page carefully. It might be a good idea to not use a box that is completely air-tight because I hear that condensation (= humidity) might occur then, which surely won't help with any musty/mouldy smells...

Satori said:

The box also has the odor, has anyone ever tried to air out the box?

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I don't usually use the boxes the decks come in but I surely have aired out the LWBs along with the deck and it seemed to work just fine.

Currently, I'm waiting for an accompanying book to lose the smell it came with. It's more difficult because the pages can't be shuffled or shook around like the cards. I guess I'll just have to let it sit around in the open somewhere and turn the pages every once in a while. Or maybe I'll take the soda route once again. *going to the kitchen to check soda stock*

Here are some more threads on getting rid of smells:
How do you get rid of the previous owner's odor?
How to make a deck smell good
Musty cards, a cure anyone?
Need Way to remove smoke smell from deck
Why does my Lunatic tarot smell like a hedgehog?

Great list of links Cat!!! Many thanks!

Ok, I just got home and I took the deck out of my little plastic box and shuffled again. I have to tell you, the smell is so fresh and clean...but it fades quickly. When it does fade, the odor is sort of mixed. Some smoke smell, but mostly the lovely fresh citrus odor.

The Young Living oils are pharmaceutical grade oils, which means many of them can be taken internally, and there is a chart letting you know which are safe and so forth.

Anyway, I'm using Citrus Fresh and the Lavender oil. The citrus fresh is a combination of orange, tangerine, grapefruit, lemon, mandarin and spearmint. And then a bit of pure lavender flowering top oil. Oh it smells like sunshine. I really do love the two together. So beautiful and light.

I think this method will work eventually, just need to be patient and let the oils and the baking soda do their jobs. I keep putting the deck together, shuffling and then splitting it up again. With half on top of the open bag of scented soda, and the other half under neath. This is a smaller deck, an oracle. If I were doing a tarot I think I might have two boxes going for it.

I must say, that the last time I opened the deck I did add some Reiki energy. I actually think I might do this with some of my other decks, only because it is like an attunement process....you are really connecting with the cards and making them yours. So I mean both the Reiki and the scented baking soda trick.

I have a little deck from tarotlyn that I won on the trade train a long time ago, one of our earlier trains, and she had scent the mini-Universal RWS with rose oil. It continues to hold the scent, and I love opening up the box and having that scent of roses waft up to meet me like a little hello. I think she must have scented the edges of the cards with oil, which I have read about here on AT as well. I have yet to try that, but who knows.

Perhaps the baking soda method will hold onto the scent if I leave them in the box long enough.