Musty cards, a cure anyone?

Usually I keep my decks all together in plastic storage boxes, with the larger shelf boxes kept with the books on the bookshelf, and in the storage boxes I put packets of Nag Champa and other fave incense which keeps them smelling lovely. However, a few decks I have which are older smell very musty and even keeping them out of the packet in their own box with packets of joss sticks doesn't seem to be doing it. Is it hopeless or does someone have a good method for removing the musty smell?

Zoe xx

I don't know of anything that will get rid of musty odor and I'm plenty old enough (62) that if there was one, I'd know it, I think. That's why I don't store my decks in plastic. Plastic can form condensation inside and even a small amount of it will make for a musty smell. However, there's one relatively new product you might try that I've found is really good for bad odors and it's called "Odo Ban". You wouldn't want to spray it right onto your cards, but if you were to spray some on a piece of paper or fabric and then put it and the cards into a plastic storage container for a couple of days with your cards all spread out onto something, I wouldn't be surprised if it did the trick. I did it with some things that smelled horribly of cigarette smoke and it totally removed the smell. Cigarette smoke smell is very hard to get rid of, so if it worked for that, then it might work for musty smells. Odo Ban is sold in Walmart, I think, but if you don't find it online, try online or in other stores. It beats Febreze hands down for getting rid of bad odors. It's 10 times better than Febreze. And it smells really nice.

I've used this method for books, and it worked. I can't see why cards would be any different.

Make sure the container you are using is air-tight.


Wipe the dust and mildew of the book covers and pages. Using some day to week old newspaper (be careful not to use old and musty ones, defeats the purpose), insert some sheets in between some of the books’ pages. Crumple up some more sheets of newspaper. Put the books and crumpled newspaper inside a box, suitcase, garbage bag or any large container that you can seal. Put in some charcoal together with the crumpled newspaper. The charcoal and the newspaper will “soak” up the musty odor

natural sunshine will work to take the must out of paper, and wood boxes. Wipe the cards off and then lay them out on a towel in the direct sun. Lay a piece of netting (ultra cheap at any fabric store) over them and a couple of bricks/rocks at the corners to keep them from drifting off in a wind gust.
Do it again the next day with the other side exposed.

And don't store anything in tight plastic bags or boxes, as Grizabella said, everything retains some moisture and when closed off that moisture will go bad.

Good luck!

I have put musty paper cards in the sun and had it work as well, but it has taken more than one day. I put them in a large flat box with a window screen on top and stir them up once in awhile. It took a week or so for me.

The sun bleaches out colors, though, so you have to be really careful. It can bleach colors in just a few hours if it's strong sunlight.

Thanks everyone! Just to clarify, the musty decks were like that when I got them (one in particular really does pen and ink) and the plastic storage seems fine for my 'normal' non-musty decks. I've been keeping the musty ones (one at a time) in a perfume gift set box (cardboard) with joss sticks, it worked with the slightly musty ones, but the really stinky one doesn't seem to be improving. There's no sign of mildew or mould, and the appearance is one of relative newness, it's just the smell. I don't know if we get Odo-Ban here, but I'm loving the name! I will have a look for some. It may also work on a fag-smoke-soaked deck I picked up off the bay.

Zoe xx

In the kitty litter section of your local grocery you can find litter that is silica beads. Soaks up odors wonderfully. If you put a layer of the litter in a paper grocery sack laid out sideways and set the cards out on the litter and let that sit for a week or so where dry air circulates that will probably remove the odor with no risk of fading.

Works well in athletic shoes and refrigerators too.

Baking soda
It soaks up all kinds of smells - pongy fridges, musty paper it's FABULOUS stuff...good for cleaning too!
Get a hairspray cap (or similar) 1/2 fill it with baking soda and put in a box with musty cards.
Leave for a day , stir the soda, leave for a little longer
and voila - no pongs!

Vlad xx

Grizabella said:

It beats Febreze hands down for getting rid of bad odors. It's 10 times better than Febreze.

Click to expand...

That's because most Febreeze (except the extra strength with alcohol) actually kills your sense of smell instead of killing the smell itself.

Have you tried smudging them?