I stored some books at my father’s place when I moved, and he brought them back to me this week after they spent a few months in one of his closets. Now, both he and his wife smoke like chimneys, and just opening the box of books makes me feel like I’m surrounded by ashtrays.
What can I do to get the smell out? I considered leaving them outside a while, but I’m worried about humidity.
Any ideas?
Almost nothing. I’ve purchased books that are many years old and can still smell the stuff. It fades with age, but pretty much ruins them for resale.
You say that “just opening the box” smells bad – have you actually taken the books out of the box? Perhaps it’s mainly the box that picked up the smell.
Keeping the books outside for a while would probably help – that would insure that odors released from the books aren’t reabsorbed – but of course they’d need to be protected from the weather. If you leave them out in your garage they’d just end up smelling like a garage.
Beyond that, you could try spraying the books very lightly with Febreze or setting up an air ionizer near them.
I read this as “Getting smoke smell out of boobs”.
I borrowed the original Mollie Katzen’s Moosewood Cookbook (before the low fat “improvements”) from my boss. When I went to grab it to return it I discovered that the bookcase it had been in was against an external wall subject to damp and the books had become mildewed.
I was mortified by the prospect of returning it like that so I researched fixing it up and did the following:
I got a soft cloth and neat alcohol and lightly wiped the pages.
I put the book in shaded sunlight for a few days with a fan blowing over it and regularly turned the pages and propped them open.
I sealed the book in a large freezer bag with some cinnamon sticks, some cloves and some juniper berries.
I gave it back to Rachel withe a few “mea culpas” and I think she still stores the book like that, because it smells so good.