Comments on: How to remove cigarette smell from stamps?

By: Marvin

Marvin — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 08:37:55 +0000

As I am primarily a collector of mint stamps, and, to the best of my knowledge, a “smell” will not reduce value – I am forced to consider it as part of the “history” of the stamp. Of course, if the stamps were poorly stored and the exposure to smoke caused discoloration, it could, in all probability, reduce the value of the stamp (stained). But years of experience have taught me one basic rule of thumb,..the more you try to fix, the more damage you are likely to cause! Dry, fresh winter air might help, but past that, I’d be careful. For used stamps, a simple re-wash in clean, unadulterated water shouldn’t hurt. I don’t know enough about the chemistry of glues over the past couple of hundred years to start combining them with sodium hyochlorite or sodium bicarbonate to give an opinion.

By: Keijo

Keijo — Wed, 19 May 2010 06:12:40 +0000

Just to update with some experiment results….

First, I tried baking soda approach. IMHO it didn’t work well. After one week stamps had less smell than before, but definitely nothing compared to “fresh laundry”.

Then I tried David’s dish soap method (with luke warm water). It works much better IMHO. I was surprised to see such yellowish water (nicotine?) coming off from stamps.

By: Keijo

Keijo — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 18:36:41 +0000

Yikes… Seriously, I’m not a fan of chemicals. Organic dish soap I might try, but bleach is way too powerful stuff do to anything IMO. I’ve seen lots of bleached stamps that shine “whiter than the white” (not to mention how bizarre they look under UV).

By: David

David — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 17:32:38 +0000

Hey Keijo,

I find that soaking stamps in cold water with clear liquid dishsoap works well.

If there are also smoke stains, I will dip them for around 5 seconds in a 1/10 mix of bleach and coldwater after the soap soak. Rinsing immediately with cold water is important to avoid the colors from fading (I stir the rinse water a bit to help remove the bleach faster). Always avoid warm or hot water or the colors will bleach.

I find that the short bleach bath is safe for most stamps, but do not try it with expensive stamps unless you have first tested it with a similar inexpensive stamp, preferably from the same issue with the same color or a damaged copy of the same stamp.

For large quantities or albums I use the same method as you.

David

By: Pete

Pete — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 23:11:33 +0000

I ran into this same problem when I collected trading cards. I would air them out by leaving them on a flat surface for a few days. I’d then store the cards with bubble gum to give them the “gum” smell. I’m not sure how to get stamps to smell “post office fresh” I think the baking soda is a good idea and I like your “airing the laundry” trick too.