Getting the smell of smoke off a deck?

Some Spanish tarot readers cleanse the deck with cigar smoke.

Bury them in kitty litter.

UNUSED !

If - like me - you happen to have a box of 100+ candles scented with lavender oil - that works too. If you are using oil of any kind - make ABSOLUTELY sure it doesn't touch the cards - even when it's on a tissue. I damaged the back of a card once (Luckily the title card of the deck) not thinking that through - it took quite a bit of the ink off.

Speaking of candles; I try to only use pure beeswax candles now, and even when not burning they smell amazing - and have some cleansing properties, too.

I received a second-hand book a while ago that stank of cigar smoke (seller was vv unhelpful, saying that they don't take smell into consideration). It's a hardcover, so I tried airing it out by setting it upright, fanned open, in sunlight (uv light kills bacteria and also a lot of smells).
Perhaps I didn't wait long enough, or the Dutch spring sunlight is just not strong or frequent enough, but after 2 or 3 months, the smell was still there.

I put the book in the cabinet where I store my beeswax candles; not really intentionally, just because I was frustrated and disgusted and wanted the thing out of my sight.
And even though it was in there with the pages closed, the smell is now (after about 2 weeks) almost completely gone!
I'm keeping it in there for a while longer, and I've stuck a leftover disk of beeswax in between the page, like a really fat bookmark, moving it down to a different page every couple of days.

I wonder if it's actually the wax then - maybe it absorbs stuff ?

gregory said:

I wonder if it's actually the wax then - maybe it absorbs stuff ?

Click to expand...

Could be!
Fortunately, the wax still smells lovely and honey-ish.

I've never tried this with cards, only books, but coffee beans have helped me before.

I wipe what I can with a damp cloth, expose to sun and fresh air for as much and as often, then finish by storing with coffee beans in between airings.

It seems to speed the de-stinking process and help insure my other books don't pick up the odor.

Coffee beans, yes, I forgot about those!
I used to use those a lot when I still had cats (that got elderly and had some accidents...)

I don't really drink coffee, but a bag of unground beans isn't a huge investment.
I wonder if a nice, fragrant tea would also work?
But that seems like a waste of good tea...


Re the wax; I suddenly remembered the book 'Perfume', by Patrick Suesskind.
Didn't the guy...

*spoiler*

..... coat the women in wax, to absorb their scent?
And I think that is actually a proper perfumer's technique.

_R_ said:

There have been some very good suggestions in this thread, from physically cleaning the deck (perhaps using talc), sunning and airing, freezing in a ziploc bag, and use of scents (that order seems about right).

I would like to draw readers' attention to a French type of scented paper, "Papier d'Arménie", a now-traditional remedy to unpleasant odours made from strips of paper dipped in benzoin resin.

Burn a strip of the paper to purify the atmosphere - it really does cleanse the air instead of simply masking the smells. Benzoin incense is also used in Eastern religions for purification of a less physical kind, and it is commonly used for this purpose by French Tarot readers too.

Also, a few strips placed between the pages of old books can help remove musty smells. I keep a strip or two at the bottom of Tarot boxes to keep the decks fresh.

This paper is now available worldwide through online sellers, for example, Amazon.

Click to expand...

Thanks for this suggestion, I bought some through eBay, bizarrely cheaper to buy it from France than from here in the UK, it's worked on one deck that was really stinky, and I've also put just one strip in a bag with another , non stinky deck, and it smells wonderful.