Sorry for your loss. Keep us posted.

I just bought myself a Quintet and wow does it smell of smoke. Im about to take care of it from the steps above and I know that I will check with sellers to know if they smoke in the Future. 

 

I don't know if this is just me, or are there a lot of people out there that are concerned about a pet free/non smoking environment?

 

(Im allergic to cats so therefor I wash all received bricks anyway)

I have an entire zoo in my house and I do smoke.  By zoo I mean: 35 tarantulas, 3 ball pythons, 1 red tail boa, 3 cats, 3 dogs, 1 tortoise, 1 ferret, 5 rats, 3 birds.

 

It's definitely not a pet free zone.  Although I store all my legos in a spare room where I house my tarantulas, snakes, and tortoise.  None of the other animals are allowed in there, so I'm not sure how bad the dog/cat problem would really be.  As far as my smoking, I don't smoke in the house anyways, so that shouldn't be a problem.

 

My question though, is if you guys get sets that absolutely reek of smoke, I wonder how much smoking needs to be done around the sets.  I know how smoke smell just permeates through everything, but that's crazy.

 

Funny thing for me though, is I don't care about if I were to ever buy a used set if it came from a pet house, I would be more concerned about a smoke free house.

 

Which raises another question.  Even though I smoke, and it's not inside the house and my legos aren't subjected to the smoke, could that be considered smoke free? Or coming from a smoker who is never around the legos when smoking?

I have an entire zoo in my house and I do smoke.  By zoo I mean: 35 tarantulas, 3 ball pythons, 1 red tail boa, 3 cats, 3 dogs, 1 tortoise, 1 ferret, 5 rats, 3 birds.

 

It's definitely not a pet free zone.  Although I store all my legos in a spare room where I house my tarantulas, snakes, and tortoise.  None of the other animals are allowed in there, so I'm not sure how bad the dog/cat problem would really be.  As far as my smoking, I don't smoke in the house anyways, so that shouldn't be a problem.

 

My question though, is if you guys get sets that absolutely reek of smoke, I wonder how much smoking needs to be done around the sets.  I know how smoke smell just permeates through everything, but that's crazy.

 

Funny thing for me though, is I don't care about if I were to ever buy a used set if it came from a pet house, I would be more concerned about a smoke free house.

 

Which raises another question.  Even though I smoke, and it's not inside the house and my legos aren't subjected to the smoke, could that be considered smoke free? Or coming from a smoker who is never around the legos when smoking?

 

Even if you have the packages in the vehicle and you smoke in the vehicle, smoke around packing materials, or have smoke smell on your clothes/hands when handling the packages, I would consider all of those situations as exposed to smoke.

 

I've even picked up stuff in the clearance aisle or regular shopping aisles that must have been around an employees "special" smoking area in the warehouse or exposed during transit.

Even if you have the packages in the vehicle and you smoke in the vehicle, smoke around packing materials, or have smoke smell on your clothes/hands when handling the packages, I would consider all of those situations as exposed to smoke.

 

I've even picked up stuff in the clearance aisle or regular shopping aisles that must have been around an employees "special" smoking area in the warehouse or exposed during transit.

 

I agree, even if a smoker only packs the item to ship (and never touched the LEGO themselves), the odor will still be there.

I scored a pretty good lot of old castle sets.  The problem is they reek of cigarettes.  I opened one tupperware of minifigures and started gagging.  You get what you pay for.

 

The vinegar water soak has been working for the pieces, but I'm wondering what to do for boxes, instructions, and fabric capes?

 

At the moment I have them in a box with baking soda.  There's got to be something more aggressive I can do with the dragon master capes right?  The capes are my main concern, the loss of boxes and instructions wouldn't be too bad with this lot.

I scored a pretty good lot of old castle sets.  The problem is they reek of cigarettes.  I opened one tupperware of minifigures and started gagging.  You get what you pay for.

 

The vinegar water soak has been working for the pieces, but I'm wondering what to do for boxes, instructions, and fabric capes?

 

At the moment I have them in a box with baking soda.  There's got to be something more aggressive I can do with the dragon master capes right?  The capes are my main concern, the loss of boxes and instructions wouldn't be too bad with this lot.

 

Depending on the rarity of the sets, the box/instructions might be worth trying to save.

 

Obviously you can't wash them - So if they are worth saving, good air flow & time might be your best bet.

I used dryer fabric sheets in air-tight containers with for instruction books.

Also I've read that sunshine/heat helps as well because it dries out the particles that cause the smell...but I wasn't able to attempt that method.

I used dryer fabric sheets in air-tight containers with for instruction books.

Also I've read that sunshine/heat helps as well because it dries out the particles that cause the smell...but I wasn't able to attempt that method.

Sunshine ain't gonna happen for a while in VT. I did leave them out in the cold for a few nights.

Thanks for whoever moved my post to the appropriate thread. Reading back through gave me some new tips to try out.

Hello there. Looking for some advice from some skilled, knowledgable, and experienced folks to educate me (and anyone else) on the proper techniques and best solutions for cleaning legos new and old. What product(s) (chemicals or natural) do you use? What do you clean them with (toilet brush, tooth brush)? How do you dry them? 

Thank you in advance for your shared advice!

37 minutes ago, SteveAlaska said:

Hello there. Looking for some advice from some skilled, knowledgable, and experienced folks to educate me (and anyone else) on the proper techniques and best solutions for cleaning legos new and old. What product(s) (chemicals or natural) do you use? What do you clean them with (toilet brush, tooth brush)? How do you dry them? 

Thank you in advance for your shared advice!

I found this very helpful, this is for restoring discolored brinks.

For general cleaning I just use hot soapy water and use a small brush for the more stubborn dirt.

 

A salad spinner to dry! Genius. Thank you for sharing TheGallows.