Best way to remove smoke smell from Figures?
 

I heard Baking soda in a bag for a day may work. Anyone have any experience with this?

Weed... In all seriousness though, I think Lysol or something might work. Just have to give it a few sprays over time.

I say take up smoking. The smell will disappear quickly....god I miss smoking.

Just spray some kind of cleaner with a scent on a rag n clean your figures u might have to do that like three times before u eliminate the smoke smell but that is a hard smell to get rid of

A friend of mine on another board suggested this when the question came up, the person who had the problem tried it, and said it worked wonders:

I am worried that spraying a figure will damage the paint.
Ummmm...
Again afraid of ruining the paint.
I will try this or what I was originally thinking of just putting the fig in a bag and fill it will baking powder.

I would say take the figure in a shallow bath of warm water soak the figure with a combination of soap, your choice of alcohol or vinegar and let it soak for a while then rinse it clean followed by another bath of soap and water. Other then that you can try putting it in the fridge with a box of arm and hammer/smoke eliminator.

Wouldn't that completely rape the paint if sitting for a long period of time?

So what is this figure that needs to be exorcised of smoke? I think if we had an idea of what it is we could help a bit more.

^ Superheros Batman

This is an old thread, but still seems to be the most recent one on the topic (other than one about packaging), so adding my suggestion here...

I received a box of Marvel Universe figures that all smelled heavily of smoke. As per someone else's recommendation, I picked up Simple Green® All-Purpose Cleaner.

http://www.homedepot.com/catalog/pro...88e4ba_300.jpg

They sell it at hardware stores (bought mine at Lowe's). The gallon jug is like $10. Got the original version, as I figured the lemon scented one would just add an extra artificial smell.

What you're going to do is soak the figures. In a large plastic bin, I poured the full contents of the bottle, then an equal quantity of water (just refill the jug with water and dump in).

I soaked the figures for three days, rinsed them and let air dry on a towel for another day or two (repositioning and shaking periodically to get out any water inside).

It worked very well in that the cigarette smell (which had been very strong) was completely gone. But the smell of the Simple Green does linger - it's not overly scented or unpleasant, but kind of a mild institutional cleaner smell.

What I ended up doing was resoaking the figures in water for a few days then air drying again. That then got rid of most of the cleaner smell. But since I have an enclosed display case for my collection, I still didn't want to put the figures in yet. So I let them get some air on a shelf (and outside at times) over a few weeks. Finally I put them in my display case and there's no cleaner smell from them.

That's what I did with no experience. So having done it once, I'd tweak the process. Firstly, the person who recommended it to me said a couple of days, so maybe 2 days would have sufficed instead of 3. Frankly, the smell seemed gone even after a day, so could soak for not so long in the solution.

Am also wondering if maybe I could have gone for a weaker mix than 50/50 Simple Green/water. Don't really know, if had time, could test on a figure with different solution mix.

There were a couple of figures that experienced a bit of dullness in part of their paint app, so maybe a weaker mix might have prevented this. But I did like 40 figures and it's only one or two that were affected, so maybe something in their paint application. And even then the effect was very mild - paint just got a little duller.

So maybe either or both of the above could result in a less strong cleaner smell on the figures (and maybe prevented the paint dulling in those odd cases).

But my main misstep was not soaking the figures in water straight after soaking in the 50/50 mix. I just rinsed them and that probably wasn't enough. So however long you soak them in whatever mix, I'd follow by rinsing them (while wiping gently with a soft sponge) and then soak in clean water for another couple of days.

Maybe if I had done that right away, that would have more or less got rid of the cleaner smell. Regardless, think it's still a good idea to let them sit out in an open space (even outside on nice days if can), before putting them in an enclosed display case.

All in all though, was very happy with the result.

I've had plenty of experience cleaning toys from my own smoke, not only cigarettes but from pot as well. I stopped smoking in my house, I have my collection in my living room and when you walk in from outside, it would hit you like a brick. So, I chose to clean them. Also, I sold a bunch and not one person has complained about the smell.

jabalong is on the right path but I think he went a little over board with the Simple Green.

What I have done is basically the same thing but on a much smaller scale. There is no need to use an entire bottle of simple green. That's just way overkill and it's got a lot of harmful (to us and possibly to the figures as well) chemicals in it. It is a degreaser and it's a damn good one, at that. It's meant to strip grease off of stuff so, what are the possibilities of it hurting the figure? (Not saying it will, I just worry)

If you plan on cleaning 1 figure at a time, follow this list and modify as needed.

The point of doing this and what jabalong did is to get the Residue, Nicotine, and (Pot, Crack, Herion, ect) Resin off of the figures. This is the entire reason WHY they smell. So, when your "scrubbing" them, be gentle so you don't damage the paint and/or chrome or any other delicate (fill in blank here) on the figures.

Now, Simple Green is a good product but, I fear that it may be a little too strong and may end up damaging the paint. (I'm not a chemist so I may be wrong) Personally, if I can eat off something that can be cleaned with a product, it can't be too harsh on the paint/plastic/metal of any figure you are cleaning. Also, DAWN prides themselves on being a grease remover and does a damn good job at removing this stuff. So, take your choice of soaps and choose what you want. Just remember if you plan on using stronger stuff, make sure you don't use a ton of it, a squirt, a cap full, ect should be plenty for 1 or 2 figures at a time.

Yes, I have had to do this to a couple of figures more than once before it got rid of the smell but it does work.

I bought the original Masterpiece Optimus Prime years ago from someone who smoked, the thing reeked. My thought was to wrap it in dryer sheets to absorb the smell. I did so, put it in a box, and put the box in a closet, and planned to check on it the next day.

And promptly forgot about it for a month. It's been a decade and the thing is STILL "Mountain Fresh." but no smoke smell!