Best Way to Air Out Smokey-Smelling Instruction Manuals?

[Bernie]

Soak a shirt in some sort of cologne or perfume.  Then wrap the games in it.  When I say soak I dont mean literally saturate, just spray it heavily.  Leave it wrapped for a couple days.  Works like a charm.

[henrycsc]

Try taking a thin piece of cardboard and folding it accordion style.  Place one page of the manual in each fold so that it stay's open.  That may air it out quicker with all the pages exposed at once.  Combining with a gentle fan may help too.  You can get carbon filters and someone mentioned baking soda as other ways to absorb odors, but time is probably the best repair.

[esteban]

I have since discovered (since my earlier post ~5 years ago) that spraying vodka (any brand) directly on the offending items (discs, cd trays, manuals, spine cards, orphaned children, etc.) and allowing the item to air dry for several years will completely eliminate the acrid stench of cigarettes.

[Necromancer]

Cover the bottom of an air tight container with a half inch or so of baking soda or activated charcoal, rig up something to hold the manuals above the material to keep 'em clean (a cookie cooling rack or simply cardboard like Henry mentions), and seal those puppies up for a couple weeks.  I've never done it to a smokey manual, but it works great for musty books.

[Arkhan]

Cover the bottom of an air tight container with a half inch or so of baking soda or activated charcoal, rig up something to hold the manuals above the material to keep 'em clean (a cookie cooling rack or simply cardboard like Henry mentions), and seal those puppies up for a couple weeks.  I've never done it to a smokey manual, but it works great for musty books.

I was going to suggest something similar.  I usually put the arm and heimer into a rubbermaid, and stick the stuff to be de-failed on a piece of aluminum foil folded to size.

Then I stick the whole thing in the corner and forget about it for a month.

or a year. 

details.

[TheMilford]

I don't think the Baking soda will actually harm the paper if it touches it. So I just threw them in a cookie tin with a heaping dose of the stuff... I think if the soda makes contact it may actually absorb more of the odor... I will check it daily to make sure no dame is being done though.

[Arkhan]

Yeah but then you've got all your crap sitting in baking soda, lol.

[Joe Redifer]

Great suggestion with the baking soda.  As this thread was started nearly 6 years ago, I have forgotten which manuals of mine need it.  Now I need to go through and re-sniff ALL of my manuals.

[Arkhan]

Baking Soda is glorious. 

[TheMilford]

Yeah but then you've got all your crap sitting in baking soda, lol.

It should just brush off... then I can wipe them down with the most-ever-so-slightly damp cloth (windex seems to work great for this BTW, as it evaporates so rapidly), just damp enough to "pick up" the powder but not moisten the paper.

[Arkhan]

I'd be worried about moisture for any reason ending up in there.  Wet + baking soda =

[esteban]

Gentlemen, I gladly accept your thanks for suggesting baking soda 5+ years ago.

You are quite welcome.

When collecting vintage stuff is your hobby, you sometimes get things that came from some loser who smokes and it hits you like a freight train when you open the package.  Airing out the box and cartridges/cards are all pretty easy and quick.  But with the instructions, I find that the only way to properly do this is to open it to the first page, leave it outside for an hour or so.  Open it to the second page... another hour.  And so on for the entire manual.  Takes forever.  Is there any magical method that I am not thinking of that could be used?

Would it be possible to fan out the pages (to increase the surface area) and put a fan at LOW speed in front of it to increase air circulation?

I had a box of magazines that got wet. I set up several fans and sandwhiched thin pieces of styrofoam between them to "fan out the pages". You can probably use any sort of "filler" to prop the pages open.

Also, baking soda is supposed to absorb smells, so another option (I've never tried this) is to throw the manual + box of baking soda in an airtight container and wait for the magic to happen! Try to get a large surface area of baking soda, since that makes it more effective (this is my own speculation, but it's got to be scientifically valid, dammit!).

[Necromancer]

Gentlemen, I gladly accept your thanks for suggesting baking soda 5+ years ago.

Haha!  Esteban clearly knows what is teh up.

[Opethian]

it must still sting a little.... we still love you esteban and your ferocious avatar

[blueraven]

Gentlemen, I gladly accept your thanks for suggesting baking soda 5+ years ago.

Haha!  Esteban clearly knows what is teh up.

Thank you for..... it.