Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Does anyone have actually factural information on how smoking affects stamps?
Does the smoking (if it does affect stamp(s)), and how long does the affect last?
I'm a not smoker myself, but have always wondered about this.
On Ebay there is a seller who states his stamps are from a non smoking home. Let's say this seller is selling one of the tobacco stamps and is over a hundred years old, is there any affect on a stamp after a hundred years?
1898
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Some material from the homes of smokers can smell like smoke. It is like going to an old house and experiencing that old house smell. It sometimes diminishes over time when removed or one just gets used to it.
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It can cause sulfurization of orange, yellow and brown colors on older stamps.
Thew smoke will get into the paper fibers, and the stamps will stink. Hard to remove those odors.
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I have purchased books that were stained yellow from heavy smokers, can't git rid of the yellowing. I assume the same happens to stamps or any paper that is in contact with tobacco smoke over a period of time.
Vince
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Several family members smoked when I was growing up and I recall the walls, the books and some of the paintings getting a nice coating of grime from the smoke in certain rooms. The stamp collections were usually stowed away in boxes, so I don’t know of any stamps that were affected during the short time they were out. I have purchased a couple small lots that had a cigar smell, but the stamps didn’t seem to be affected.
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The problem is when one purchases a lot or collection that reeks of cigar or cigarette smoke.
Albums, stock books, etc. so infected are a hopeless cause for the most part.
One thing I have tried that works with smoke smell and mothball smell is to take a small amount of baking soda,
place it in a open container (like a small plastic container) and then pack up the whole works (album, stock book,
whatever) in a large trash bag, with the open baking soda container on top. Seal it tightly. Lay the trash bag on
its side in a corner of a room for several weeks. Check it later and give it the sniff test. If it still smells, repeat this
procedure as many times as it takes until the foul smell disappears.
There are other methods, but this one works for me. The baking soda draws out the smell.
John
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@johnsim03
Thank you, I'll give it a go, with some stamps from an Ebay auction.
Too bad Stamp-O-Rama doesn't make sellers selling thru Stamp-O-Rama disclose that they are smokers (just thinking out loud).
Again thank you.
1898
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If one wants to know who the smokers are here you will also have to ask who has a cat or a dog, a damp house or damp basement or damp loft, an open log or coal fire as these are all causes of whiffs, smells or stinks that I have found in the past.
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@Brechinite
Do you have any of these, and do you sell stamps on Stamp-O-Rama?
1898
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If you look at my previous post on the left hand side under my name you will see the words Auctions Approvals.
If you click on the word Auctions you will be taken to what I have for sale in the auctions. If you click on the word Approvals it will take you to my approval books.
I cannot guarantee any stamp will have a particular smell but I could put a smelly piece of old cod or haddock into the envelope if you buy anything from me!
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Ian, would that be a Finnan haddie? Can't get smoked haddock or mackerel in this wild and remote part of the world.
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@Everyone
Does anyone know if the stamp gum is affected from smoking, Mr. Neiss tells there is acid in the gum of U.S.A. stamps and the smoke interacts with this gum badly.
1898
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Jings!.....Crivvens!.....Help Ma Boab!
Och aye the noo. Hoots mon.
A Finnan Haddie wid be an absolute belter. Even better an Arbroath Smokie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLdK9zaL ...
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@Brechinite
Funny.
I was stationed in Feltwell RAF, used to go fishing and gave my Trout to the Pub owner's wife and she would cook them for me.
1898
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I have never received an order from an SOR member seller that had tobacco odors. I believe a few members have, however, but I don't think it is very prevalent. I actually have only encountered one seller, who was on StampWants (now HipStamp) from which I received a nicotine high upon opening my order. I never bought from him again.
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With the younger stamps it should be no problem persuading them to stop. The older more classical stamps could be far harder to convince.
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@Everyone
Would you let a person who you know smokes and just finished a smoke into your house?
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No smoking in my house. We do have friends who stay with us sometimes and they smoke, but not in the house. We change the linen as soon as they leave and spray the room down with fabric freshener and open the windows. That takes care of the smell.
Vince
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Stamps can get cancer from smoking...
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Brechinite said, "If one wants to know who the smokers are here you will also have to ask who has a cat..."
Amen to that! I sponsored a stamp club in each of the three schools I taught over my career. The secretary of one of the schools told me that she wanted to donate a box of stamps to the club, and that I could pick them up after school, which I did. It was...interesting.
The house was a mess. In the kitchen I could see a large, white angora cat on the table, happily munching on a large, cold roast. She (the secretary, not the cat) handed me the stamps. I took a quick look at them, thanked her, and headed home. The stamps smelled lightly of smoke, but that wasn't the worst problem. For every stamp (all were off paper), there was one cat hair. At least that's my estimate. There might have been five hairs per stamp. And the hairs were well mixed with the stamps. I could pull out one stamp and several more would come with it. The stamps themselves were more or less collectible, so I decided to salvage them, carefully separating them from the entangled cat hair. Must have taken two hours! There was enough cat hair to knit a small angora sweater!
Bob
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I once got a box of first day covers in the mail. I have a curbside mailbox and the moment I opened it, I got a blast of that nasty smoker smell! I did complain to the seller whose response was, "I didn't say it was from a non-smoking home in my listing!" I asked on a board, probably this one was instructed to put it all in brown paper grocery sacks with Febreze dryer sheets. I left that in the garage a month or two, then laid the covers all out in the sun for a day or two. That pretty much too care of it.
I had a rental house where a couple that were heavy smokers rented from me. When the husband died (guess what from?) the wife eventually moved in with her son. Upon getting the house back, the ceilings were yellow and sticky. They left behind a nice Budweiser bar clock on the kitchen wall that literally had nicotine dripping from it!
I never smoked because my mother was a smoker and I saw the effects of it, and that was my deterrent!
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"I never smoked because my mother was a smoker and I saw the effects of it, and that was my deterrent!"
Same here. She later died of lung cancer. Plus I was too cheap. I though it was a waste of money.
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I purchased a stamp album containing stamps a few years ago from a “dealer” in my local stamp club. Didn’t notice anything at the time but he put it back in its plastic bag before he gave it to me. It was a day or two before I took it out of the bag and the cigarette smell was overwhelming. Even my husband could smell it.
I took it back to the dealer and he said he couldn’t smell anything. Too bad for me, buyer beware.
So I took it home and stripped all the stamps out. Left them widely separated in many envelopes in a separate bin far from other stamps. Tossed the album pages in the recycling bin. Pitched the album cover.
Several years later the stamps have no smell at all. Still sitting in their individual paper envelopes as I don’t know if it is safe to put them in an album with other stamps.
I will not buy from him again
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12:37:55pm
"I took it back to the dealer and he said he couldn’t smell anything"
He's not necessarily lying to you. When I was a teenager my allergies were so bad an operation to remove a few membranes from my nose. It really helped with the allergies but also affected my sense of smell. So it really is possible not to smell certain things! Sometimes this is a blessing and sometimes it's a curse since your sense of smell also affects the sense of taste.
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@angore
Since you mother smoked, were your health affected with the second hand smoke?
1898
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I bought a 5-carton collection from a deceased estate a couple of years ago. One sniff and I knew he was a smoker. The smell does fade over time, or at least it has in this case. Apparently citrus (half a lemon) placed in a carton can help, but I've never tried it.
Mum had numerous strokes, Dad had bladder cancer. Great deterrent, and I've never smoked.
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"Since you mother smoked, were your health affected with the second hand smoke?"
No idea but think smoking during pregnancy cannot be good.
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I've never noticed an issue with individual stamps from purchases but have bought some stamps on album pages which were overwhelming. In one case it was a very nice grouping of Switzerland stamps on pages. The smell was so strong I took the individual stamps off the write-up pages and threw the pages and the binders in the trash because I couldn't stand to be in the same room with them even with the windows open and a fan being used to keep a breeze through the room. I would literally go out of the room to breathe, hold my breath, and remove stamps until I had to breathe again to get the stamps removed. Before giving up and removing the stamps from the pages I tried a number of solutions for over a year including baking soda, dryer sheets, leaving them outside with air blowing on them, etc. in an attempt to make them liveable but finally gave up.
About twenty years ago, there was a stamp dealer on Mercer Island in Washington who had a store front location who smoked a pipe in his store. I never lasted long enough to go through his offerings in order to make a purchase. 
He retired and moved away about three years after my first visit to his store. I did try a couple of more times to visit but just could not deal with the smoke odor.
I never noticed any yellowing from nicotine on anything I kept but if that were to be present on stamps I acquired I would consider the stamps a total lost cause.
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"About twenty years ago, there was a stamp dealer on Mercer Island in Washington who had a store front location who smoked a pipe in his store. I never lasted long enough to go through his offerings in order to make a purchase. Sad He retired and moved away about three years after my first visit to his store. I did try a couple of more times to visit but just could not deal with the smoke odor."
Local mostly coin shop... I went in there once and the two old guys behind the counter were puffing away. You got the blast of smoke when you walked in the door. On top of that they ignored customers and talked loudly between themselves, and I don't think they could complete a sentence without a curse word in it. Great customer appeal! Haven't been back!
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11:30:11am
@everyone
Does anyone have actually factural information on how smoking affects stamps?
Does the smoking (if it does affect stamp(s)), and how long does the affect last?
I'm a not smoker myself, but have always wondered about this.
On Ebay there is a seller who states his stamps are from a non smoking home. Let's say this seller is selling one of the tobacco stamps and is over a hundred years old, is there any affect on a stamp after a hundred years?
1898
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re: Smoking Does it Affect Stamps?
Some material from the homes of smokers can smell like smoke. It is like going to an old house and experiencing that old house smell. It sometimes diminishes over time when removed or one just gets used to it.
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03:26:53pm
re: Smoking Does it Affect Stamps?
It can cause sulfurization of orange, yellow and brown colors on older stamps.
Thew smoke will get into the paper fibers, and the stamps will stink. Hard to remove those odors.
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re: Smoking Does it Affect Stamps?
I have purchased books that were stained yellow from heavy smokers, can't git rid of the yellowing. I assume the same happens to stamps or any paper that is in contact with tobacco smoke over a period of time.
Vince
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re: Smoking Does it Affect Stamps?
Several family members smoked when I was growing up and I recall the walls, the books and some of the paintings getting a nice coating of grime from the smoke in certain rooms. The stamp collections were usually stowed away in boxes, so I don’t know of any stamps that were affected during the short time they were out. I have purchased a couple small lots that had a cigar smell, but the stamps didn’t seem to be affected.
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re: Smoking Does it Affect Stamps?
The problem is when one purchases a lot or collection that reeks of cigar or cigarette smoke.
Albums, stock books, etc. so infected are a hopeless cause for the most part.
One thing I have tried that works with smoke smell and mothball smell is to take a small amount of baking soda,
place it in a open container (like a small plastic container) and then pack up the whole works (album, stock book,
whatever) in a large trash bag, with the open baking soda container on top. Seal it tightly. Lay the trash bag on
its side in a corner of a room for several weeks. Check it later and give it the sniff test. If it still smells, repeat this
procedure as many times as it takes until the foul smell disappears.
There are other methods, but this one works for me. The baking soda draws out the smell.
John
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08:20:05am
re: Smoking Does it Affect Stamps?
@johnsim03
Thank you, I'll give it a go, with some stamps from an Ebay auction.
Too bad Stamp-O-Rama doesn't make sellers selling thru Stamp-O-Rama disclose that they are smokers (just thinking out loud).
Again thank you.
1898
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11:22:23am
Auctions - Approvals
re: Smoking Does it Affect Stamps?
If one wants to know who the smokers are here you will also have to ask who has a cat or a dog, a damp house or damp basement or damp loft, an open log or coal fire as these are all causes of whiffs, smells or stinks that I have found in the past.
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11:46:56am
re: Smoking Does it Affect Stamps?
@Brechinite
Do you have any of these, and do you sell stamps on Stamp-O-Rama?
1898
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02:24:09pm
Auctions - Approvals
re: Smoking Does it Affect Stamps?
If you look at my previous post on the left hand side under my name you will see the words Auctions Approvals.
If you click on the word Auctions you will be taken to what I have for sale in the auctions. If you click on the word Approvals it will take you to my approval books.
I cannot guarantee any stamp will have a particular smell but I could put a smelly piece of old cod or haddock into the envelope if you buy anything from me!
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re: Smoking Does it Affect Stamps?
Ian, would that be a Finnan haddie? Can't get smoked haddock or mackerel in this wild and remote part of the world.
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05:50:07pm
re: Smoking Does it Affect Stamps?
@Everyone
Does anyone know if the stamp gum is affected from smoking, Mr. Neiss tells there is acid in the gum of U.S.A. stamps and the smoke interacts with this gum badly.
1898
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06:18:45pm
Auctions - Approvals
re: Smoking Does it Affect Stamps?
Jings!.....Crivvens!.....Help Ma Boab!
Och aye the noo. Hoots mon.
A Finnan Haddie wid be an absolute belter. Even better an Arbroath Smokie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLdK9zaL ...
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06:30:23pm
re: Smoking Does it Affect Stamps?
@Brechinite
Funny.
I was stationed in Feltwell RAF, used to go fishing and gave my Trout to the Pub owner's wife and she would cook them for me.
1898
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09:47:53pm
re: Smoking Does it Affect Stamps?
I have never received an order from an SOR member seller that had tobacco odors. I believe a few members have, however, but I don't think it is very prevalent. I actually have only encountered one seller, who was on StampWants (now HipStamp) from which I received a nicotine high upon opening my order. I never bought from him again.
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re: Smoking Does it Affect Stamps?
With the younger stamps it should be no problem persuading them to stop. The older more classical stamps could be far harder to convince.
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10:46:19am
re: Smoking Does it Affect Stamps?
@Everyone
Would you let a person who you know smokes and just finished a smoke into your house?
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re: Smoking Does it Affect Stamps?
No smoking in my house. We do have friends who stay with us sometimes and they smoke, but not in the house. We change the linen as soon as they leave and spray the room down with fabric freshener and open the windows. That takes care of the smell.
Vince
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re: Smoking Does it Affect Stamps?
Stamps can get cancer from smoking...
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re: Smoking Does it Affect Stamps?
Brechinite said, "If one wants to know who the smokers are here you will also have to ask who has a cat..."
Amen to that! I sponsored a stamp club in each of the three schools I taught over my career. The secretary of one of the schools told me that she wanted to donate a box of stamps to the club, and that I could pick them up after school, which I did. It was...interesting.
The house was a mess. In the kitchen I could see a large, white angora cat on the table, happily munching on a large, cold roast. She (the secretary, not the cat) handed me the stamps. I took a quick look at them, thanked her, and headed home. The stamps smelled lightly of smoke, but that wasn't the worst problem. For every stamp (all were off paper), there was one cat hair. At least that's my estimate. There might have been five hairs per stamp. And the hairs were well mixed with the stamps. I could pull out one stamp and several more would come with it. The stamps themselves were more or less collectible, so I decided to salvage them, carefully separating them from the entangled cat hair. Must have taken two hours! There was enough cat hair to knit a small angora sweater!
Bob
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re: Smoking Does it Affect Stamps?
I once got a box of first day covers in the mail. I have a curbside mailbox and the moment I opened it, I got a blast of that nasty smoker smell! I did complain to the seller whose response was, "I didn't say it was from a non-smoking home in my listing!" I asked on a board, probably this one was instructed to put it all in brown paper grocery sacks with Febreze dryer sheets. I left that in the garage a month or two, then laid the covers all out in the sun for a day or two. That pretty much too care of it.
I had a rental house where a couple that were heavy smokers rented from me. When the husband died (guess what from?) the wife eventually moved in with her son. Upon getting the house back, the ceilings were yellow and sticky. They left behind a nice Budweiser bar clock on the kitchen wall that literally had nicotine dripping from it!
I never smoked because my mother was a smoker and I saw the effects of it, and that was my deterrent!
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re: Smoking Does it Affect Stamps?
"I never smoked because my mother was a smoker and I saw the effects of it, and that was my deterrent!"
Same here. She later died of lung cancer. Plus I was too cheap. I though it was a waste of money.
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re: Smoking Does it Affect Stamps?
I purchased a stamp album containing stamps a few years ago from a “dealer” in my local stamp club. Didn’t notice anything at the time but he put it back in its plastic bag before he gave it to me. It was a day or two before I took it out of the bag and the cigarette smell was overwhelming. Even my husband could smell it.
I took it back to the dealer and he said he couldn’t smell anything. Too bad for me, buyer beware.
So I took it home and stripped all the stamps out. Left them widely separated in many envelopes in a separate bin far from other stamps. Tossed the album pages in the recycling bin. Pitched the album cover.
Several years later the stamps have no smell at all. Still sitting in their individual paper envelopes as I don’t know if it is safe to put them in an album with other stamps.
I will not buy from him again
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This is my diabetic cat OBI! I think, therefore I am - I think! Descartes, sort of!
02 Jul 2023
12:37:55pm
re: Smoking Does it Affect Stamps?
"I took it back to the dealer and he said he couldn’t smell anything"
He's not necessarily lying to you. When I was a teenager my allergies were so bad an operation to remove a few membranes from my nose. It really helped with the allergies but also affected my sense of smell. So it really is possible not to smell certain things! Sometimes this is a blessing and sometimes it's a curse since your sense of smell also affects the sense of taste.
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08:29:18am
re: Smoking Does it Affect Stamps?
@angore
Since you mother smoked, were your health affected with the second hand smoke?
1898
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re: Smoking Does it Affect Stamps?
I bought a 5-carton collection from a deceased estate a couple of years ago. One sniff and I knew he was a smoker. The smell does fade over time, or at least it has in this case. Apparently citrus (half a lemon) placed in a carton can help, but I've never tried it.
Mum had numerous strokes, Dad had bladder cancer. Great deterrent, and I've never smoked.
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re: Smoking Does it Affect Stamps?
"Since you mother smoked, were your health affected with the second hand smoke?"
No idea but think smoking during pregnancy cannot be good.
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re: Smoking Does it Affect Stamps?
I've never noticed an issue with individual stamps from purchases but have bought some stamps on album pages which were overwhelming. In one case it was a very nice grouping of Switzerland stamps on pages. The smell was so strong I took the individual stamps off the write-up pages and threw the pages and the binders in the trash because I couldn't stand to be in the same room with them even with the windows open and a fan being used to keep a breeze through the room. I would literally go out of the room to breathe, hold my breath, and remove stamps until I had to breathe again to get the stamps removed. Before giving up and removing the stamps from the pages I tried a number of solutions for over a year including baking soda, dryer sheets, leaving them outside with air blowing on them, etc. in an attempt to make them liveable but finally gave up.
About twenty years ago, there was a stamp dealer on Mercer Island in Washington who had a store front location who smoked a pipe in his store. I never lasted long enough to go through his offerings in order to make a purchase. He retired and moved away about three years after my first visit to his store. I did try a couple of more times to visit but just could not deal with the smoke odor.
I never noticed any yellowing from nicotine on anything I kept but if that were to be present on stamps I acquired I would consider the stamps a total lost cause.
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re: Smoking Does it Affect Stamps?
"About twenty years ago, there was a stamp dealer on Mercer Island in Washington who had a store front location who smoked a pipe in his store. I never lasted long enough to go through his offerings in order to make a purchase. Sad He retired and moved away about three years after my first visit to his store. I did try a couple of more times to visit but just could not deal with the smoke odor."
Local mostly coin shop... I went in there once and the two old guys behind the counter were puffing away. You got the blast of smoke when you walked in the door. On top of that they ignored customers and talked loudly between themselves, and I don't think they could complete a sentence without a curse word in it. Great customer appeal! Haven't been back!
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