Second Coolador Still Smells

[Mattb82]

Finishing my second coolador setup. First night washed with mild soap hot water and baking soda. Left in sun the next day. Day two same thing. Day three used a tiny bit of bleach and rinsed immediately. I'm close to no smell but there is just a hint of the bleach in there. If I load it up with boxes now is that faint smell going to hurt things or be absorbed by the Cedar? No singles in here just boxes. 

[Mattb82]

Also, 10 boxes just arrived so I need to do something soon 

[dvickery]

Smell of bleach !!! Wouldn't use it for cigars .

over the years ... I put 9 coolers into cigar storage use ... All I ever did was wipe them out with a cloth soaked in tap water ... No soap or bleach .

derrek

[Mattb82]

I say bleach but it's very hard to tell if it's a little bleach smell or a slight plastic smell. The bleach rinse was in there for maybe 2 minutes 

[Mattb82]

Boxes are still sealed air tight in the closet where the ambient is 66 degrees and 55% so they should be ok short term. Just arrived today 

[Mattb82]

Had the wife and in laws smell it. They are saying I'm nuts and don't smell anything but maybe an extremely faint food grade plastic when your nose is pressed in the cooler. They don't understand cigars are like kids. Loaded up with cedar boxes after another wash and rinse  and it smells grate in there. 

[Guyman1966]

Purchase a bag of charcoal BBQ brackets.  The most inexpensive brand you can find.  Make sure they are NOT instant light or treated to light with a match.  Just plain, regular bricks.  Drop the unopened bag into the cooler.  2-4 days later the plastic smell is gone forever.   I had one cooler that I had to leave for a week.  But, usually is quick and also depends on the size of the bag of bricks you purchase. 

 

Side note, my son’s dorm room stank.  I put a bag of charcoal in closet and within 24 hours, the smell was gone.

Unopened bags of charcoal.  Amazing stuff.

[CaptainQuintero]

I've always found scrunched up newspaper is great for absorbing smells

[subport]

Mine had a bit of plastic smell. Did not sweat it. Warm water ones, dried and cigars in. Now it smells cedar and cigars. 

[shlomo]

If your worried, toss some coffee beans in there. Newspaper, charcoal works too. Or drop in a few scrap pieces of spanish cedar.

Slight smell should be overpowered by 250 cigars....

[demer]

I usually go to the pet store and buy active carbon which is used in fish filters. It should take the smell away in a day or two. It's the same thing as using newspaper.

[Mattb82]

It's good to go now. I Appreciate all the feedback 

[earthson]

Bleach wasn't a great idea.  Plastic is porous and tends to hold noxious substances and their respective smells for a while.

You're going to have to keep sitting it in the sun to cook off the bleach.

[Mattb82]

It was food grade non absorbing plastic on the liner you won't find in a normal cooler. Can't smell it at all now 

[spivey6690]

Is just putting boxes in a brand new cooler going to affect the cigars at all?   

[earthson]

5 hours ago, Mattb82 said:

It was food grade non absorbing plastic on the liner you won't find in a normal cooler. Can't smell it at all now 

Awesome!  Food-grade is fairly non-adsorbent, but all plastics as far as I know are a: pretty adsorbent and b: not completely inert (at least compared to other surfaces)

3 hours ago, spivey6690 said:

Is just putting boxes in a brand new cooler going to affect the cigars at all?   

You don't want the "new plastic" smell hanging around before putting cigars in there - it can transfer to your tobacco.  New plastic is often still out-gassing when you purchase it (hence the "new plastic" smell - also found in new cars and emanating from new carpet).  The best method I know is to give the cooler/tupperware a good wash with warm water and dish soap, and then let it bake in the sun for a few days.

Let it cool, covered, inside for a few days and then open the cover and smell.  If it smells like nothing, you're good to go!

[Mattb82]

After all the cleaning I did I had a very faint smell when I literally stuck my nose on the plastic, Aside from that it was good. The mass amount of cedar in there from the boxes has over powered it 

[zeedubbya]

On September 17, 2016 at 11:37 AM, Mattb82 said:

Boxes are still sealed air tight in the closet where the ambient is 66 degrees and 55% so they should be ok short term. Just arrived today 

If your ambient stays at those levels year round in your closet I would just use it as a humidor!  Glad you don't notice the smell any longer.  Sometimes the smell of bleach stays with me long after I use it for some reason.  It's almost like I become more sensitive to the smell of it or something?  

[JustinThyme]

Never use bleach! 

Charcoal for a few days always does the trick.

[RickHendeson]

On 9/17/2016 at 1:22 PM, CaptainQuintero said:

I've always found scrunched up newspaper is great for absorbing smells

 

I had a HORRIBLE experience with this.  The nasty smelling ink ended up polluting my coolidor WORSE (I junked it after that.).

 

You here this on the forums quite a bit, but I would think 3X before I went this route