Does wax absorb smells?

[Ramr]

I have all these votives I've been making and I want to store them in this funky, vintage suitcase I have. However the former owners of the ancient suitcase were big into mothballs. I have tried everything known to man over the last two years to get the stank of mothballs out of this suitcase, but no luck. It is a hard suitcase and the interior is paper, not fabric. I have sprayed it with vinegar. I have sprinkled it with coffee grounds, I have stored it with tea bags, I have left it in the sun, I performed a few magic incantations while dancing and waving tree branches. That smell DOES NOT COME OUT!

 

It has lightened up in the past two years. But still, if it is closed for any length of time and  you open it, wow, mothballs! The question is, will my candles smell like that if I store them in the suitcase?

 

Each batch of candles is in plastic bags. I don't think they're great plastic bags as you can smell the candle scent right through them. So the candles are not individually wrapped, but each type wrapped in a bag and all stored with the others. In a big box. That smells like heaven right now! Will the stink of mothballs permeate my votives? IT's bad enough that they are incorrectly wicked and many have no throw, but to also have them smelling like mothballs? That would be too much!

[syntheaahh]

For your suitcase, have you tried charcoal? Its known to absorb stinky odor. It might clear up the mothball smell

[Ramr]

I have not tried charcoal in the suitcase. I have tried charcoal in other applications and it is very fluffy, very BLACK, very fine stuff. So I would have to find it in some confined form rather than loose. Loose charcoal is a whole other problem! But good thinking!

[birdcharm]

Maybe activated carbon like you would use in an aquarium?

 

Moth balls contains a pretty serious chemical, btw, I can't think of the name of it, but it's why you aren't supposed to breathe it all the time or handle it without gloves.

 

Edited October 3, 2018 by birdcharm
Edit to add ... not that it would immediately make you ill, but it's carcinogenic.

[syntheaahh]

23 minutes ago, Ramr said:

I have not tried charcoal in the suitcase. I have tried charcoal in other applications and it is very fluffy, very BLACK, very fine stuff. So I would have to find it in some confined form rather than loose. Loose charcoal is a whole other problem! But good thinking!

I'm thinking more of the charcoal you use for grilling? They are big, and maybe if you can put it in like a cup, covered with saran wrap, and poke holes in the saran wrap, it might not be messy.

[TallTayl]

Back in my aerospace days there was a product called BIo Zapp that would clear out everything, and I mean EVERYTHING from surfaces found on a plane. Water based, no VOC, and drinkable (not that anyone from my office drank any on a dare...)

 

I found the original inventor is still alive and well in Florida. He's an amazing man to speak with about anything smelly, lol. http://www.biozapp.com/

 

The Original product is what I still use:

http://www.biozapp.com/products.html

 

Last time I bought it was on Amazon, but not seeing the actual bottle I use right now. Will keep looking since I could use more too.

 

[Kerven]

A light spritzing of diluted non-chlorine bleach? Not certain if that would ruin the paper, if patterned, or the adhesive.

Cat litter or other zeolite product. A week to a month should do.

Baking soda might work but it would take too long, I'd think.

Could try putting cedar chips in it for a few weeks to cover up the smell.

Crumpled newspaper and baking soda in the hot sun.

Febreze?

 

[bfroberts]

I used to sell clothes, shoes, handbags on ebay and I had to remove mothball stink as well as cigarette smoke from lots of things.  Both would sometimes linger even after the items were cleaned.  Cat litter worked well for me.  Also just plain old sunshine.....let something sit out in the hot sun for several days and that would cure most any odor.

[Laura C]

I love baking soda and more baking soda. LOL. It's my go to for absorbing odor and moisture. Also, if you put a lot of strong smelling candles in the suitcase, the suitcase may absorb the odor of the candles. I filled a large plastic cooler with candles that had lids and now the cooler smells like the candles.

[Ramr]

Lots to think about here and I suppose as Laura C has said, if I fill it with candles at least it will smell like candles, and not mothballs.

 

I got the suitcase from an elderly friend. They had all sorts of amazing vintage stuff in pristine condition from back in their youth from the 40s right to the 70s. All of it in perfect condition and all of it stinking to high heaven of mothballs. Some things have literally taken YEARS to air out. Some things never did. I soaked a lot of vintage clothing, often for several days, in a product called OxiClean. Got out the yellow stains and the stank. Obviously cannot use it on a paper lined suitcase. For all I know the suitcase itself is made of cardboard and might disintegrate if wet. I think I might just take the leap and fill it with candles. Right now the candles are in a big, black box that work boots came in. Not very cute.

[Scented]

Here I'm going to say try other methods and find something else to store your candles in. There will be a battle between what stinks more, not what stinks best. What stinks more will eventually overpower what stinks best. Paper just holds onto stuff. The fibers absorb. It's how ink stays on a sheet. 

I would bet that eventually, the mothball smell will win over, but there are days that it won't, like early on. 

[Ramr]

Update.
I did indeed keep my candles in the mothball suitcase. The candles are wrapped in plastic bags closed with clips. Must be cheap plastic as the smell of the candles blows right through the plastic. When you open that suitcase, and I warn people before I do, I say step back, avert your eyes, the smell that comes out smells like someone threw up bubblegum.  The cacophony of smells that hits your nose at once fries your brain's ability to distinguish any of them so it just smells like barfed up bubblegum. With a slight after waft of mothball. 

 

Interestingly, the candles have not absorbed the smell of each other. When you hold a candle to your nose the distinct smell of IT is still distinct. I'm thinking wax is a pretty inert substance that will take a smell when added to the liquid wax, but not absorb it much when exposed to a scent while the wax is solid. I am burning a candle now, it does not smell like bubblegum barf.

[Laura C]

That's interesting @Ramr

Edited January 29, 2019 by Laura C

[Trappeur]

Hello Ramr!   I realize this is late getting to the post Ramr but here is something else you could try.

I'm designing a collection of "odor eliminator" candles.   Community Candle has an oil called "odor eliminator" that you add to any scent to make this type of candle as this is strictly for removing odors in your home.   You could get a couple of ounces of it and make maybe melts and laying the melts opened up in your suitcase.   After you've had them laying around in your "closed" suitcase, you could then decide if it truly works as an "odor eliminator".   Let us know how well this does, if anything!

 

Trappeur

 

 

Edited January 30, 2019 by Trappeur

[Sunday]

I put a  couple of garbage bags of empty fragrance plastic jugs in a cargo container that was sitting on our property....The cargo container smelled so bad...and so strong ...it made everyone sick....not to mention all the gardening tools chainsaws and leaf blowers that were stored in there all have a distinct candle smell....its been about 6 months since the fragrance bottles were removed and the cargo container still smells like I am storing a dozen old ladies in there....needless to say my candle business went down a few notches in my husbands eyes!...Don't know who would win in a battle of mothballs and fragrance?