I'm working on a Crosley "Bandbox" 601, c. 1927.

From a physical inspection, it couldn't been played in decades. It has a noticable, but not objectionable, smell of tobacco smoke. I can't recall encountering this before in a radio.

Am I smelling smoke from perhaps the 1930s? Seems impossible. Perhaps the set has been stored recently in a smoking environment?

:I'm working on a Crosley "Bandbox" 601, c. 1927.
:
:From a physical inspection, it couldn't been played in decades. It has a noticable, but not objectionable, smell of tobacco smoke. I can't recall encountering this before in a radio.
:
:Am I smelling smoke from perhaps the 1930s? Seems impossible. Perhaps the set has been stored recently in a smoking environment?

Y'know I have noticed this myself as nobody here has smoked in years... so when I open the box from a newly arrived Ebay-foundling, radio-baby ... as soon as I get the last unwrapping done I get this waft of cigar-like smell. I can't be sure if it's pipe, cigarretts or cigar smoke... but it smells a little like horse pucky too. lol.
.. after a few days it's either gone or I get used to it... but more often than not... WAFT, waft, Stinko!!! peeyoo!.. lol

Unfortunately some people smoke inside. I enjoy my cigarettes outside. My downstairs neighbor's apartment is STRONG. It hurts your eyes to walk past his apartment. If a radio you purchased smells like smoke, then it came from a recent smoking environment (someone who unfortunately smokes inside, or, worse yet, uses an ash tray inside and then leaves the ashes lingering in the tray...can't stand this in cars...never use my ash try). I recently purchased a radio which reaked of smoke. I've had it for about a half a year now and the smell is mostly gone. If you want it to go away fast, leave the radio outside, especially in the frigid cold. You can put it in your garage, too, but it may smell like gasoline to a very small degree. Don't forget it outside or in your garage. It'll get damaged outside, and rodents will live in it in the garage. You could also close it up in a closet with an ozone air purifier (electrostatic kind).

Stale cigarette smoke does smell like horse crap and many other kinds of crap. Sometimes I wish cigarettes were banned, but I still enjoy a few now and then. I can't say I don't like pipe smoke. That, on the other hand, is a very nice smell. I tried smoking a pipe, though, and the juices burned my tongue (used a filter and all). After a half a year, I couldn't taste much and I couldn't drink soda (carbonation).

Thomas

I have an early 30's Stewart Warner tombstone that had spent some of its life in a chicken coop as evidenced by the mouse nest made of chicken feathers and the odor. I cleaned it all out and washed everything down and still to this day the smell of the old chicken house makes an itself known when I take the radio down for a listen.
Greg
:Unfortunately some people smoke inside. I enjoy my cigarettes outside. My downstairs neighbor's apartment is STRONG. It hurts your eyes to walk past his apartment. If a radio you purchased smells like smoke, then it came from a recent smoking environment (someone who unfortunately smokes inside, or, worse yet, uses an ash tray inside and then leaves the ashes lingering in the tray...can't stand this in cars...never use my ash try). I recently purchased a radio which reaked of smoke. I've had it for about a half a year now and the smell is mostly gone. If you want it to go away fast, leave the radio outside, especially in the frigid cold. You can put it in your garage, too, but it may smell like gasoline to a very small degree. Don't forget it outside or in your garage. It'll get damaged outside, and rodents will live in it in the garage. You could also close it up in a closet with an ozone air purifier (electrostatic kind).
:
:Stale cigarette smoke does smell like horse crap and many other kinds of crap. Sometimes I wish cigarettes were banned, but I still enjoy a few now and then. I can't say I don't like pipe smoke. That, on the other hand, is a very nice smell. I tried smoking a pipe, though, and the juices burned my tongue (used a filter and all). After a half a year, I couldn't taste much and I couldn't drink soda (carbonation).
:
:Thomas

Smells like urine are very difficult to get out of wood. If you stripped the radio down to bare wood and then bleached it, the smell might disappear. This would somewhat alter the color of the wood, though the alteration could be corrected with colored lacquers.

Bleach neutralizes a lot of organic odors like this one. Urine, for one, contains amonia. I'm not sure what is in the rest of the stuff, but bleach works well with this, too. I don't think cigarette smoke penetrates things quite like chicken waste, though it does penetrate. As cigarette smoke fades away, though, it eventually takes on an agreeable odor, which is more in tune with the other "old" odors. When cigarette smoke first turns stale, though, it smells terrible.

Thomas

:I have an early 30's Stewart Warner tombstone that had spent some of its life in a chicken coop as evidenced by the mouse nest made of chicken feathers and the odor. I cleaned it all out and washed everything down and still to this day the smell of the old chicken house makes an itself known when I take the radio down for a listen.
:Greg
::Unfortunately some people smoke inside. I enjoy my cigarettes outside. My downstairs neighbor's apartment is STRONG. It hurts your eyes to walk past his apartment. If a radio you purchased smells like smoke, then it came from a recent smoking environment (someone who unfortunately smokes inside, or, worse yet, uses an ash tray inside and then leaves the ashes lingering in the tray...can't stand this in cars...never use my ash try). I recently purchased a radio which reaked of smoke. I've had it for about a half a year now and the smell is mostly gone. If you want it to go away fast, leave the radio outside, especially in the frigid cold. You can put it in your garage, too, but it may smell like gasoline to a very small degree. Don't forget it outside or in your garage. It'll get damaged outside, and rodents will live in it in the garage. You could also close it up in a closet with an ozone air purifier (electrostatic kind).
::
::Stale cigarette smoke does smell like horse crap and many other kinds of crap. Sometimes I wish cigarettes were banned, but I still enjoy a few now and then. I can't say I don't like pipe smoke. That, on the other hand, is a very nice smell. I tried smoking a pipe, though, and the juices burned my tongue (used a filter and all). After a half a year, I couldn't taste much and I couldn't drink soda (carbonation).
::
::Thomas

I want to give up sometimes when cleaning a radio of all the yellow stinking coating caused by smoking. It's sicking. Over time the smaller plastic and bakelite radios seem to lose this smell, playing helps. Wood radios are the worst to retain the smell. You can clean the outside, the stuff rolls off like rusty water. But it's on the inside, it's everywhere. I got an RCA Model 9-XL-1H with a cigarette lighter. Push in the lighter and light them up while listening to the radio. What a handy item.

Bill J

:Smells like urine are very difficult to get out of wood. If you stripped the radio down to bare wood and then bleached it, the smell might disappear. This would somewhat alter the color of the wood, though the alteration could be corrected with colored lacquers.
:
:Bleach neutralizes a lot of organic odors like this one. Urine, for one, contains amonia. I'm not sure what is in the rest of the stuff, but bleach works well with this, too. I don't think cigarette smoke penetrates things quite like chicken waste, though it does penetrate. As cigarette smoke fades away, though, it eventually takes on an agreeable odor, which is more in tune with the other "old" odors. When cigarette smoke first turns stale, though, it smells terrible.
:
:Thomas
:
::I have an early 30's Stewart Warner tombstone that had spent some of its life in a chicken coop as evidenced by the mouse nest made of chicken feathers and the odor. I cleaned it all out and washed everything down and still to this day the smell of the old chicken house makes an itself known when I take the radio down for a listen.
::Greg
:::Unfortunately some people smoke inside. I enjoy my cigarettes outside. My downstairs neighbor's apartment is STRONG. It hurts your eyes to walk past his apartment. If a radio you purchased smells like smoke, then it came from a recent smoking environment (someone who unfortunately smokes inside, or, worse yet, uses an ash tray inside and then leaves the ashes lingering in the tray...can't stand this in cars...never use my ash try). I recently purchased a radio which reaked of smoke. I've had it for about a half a year now and the smell is mostly gone. If you want it to go away fast, leave the radio outside, especially in the frigid cold. You can put it in your garage, too, but it may smell like gasoline to a very small degree. Don't forget it outside or in your garage. It'll get damaged outside, and rodents will live in it in the garage. You could also close it up in a closet with an ozone air purifier (electrostatic kind).
:::
:::Stale cigarette smoke does smell like horse crap and many other kinds of crap. Sometimes I wish cigarettes were banned, but I still enjoy a few now and then. I can't say I don't like pipe smoke. That, on the other hand, is a very nice smell. I tried smoking a pipe, though, and the juices burned my tongue (used a filter and all). After a half a year, I couldn't taste much and I couldn't drink soda (carbonation).
:::
:::Thomas

Try rubbing down the inside of the radio with a light oil. You can also try thinning varnish and then using this on the inside of the radio. Clean the wood well and then rub down with the thin varnish. This will kind of seal the wood, but it won't glisten as though the inside of the radio has been varnished. It may bring out some wonderful grain, though.

Acetone and mineral spirits tend to remove cigarette oils. You may want to keep away from the acetone. Try rubbing down the inside of the radio with mineral spirits. Also try furniture soap. This stuff gets everything out.

I purchased a wooden portable a while back, however, which smelled strongly of smoke. I put it outside often and let it air out. It doesn't smell bad anymore. I guess it helps that the guy downstairs from me smokes so much. Perhaps I can't tell if the radio smells anymore. It doesn't seem to smell strong, though.

Thomas

I have found more trouble with tobacco smell in the grill cloth rather than the cabinets. Carefull removal and washing has taken care of the problem when the grill cloth was in good enough shape to keep.

:Try rubbing down the inside of the radio with a light oil. You can also try thinning varnish and then using this on the inside of the radio. Clean the wood well and then rub down with the thin varnish. This will kind of seal the wood, but it won't glisten as though the inside of the radio has been varnished. It may bring out some wonderful grain, though.
:
:Acetone and mineral spirits tend to remove cigarette oils. You may want to keep away from the acetone. Try rubbing down the inside of the radio with mineral spirits. Also try furniture soap. This stuff gets everything out.
:
:I purchased a wooden portable a while back, however, which smelled strongly of smoke. I put it outside often and let it air out. It doesn't smell bad anymore. I guess it helps that the guy downstairs from me smokes so much. Perhaps I can't tell if the radio smells anymore. It doesn't seem to smell strong, though.
:
:Thomas