I purchased some My Little Ponies off of ebay. When they arrived, they stunk of smoke. The seller never indicated that the toys came from a smoke-house (and unfortunately, I never asked). The seller will not respond to my emails so now I have to try to figure out how to get the smoke stench out of these ponies. Any ideas?? Thank you!!!
Put them oustside for a couple of days to one week depending on how bad the smell is. Wiping them down with lemon scented clorex
Wipes before putting them outside helps to, as a heads up off brand
Wipes don't work as well
My first thought was to agree with the other posters. Then, I did a google search for you. This is what I found:
http://reviews.ebay.com/How-to-Eliminate-Smoke-Smell-from...
PLASTIC [or other washable] TOYS, ETC.
Bleach and vinegar won't get to some smells that plastic absorbs.
Try using kitty litter confined with the plastic item. Pack it as for books (above) pack it in there and leave it for a few days. If the toy is small enough, put it in the kitty litter bag from the store.
Dump them in the bathtub, with soap and vinegar.
Run them through the dishwasher.
Scrub them by hand with orange or lemon based cleaner. The dollar store sells AWESOME but it has strong fumes. Spray it onto your cloth and then wipe it on straight.
Good luck to you. I wouldn't want my daughter playing with them either (until the smell was out). Amazing what plastic will absorb.
~SR
Being a toy collector I've tried about everything. Cause lets face it stuff is cheaper if it comes from a smokers house rather than from a non-smoker or a pet free home.
Anyways I've tried the vinegar, dishwasher, bleach etc. Some of those things are VERY damaging especially on pony hair.
The best thing is an Ionizer. I'm guessing you aren't going to buy one of those for a small sack of ponies. So that is one option but pry not the best one.
I really recommend getting a laundry bag (kind of like the ones you put your panty hose in so they can be washed). Or making a bag out of tulle that is rather large. Come this spring or even when it's decent out put them in the bag and suspend them from your deck, clothes line, tree limb whatever and let them blow in the wind. A few days of that I've had great sucess with. For some reason nature just seems to solve this stuff better than anything else.
If you are more concerned with cleaning them than destinking them I'd go with Vinegar and or Bleach but that will mess up the hair. Good luck!
Let them sit in a baking soda bath for a while (over night) and then give them a vinegar bath (for an hour or so) and then rinse them well. Let them air dry in the sun if possible.
I would put about a tablespoon of soda in warm water for every pony you put in the container and then make sure the ponies are submerged.
Use about 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of vinegar in your rinse.
That plastic has its own odor, but I can only imagine what they smell like with the smoke!
Good luck, I hope this helps. Baking soda and vinegar can take care of about anything.
Have you tried using Febreeze? It works well on smoke smells in the house.
Vinegar will work well. I also put any toys I buy secondhand through the washing machine or dishwasher. I try not to pay so much for them that I will be upset if they don't make it through a hot wash cycle. You should also look into the negative feedback option for the seller, that should have been disclosed. But be honest that you did not think to ask either. But the seller should respond to you or expect negative feedback if they don't make it right.
We had a fire at our house and things made of plastic like polyester really keep the smoke smell in them. The professional cleaners use a room with ozone, so what i tried was putting the item in a plastic bag and spraying that ozium in there and letting them stay for a while. That worked ok, it helped, but for most things, the sun worked best. I left many things i thought were ruined out on the fence in the sun for days, and to my amazement, when i went to throw them out, many had a nice fresh scent with no smoke smell at all. Hope this helps you.
My father-in-law owns a cleaning company and swears by the sun. He tells us to leave musty furniture, smoky jackets etc to get "baked" outside.
I recently purchased a cell phone from ebay and it too smelled like smoke...I contacted the seller and he recommended putting it in a plastic bag and covering it with baking soda. It worked okay...maybe you'd have better luck with your toys.
You can try washing them in a vinegar bath... if that does not work try a mild bleach solution or run them through the dishwasher (this will probably mess up their hair though).
The vinyl that they are made of really holds on to smells...good luck.
