Hat smell...

[lc1484]

the threads about baking soda are true...it works..

of the hats I've won on ebay, some smelled of tobacco or must...I put it in a box with a box of arm and hammer baking soda and left it in the box for over a week, the longer you leave it in there the more it gets the smell out, then letting it sit in the sunlight after helps too....

 

[Dreispitz]

Many vintage hats dating pre mid/end 1950ies do have a distinct smell. I did not come across anything else, but hats that do smell like this.

It is not a regional thing, since US, as well, as some European hats have the same odour.

Must be connected to the felting, stiffening or finishing prozess.

Any clue, what this substance could be?

 

[gtdean48]

Character?

 

[carouselvic]

Most all of my vintage felt hats have the smell of money.

 

[Slim Portly]

I have one vintage hat that came to me smelling of cats and cologne, or possibly cats who wear cologne. I don't wear that one often.

 

[gtdean48]

I have one vintage hat that came to me smelling of cats and cologne, or possibly cats who wear cologne. I don't wear that one often.

*yucky* Don't blame you Slim. I have heard that if you store a hat with newspaper such that the ink doesn't get on the hat, the newspaper will wick away odors. Never tried it. I have used baby powder on a musty smelling vintage lid to good results.

 

[Michaelshane]

I know the smell you are referring to,I have grown to love it.Weird huh?



I think its old fur.

 

[suitedcboy]

My nose tells me that vintage hats have the aroma of three things: aging leather, cardboard box, and felt.
Some have odors that come from previous wearer such as tobacco smoke and fragrance of hair care products.

The old cardboard box odor seems to take over in several of mine.
Most of these odors seem to fade from heavy wear by me. My odors apparently kick the butts of the others and they pack up and leave.

If you continue to keep your lid in the vintage box, by all means get a plastic bag and keep the hat in the plastic bag inside the box.

I let the odors go away from fresh air exposure and avoid odor treatments other than brushing with a steam dampened hat brush. Spray odor treatments in my experience just overlay what odor is there with a new floral odor and I have never known quality felt hats to smell like flowers or cinnamon, etc.

 

[barrowjh]

Lavender

Lightly clean a vintage hat box (wipe it down with a damp (not wet) cloth or paper towels, then keep a sachet of lavender in it. Every time you get into the box, squeeze that sachet and shake it up some. I have found that hats not properly stored will develop a musty smell (separate from the animal fur smell), and often this smell goes hand-in-hand with insect damage to the felt. It takes a deliberate effort to make that smell go away, and of course, cleaning the felt with naptha (careful, no naptha on the sweatband!!!) will help this process along.

 

[Fletch]

Old hats smell the same as old velour headliners or mohair seats in cars—a mix of nap, dust, mildew, smoke and humanity.

I think it's a magic odor. If you concentrated it, you might experience time travel.

 

[rumblefish]

Many vintage hats dating pre mid/end 1950ies do have a distinct smell. I did not come across anything else, but hats that do smell like this.

I know what you're referring to...
...Gets stronger when steaming them?

 

[Fletch]

Let's hope they're not leaching mercury!

 

[carouselvic]

I have one hat that smells of "old codger."

 

[Lefty]

Let's hope they're not leaching mercury!

I was talking to Gary White about mercury, and he brought up the fact that the sweats were tanned using chrome. The hat industry seemed determined to put some sort of toxic chemical into every worker.

 

[gtdean48]

I have one hat that smells of "old codger."

I've got a few of those & yet each is a unique "old codger" aroma!!!

 

[Brian Sheridan]

The ones I have bought thankfully haven't had the "old codger" smell on them. What is weird is the "old codger" smell on the big band CD's I borrow from my local library. P-U!

 

[Brad Bowers]

Hmm, I'd never really noticed a difference in smell between vintages of hats.

Kind of fftopic:, but the other day my wife was grooming the cats, and she had a large pile of fur left over from the brush. I immediately grabbed it, and worked it under hot water with my hands to start the felting process. It felted better than I expected. For some reason I decided to sniff it, and it smelled just like hat bodies when I block them.

In other words, fur smells like fur smells like fur, no matter the type of fur is used. But I'm also talking modern fur, too.

Brad

 

[J. M. Stovall]

Sometimes they smell like an old attic to me, but the smell goes away after handing on a hook for a while.

 

[JohnnyGringo]

I would think that the smell of vintage hats may be from the vintage heads on which they once viewed the world...

 

[ScottF]

Lightly clean a vintage hat box (wipe it down with a damp (not wet) cloth or paper towels, then keep a sachet of lavender in it. Every time you get into the box, squeeze that sachet and shake it up some. I have found that hats not properly stored will develop a musty smell (separate from the animal fur smell), and often this smell goes hand-in-hand with insect damage to the felt. It takes a deliberate effort to make that smell go away, and of course, cleaning the felt with naptha (careful, no naptha on the sweatband!!!) will help this process along.

Good pointers. I hate to toss out smelly boxes, but I'm not putting my hats back in them.

Scott <=== off to get his lavender sachets.