Less Odorous Smoke

My recent experience shows that the better the smoke unit, the less odor is produced.  Case in point:  my new LionChief Plus Camelback produces very realistic clouds of smoke with every chuff.  The chuffs are powerfully driven out in a plume, and then quickly dissipate.  I get almost zero odor from running this engine.  But if I run my LionMaster Hudson, which produces less smoke, but is denser because of a weaker air-flow, I get immediate smell.

Solution:  trade in all your old engines for new ones!

Jon

There is no alternative. It's not offensive. Even Lionel Premium has a scent.

Perhaps a "flavored" smoke fluid would achieve acceptance. What's her favorite candle scent?

I agree. Your not going to find anything with absolutely no scent at all. It also depends on the smoke unit and what kind of shape the wick is in. Even a small singe on the wick can affect the scent coming out of the stack.  I think your best alternative is to find a scent that she likes. There are pleanty of choices to choose from. 

http://www.megasteam.com/

While visiting my my daughter around Christmas, my grandsons train was running around the tree. He was using MTH Apple Pie in the RTR 2-8-0. Wow did that smell good. Now I went from MTH Christmas Scent to Apple Pie for being my favorite. I have also used vapor cigarette fluid with no nicotine in it, which has no back ground scent of miner oil and comes in dozens of scents, but heard even without the nicotine, the smoke is still bad for you.

Carl, Chris, Jon & Dave

My wife is not into scents or candles, and the engines I'm running lately are pretty new: Lionel Shay, MTH GP Demo, MTH GE Devo, and Lionel S3. Fortunately, both Lionel and MTH make it easy to turn off the smoke units and even adjust volume via remote control. But I was still hoping that a chemical engineer would come up with a safe, no-smell formula that would produce gobs of smoke!

Bruce 

I use Clove Sensation, my wife likes the smell of it.

I'm surprised the smoke companies haven't come out with the scent of "English Leather", "Canoe" or "Old Spice" for us old guys.

For people who smoke how about "scent of cigarette/pipe/cigar" tobacco

It is interesting to discover others sense of smell. Have a friend who runs those propane radiant heaters in his garage claiming they don't smell, yet when guests enter his house they all say the smell will make you sick instantly. 

Doubt there is anything that doesn't give off a scent and the fragrance will linger in the air long after the trains are done operating. Run 4 MTH diesel for a few hours and you don't need air fresheners anymore. Maybe you just need a bigger cfm exhaust fan! Good luck!!

I have found J.T.'S NADA to have the least offensive odor, and to dissipate quickly. My train room is a small spare bedroom with an 86" X 90" layout. I recognize that perception of odors, as well as sounds, are very subjective, and some folks are more sensitive to certain smells than others. Nevertheless, I stand by my wholehearted recommendation of NADA!

Bruce,

Pat's Trains used to sell their own line of smoke fluid including a non-scented version.  It says specifically your "wife will not yell at you".

P&P's Super Mist Premium Smoke Fluid

It seems to be out of stock but you could ask them if they plan to have more.

Craig

Craig,

Thanks. I sent them a note asking if it was a rebranded version of Nada or some new formulation.

Bruce

I love the Mega Smoke “smoke pellet “smell.    My wife likes it too.

Since we have three cats, if they could come out with "2-day-old Kitty Litter Smoke" my wife probably wouldn't detect it.

Bruce: I have two cats, and that is too funny! LOL!

Get rid of the wife and keep the smoke going!!

With over 50 scents, I would think that one would be pleasant for your wife. I run as much heavy smoke as possible on my layout but within the context of what is ethical, moral and legal, I do what I want, when I want and don't take orders from my wife or anyone else.   I use the Meg-Steam coal scent for realism and Coffee scent for fun.  Almost everyone drinks coffee so who would not find that pleasant?

I got coal fired steam mega smoke.   Works good.   Makes your eyes water lol

Jim 

I guess the coal scent would be a good cover for "crop dusting"!  LOL!

Dennis,

Taking your suggestion, I would wind up in divorce court....but keep the cats!

Bruce

Dennis LaGrua posted:

With over 50 scents, I would think that one would be pleasant for your wife. I run as much heavy smoke as possible on my layout but within the context of what is ethical, moral and legal, I do what I want, when I want and don't take orders from my wife or anyone else.   I use the Meg-Steam coal scent for realism and Coffee scent for fun.  Almost everyone drinks coffee so who would not find that pleasant?

Glad to hear you walk your post from"plank to plank" and taker no ____" from any rank!

Pat's daughter is a chemist if I recall right.

   I was happy with their grape and the vanilla. The vanilla would the fainter I'd say; but I really liked the grape best.

Whatever you do, do not use MARX flavored smoke!

I have heard, but cannot confirm, that ALL flavored smoke fluids leave residues behind that eventually adversely affect the longevity of the wicking material. Can anyone speak to this issue from experience? THANKS!  :-)

Bruce Brown posted:

I'm surprised the smoke companies haven't come out with the scent of "English Leather", "Canoe" or "Old Spice" for us old guys.

JT's has a leather scent.  I have it.  So far that one, coffee, and grandpa's pipe smoke are my favorites.

One scent, that would conjure up the most fond memories of growing up in the 50's, would be "Burning Autumn Leaves by the Curb."  A great smell! Haven't seen that one on the market yet.  

I don't see how anyone could have a problem with the smell of plain smoke fluid. Scented fluids, yes. Perfume smells in anything, yes. But plain fluid smells good; clean.

There, I've said it. I like the smell. 

"Burning leaves" IIRC one of the Mega-Steam scents is very close. A smell most kids in urban areas won't experience anymore.

The aroma of burning autumn leaves would definitely be a nostalgic trigger! :-)

I just ordered some of this. Hopefully it does what it says on the bottle. The wife is complaining about the amount of smoke my CSS puts off. She's afraid it'll set off the smoke detector.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/LIONE...f:g:Vw8AAOSwux5YXCnU

The smoke created by smoke fluid isn't smoke so it won't set off smoke detectors. It's actually a precipitate more akin to vapor.

Bruce Brown posted:

I'm surprised the smoke companies haven't come out with the scent of "English Leather", "Canoe" or "Old Spice" for us old guys.

LOL....Don't forget Brill cream and Ben Gay..Hey we gotta be able to laugh at ourselves!

D500 posted:

I don't see how anyone could have a problem with the smell of plain smoke fluid. Scented fluids, yes. Perfume smells in anything, yes. But plain fluid smells good; clean.

There, I've said it. I like the smell. 

I was scrolling to the bottom, planning to post the same thing. I love the smell of regular Lionel smoke fluid. Wish my trains smoked more than they do.

I wonder if Geritol will work.

Crack a window in the train room. Turn off the furnace so it doesn’t blow the smoke around. Burn a candle upstairs to mask nada. Do something romantic before running trains. Have a conversation and actually listen to her before running trains. 

If those all fail turn up the chuff sounds so loud you don’t hear anything else. 😂😂😂

ChiTown Steve posted:

Do something romantic before running trains. Have a conversation and actually listen to her before running trains.

That would require me to watch the Hallmark Channel before running the trains!

Keep a can of Ozium spray around.  It is formulated to kill the smells of a hospital!  Also good for mildew, odd smelling Air Conditioning systems.....

rockstars1989 posted:

Bruce Brown posted:

I'm surprised the smoke companies haven't come out with the scent of "English Leather", "Canoe" or "Old Spice" for us old guys.

LOL....Don't forget Brill cream and Ben Gay..Hey we gotta be able to laugh at ourselves!

 

Those scents are patented and you would have to pay royalties if you used their name.  J

I  also ordered coal-scented Mega Steam for the sake of realism.  The smoke billowing from an MTH steamer immediately clears the room. Even the dog won’t play with me. Some people have no appreciation for authenticity. 

JohnActon posted:

rockstars1989 posted:

Bruce Brown posted:

I'm surprised the smoke companies haven't come out with the scent of "English Leather", "Canoe" or "Old Spice" for us old guys.

LOL....Don't forget Brill cream and Ben Gay..Hey we gotta be able to laugh at ourselves!

 

Those scents are patented and you would have to pay royalties if you used their name.  J

That would actually be an interesting trademark question. I am not sure it would be trademark infringement, if a consumer would not assume the manufacturers of the original product and the smoke fluid were connected.

Bruce Brown posted:

That would require me to watch the Hallmark Channel before running the trains!

Ha! That's all the tv we watched during Christmas season.

MarkVB posted:

I  also ordered coal-scented Mega Steam for the sake of realism.  The smoke billowing from an MTH steamer immediately clears the room. Even the dog won’t play with me. Some people have no appreciation for authenticity. 

I always discourage coal and diesel scents for the average "Mom and Dad" for starter sets and such.  These scents IMO are absolutely horrible unless you are a serious modeler. The pine and wood burning scents are my go to scents and most folks find them pleasing.  Coal to me smells like burning rubber.  LOL!

ChiTown Steve posted:

Bruce Brown posted:

That would require me to watch the Hallmark Channel before running the trains!

Ha! That's all the tv we watched during Christmas season.

I bet you watched "The Christmas Train" -- a true classic...LOL  (Never explained how the Amtrak engine got through the snow bank.)

MartyE posted:

MarkVB posted:

I  also ordered coal-scented Mega Steam for the sake of realism.  The smoke billowing from an MTH steamer immediately clears the room. Even the dog won’t play with me. Some people have no appreciation for authenticity. 

I always discourage coal and diesel scents for the average "Mom and Dad" for starter sets and such.  These scents IMO are absolutely horrible unless you are a serious modeler. The pine and wood burning scents are my go to scents and most folks find them pleasing.  Coal to me smells like burning rubber.  LOL!

That Coal-Fired scent is kept to one steamer, same with the Oil-fired and Diesel. Made up a list of what scents are in which engines so that we have an idea what the room will be like when certain guests come over. That way we can have some smoke most of the time!