Observation on cases from smokers

3

3one5

Gawd
Joined
Jan 6, 2005
Messages
579
My wife buys a lot of clothing on eBay. One of the big things when doing so is whether or not those clothes came from a home with smokers or not. Well I just recently bought a case on eBay is it's quite apparent that it came from a home with smokers because it smells pretty bad. I'm sure it will be easily fixed by cleaning it with common household cleaners so it's not that big of a deal. But something someone might want to consider when buying a case.
 
i had one from someone that was so bad i had to toss it. back in the beige box days.
 
I hate opening those cases when I run across them. I swear it's nasty enough to make me want to beat the owners with the side panels. I smoked for years (but never indoors) and every time I get that smell out of those cases it's almost like having a relapse. Had 1 a few months ago that actually made me short of breath.
 
I am a smoker. But I never smoke indoors, nor would I even consider smoking around my computer. There's a cleaner you can get at your local hardware store called DirtX. Spray it on and let it soak for a few minutes. Will pull nicotine stains right out.
 
xbox360 controller - utterly filthy.

At least the person later admitted to it, so his eBay rating didn't go down becaues of that.
 
jeremyshaw said:
xbox360 controller - utterly filthy.

At least the person later admitted to it, so his eBay rating didn't go down becaues of that.
Click to expand...

while it should be the dirtiest because it's the closest to the cigarettes, how are you supposed to smoke with two hands on the controller?
 
Thankfully this one is all aluminum so it should be OK. Well, except for the sound deadening on the side panels. But that stuff is pretty dense and should not absorb much. It's stinking up the man cave though. I don't have any thing in it right now but I had to run 12v over to it so I could run the fans and air it out.
 
if the case has plastic foam you may want to reconsider keeping the foam... go ahead and give the foam the sniff test and see if how much oder is lingering in there......
 
stainremover said:
while it should be the dirtiest because it's the closest to the cigarettes, how are you supposed to smoke with two hands on the controller?
Click to expand...

It was grit, the kind that comes from sweaty palms!

I had to use several toothpicks, and 30min to clean all of it out!
 
Atmosklear Odor Eliminator /thread

^ lol, but seriously though, it works. It was supposedly developed for the Army to get the stench of cigs and BO and god knows what else out of combat tanks.
 
I smoke, and i smoke and my desk, which has my pc sitting on top of it. In the back of my head, im always thinking to myself, what kind if damage am i doing to my computer.
 
TeeJay88 said:
I smoke, and i smoke and my desk, which has my pc sitting on top of it. In the back of my head, im always thinking to myself, what kind if damage am i doing to my computer.
Click to expand...

Not real sure. I've noticed that some computers of smokers seem to get an oily build up that lint attaches itself to and them becomes next to impossible to remove.
 
I smoke. I bought a 4850 and used it for 2 weeks before selling it on ebay. I got message from the buyer stating she had to leave the card in the garage for a full week before it stopped stinkin :eek: i felt bad that i didnt say it came from a smoking household but i thought two weeks isn't enough time for it become tainted. regardless now I always state in my ads that the item is coming from a smoking household. i knock off a few dollars for the fact and people will let it go because they got a good deal.
 
TeeJay88 said:
I smoke, and i smoke and my desk, which has my pc sitting on top of it. In the back of my head, im always thinking to myself, what kind if damage am i doing to my computer.
Click to expand...

...not to mention to your own body....

I just moved into an apartment that STINKS like cigarettes. It's disgusting. The previous tenant must have chain smoked constantly. It's taken weeks of scrubbing to even make it remotely tolerable.

Black soot still comes off my feet in the shower, even though I've already shampooed the carpets.... uuugh
 
ordovician said:
...not to mention to your own body....

I just moved into an apartment that STINKS like cigarettes. It's disgusting. The previous tenant must have chain smoked constantly. It's taken weeks of scrubbing to even make it remotely tolerable.

Black soot still comes off my feet in the shower, even though I've already shampooed the carpets.... uuugh
Click to expand...

you need to complain to whoever shampood your carpets. that shouldn't happen.
 
i stopped smoking indoors a while back.

I remember when i started smoking and playing games. there was little reason to go out for long stretches. :D

those damned intake fans!

used 409. let case sit outside for a week. alcohol wipe, then windexed again. case clean!
 
My girlfriends family smokes, and cleaning out her PC is disgusting. The fans have black dust plastered to them, to the point it starts to mold into the plastic fan blade. If it's doing that to the computer, imagine what it's doing to the people smoking.
 
I once got a call from a friend whose pc stopped working. I opened it up and yuck - smoke and cat hair formed an unholy alliance of goo, so the fans stopped working!
I was able to salvage the PSU and the case though (mobo and cpu and gfx card were toast) by cleaning them with chlorine, the same conentration they use for cleaning the tanks in companies that make softdrinks (think pepsi, coke etc...).
The case is now pristine white again, but I built another rig to prevent that from ever happening again. I chose a Coolermaster Cosmos 1000 because of its dust filters, added filters behind the front mesh panels and more rubber seals around the door and a completely passive external water cooling (Cape Cora 842).
And still, with the interal fans running at 800rpm, some smoke gets by the filters and after half a year we had to clean the insides with a soft household cleaner from a slight brownish tint.
Unbelievable.
 
I have had to work on PCs from customers who clearly were smokers. As said, the tar and other junk from the cigarette smoke attaches itself to everything. As it's really sticky, dust will settle on it, get covered by more tar, more dust, more tar... ad nauseam until you get the most disgusting, smelly and possibly cancerous substance imaginable. Also, you'll never fully get the smell out of anything that isn't metal. Plastic, foam, fabric... it'll all suck in the smoke particles and will stay in there for at least half a century.

Of course, this isn't even a fraction of the damage done to the smoker's body. I just hope I didn't increase my risk on cancer by working on their PCs :p
 
oh, you can get the smell and dirt out quite easily!
"eau de chavelle" is your friend, in concentrated form, and similar cleaners.
Unfortunately, using that stuff in concentrated form can be, erm, well, "more damaging" to your health (and skin :D ) than the little tar buildup.
But hey, the parts that don't dissolve on contact will be perfectly clean afterwards :p
 
jackknife said:
oh, you can get the smell and dirt out quite easily!
"eau de chavelle" is your friend, in concentrated form, and similar cleaners.
Unfortunately, using that stuff in concentrated form can be, erm, well, "more damaging" to your health (and skin :D ) than the little tar buildup.
But hey, the parts that don't dissolve on contact will be perfectly clean afterwards :p
Click to expand...

How reassuring ;)
 
I looked at 360 from a friend of my friend. He said it was locking up playing games and that he was on his 2nd console back from rrod. My friend had me look at it because my first 360 had some ram & cooling issues. I opened the thing up and there was tar dust all over the fans, the metal grills, the plastic covers, and the heatsinks. I ended up submerging all of the plastic parts. Used dish soap and paper towels to clean the fans and did the best I could on the heatsinks. :(
 
pretty much tells you how disgusting smoking is (any kind) i pretty much tell anybody who smokes near me to go 10 meters away from me.
 
Just freshen up with some Clean Coal spray (Youtube).

Smoking is like a lottery with no jackpot, or like cooking expensive grease without any food.

I like the nuts with their "natural" cigarettes. I could eat natural mushrooms right from the ground but if they cause harm they cause harm. Also reminds me of natural gas, so good for us to breathe and not dangerous. They won't call it Fiery Explosion Gas but it is. And the original tobacco users weren't having packs at a bar watching football, it's not an homage or tradition.

I got a nasty case but I think it's just gravel dust. Of course the outside was cleaned for show... heh.

Also laptops with the palm areas completely worn are gross, too. I have mine from 2005 and its still textured and black, although I have used a mouse about 75%.
 
Last edited:
risqu3 said:
pretty much tells you how disgusting smoking is (any kind) i pretty much tell anybody who smokes near me to go 10 meters away from me.
Click to expand...

Some recent research showed that the partners of people who smoke have like 70% more chance on heart- and lung-diseases or so. I wonder what the rates are for people who work on smoker's PCs :(
 
tobbacco is extremely nasty. however, i 'chainsmoke' marijuana, inside, and the difference from tobacco is huge. no lingering smell, no sticky buildup on anything... i have sold many items and never a single complaint about anything (but i do actually try to clean my parts before i ship them:rolleyes: )

i smoke about 1/2oz of marijuana per week... for over a decade. none of my furniture, clothes, carpet or anything gets damaged from the smoke. i agree, tobacco leaves so much nasty shit everywhere its obvious how bad it is for your lungs. to this day, my lungs are still as strong as they ever have been and i am never short on breath. in other words, everyone is smoking the wrong plant and that's only because big corporations told us to. wake up and smell the weed- its the healthy cigarette ;)
 
krupted said:
tobbacco is extremely nasty. however, i 'chainsmoke' marijuana, inside, and the difference from tobacco is huge. no lingering smell, no sticky buildup on anything... i have sold many items and never a single complaint about anything (but i do actually try to clean my parts before i ship them:rolleyes: )

i smoke about 1/2oz of marijuana per week... for over a decade. none of my furniture, clothes, carpet or anything gets damaged from the smoke. i agree, tobacco leaves so much nasty shit everywhere its obvious how bad it is for your lungs. to this day, my lungs are still as strong as they ever have been and i am never short on breath. in other words, everyone is smoking the wrong plant and that's only because big corporations told us to. wake up and smell the weed- its the healthy cigarette ;)
Click to expand...

That's the biggest load of crap I have heard all day. You don't notice because your are used to it. I can easily pick up the smell of pot on someone even after a couple days.
 
schapman43 said:
That's the biggest load of crap I have heard all day. You don't notice because your are used to it. I can easily pick up the smell of pot on someone even after a couple days.
Click to expand...

hah, after a couple days? maybe if they are smoking dirt thats been treated with chemicals.
 
At least PCs can be cleaned out...the smokers themselves, they're fucked unless they quit early.
 
krupted said:
tobbacco is extremely nasty. however, i 'chainsmoke' marijuana, inside, and the difference from tobacco is huge. no lingering smell, no sticky buildup on anything... i have sold many items and never a single complaint about anything (but i do actually try to clean my parts before i ship them:rolleyes: )

i smoke about 1/2oz of marijuana per week... for over a decade. none of my furniture, clothes, carpet or anything gets damaged from the smoke. i agree, tobacco leaves so much nasty shit everywhere its obvious how bad it is for your lungs. to this day, my lungs are still as strong as they ever have been and i am never short on breath. in other words, everyone is smoking the wrong plant and that's only because big corporations told us to. wake up and smell the weed- its the healthy cigarette ;)
Click to expand...

please remain clam..... the DEA tasksforce members will be by shortly......
 
krupted said:
tobbacco is extremely nasty. however, i 'chainsmoke' marijuana, inside, and the difference from tobacco is huge. no lingering smell, no sticky buildup on anything... i have sold many items and never a single complaint about anything (but i do actually try to clean my parts before i ship them:rolleyes: )

i smoke about 1/2oz of marijuana per week... for over a decade. none of my furniture, clothes, carpet or anything gets damaged from the smoke. i agree, tobacco leaves so much nasty shit everywhere its obvious how bad it is for your lungs. to this day, my lungs are still as strong as they ever have been and i am never short on breath. in other words, everyone is smoking the wrong plant and that's only because big corporations told us to. wake up and smell the weed- its the healthy cigarette ;)
Click to expand...

Lighting ANY substance on fire will release particulates of the said substance -- creating smoke. Inhaling the smoke means that particulates get inside your lungs. Smoking ANYTHING is not healthy, just because it puts a foreign substance in your body, and blocks lung tissue that needs to interface with inhaled air to exchange CO2 and O2.
 
thaltek said:
please remain clam..... the DEA tasksforce members will be by shortly......
Click to expand...

I have no bloody clue where this thread went.

That person, if in the USA, should be arrested, soley on charges of stupidity. If in a country in where it's allowed:
of course you won't notice. Just everybody around you will.
 
Smoking anything around your computer is bad for it. The tar build up not only can damage fans and create a mess, it can stick to the read head in mechanical hard drives. This means data loss and the possible need for a new drive. I've seen this happen on a couple pcs I've worked on. Hard drives are not air tight and smoke can get in. Not to mention the stuff reeks and will kill you slowly and painfully over time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top