I see there is another topic with "need opinions" - thus the II.   Here is my problem....I requested a book and received it. It REEKS of cigarette smoke and the edges of the pages are yellowed from nicotine. In fairness, I want to state that I DO smoke cigarettes but I don't smoke in the house.  My books do NOT ever smell or look like this.  If a person has a PR, I don't send the book because I just don't want to chance it,  even though I sniff my books to make sure they don't stink.  The book is at my left at the moment and I can smell it - really rank.  I do understand allergies which is why I honor a PR and even go so far as to smell them for mold since generally, if a person is allergic to smoke, that person is usually allergic to mold.  I have received books in the past that smelled moldy and warned the requestor of it before sending it.  Anyway, I am just venting here.  I don't have a PR since I DO smoke and that seems ridiculous but this is the worst book I have ever received with respect to the smell and yellow (nicotined) pages.  I guess my point in posting is that all of us smokers need to take a hard look and a hard sniff (have a non-smoker smell it, if you can) before sending a book to anybody.  The book is really disgusting but I don't feel I can RWAP it.  What do you all think?

I think if you didn't have an RC asking for non-smoking books then you take the risk of getting a smokey book.  I don't have an RC and I can say in the 1,000 or so books I've receive from 2 trading sites-I have yet to get a single book that smells like smoke.

I have no idea what you mean by PR. 

I think she means Personal Request.  Like Mary says, you can't RWAP it if it meets posting criteria, even if it reeks to high heaven.  I truly think that most smokers do not realize how badly their books and such stink of smoke; they are used to it and can't smell it like non-smokers do.  The same applies to someone who is wearing too much perfume/cologne---they generally can't tell but it knocks the rest of us down, it's so strong.

I received a box with four books the other day and like to fall over from the strange odor that came out.  They cushioned the box with plastic grocery bags and wrapped the books in saran wrap.   The bags recked and the saran wrap recked.  Must be something in there home not sure if it was cooking, cleaning, perfume, or combination of all.  I was afraid I had just lost alot of credits but I put the books on the porch for awhile and there ok.  But the box and the plastic are going with the trash man tomorrow.  So sad can't reuse them.  Odors are a strange thing.  I'll bet they don't even notice it.

The bags recked and the saran wrap recked.  Must be something in there home not sure if it was cooking, cleaning, perfume, or combination of all.

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I once received a box of books through E-Bay that reeked so bad I had to get rid of them.  It turns out the person sending the books sprayed them with Freebreeze to, in her words, "to freshen them up a bit".  I suspect that the books smelled like cigarette smoke so she sprayed them to mask the smell.  I had sent her an e-mail before bidding asking if the books came from a smoking household and she had replied that they didn't smell like cigarette smoke. 

You can put the book in an airtight container or bag with baking soda or crumpled newspaper and leave it over night. Usually that will take care of most funky smells.  Also, the yellow MIGHT not be from smoke, it could be the natural aging of the paper the book was printed on.

Interesting reading all your replies.  Yes, I did mean "personal request" and I should have typed RC which is the correct way to put it (means "requestor's conditions).  Since I posted the topic, I have let the book sit on my desk and just picked it up today to take with me to a doctor's appointment.  I notice that it has lost the awful smell but I will not put the book back in the system for swap since the yellow pages is a turn-off for me and I am sure it would be others.  I do know that paper does that after a while but I think the book's swapping days are over in any case.  Thanks all for your comments!