Odor absorbing materials

[paul88]

Alright, I have searched across the web looking for odor absorbing materials. I have come across gells, rocks and layering of clothing, but nothing really decent. I want to send something to someone but I do not want it to be smelled.

I realize I can seal the package with some kind of latex or caulking, but that would make it look suspicious. I saw an incomplete article about Charcoal covered cloth layered on each other with baking soda in between, but I do not know if it would work. Suggestions please...

I realize that I'm a "newb", but I need some help. Thank you in advance.

[WMD]

While I can't tell you what the best material to use would be, I'd like you to keep in mind, that a regular problem with... smelly shipments is that while the merchandise itself is packaged properly, people have traces of it all over their hands whle handling the package. So be sure to clean the merchandise, your hands and your working area before gift-wrapping and shipping it.

[Charles Owlen Picket]

Sometime back folks thought they could defeat a dog smelling marijuana by wrapping same in airtight container and using something like a vaporous hydrocarbon (like gasoline) to stink up the outside of the package (labeling it "auto parts", etc). It didn't work because a dog's nose smells BOTH odors and can distinguish when one is the "reward" odor. If you are dealing with a dog; you have a real challenge.

[hatal]

I know this will sound totally ridicules (and pathetic, and etc...). But how about Kitty Litter.

I mean that stuff really absorbs a huge variety of "odors" not mention the other things.

Know I really don't suggest embedding your "object" into kitty litter, but why not? Still, looking at the package you can find out what materials its made of and experiment with the ingredients until you got your own odor absorbing material (the right one).

[paul88]

I never thought of kitty litter.
I will experiment with different things and see what works better for my application.
Any suggestions on potential materials to use?

[Kurosawa]

The "charcoal paper" you are referring to is a substance known as activated carbon. Incidently, it is also a component of cat litter, used for it's ammonia-absorbing properties. It is sold in it's pure form as odor control for pets urinating on carpet, and to remove impurities in fishtank water.
Whatever you do, DONT SHIP this smelly substance in a plastic vessel, they let gasses in and out. Glass (preferred) or metal do not.

[Charles Owlen Picket]

IF we are talking about dogs you need to think outside the box. The nose on a dog is unlike anything imaginable.
The idea is NOT to simply absorb odors to defeat a dog's sniffer. You won't be able to because you can't determine what he can't smell. If you spoke to someone who was totally colour blind from birth, who had never seen colours - ever and attempted to describe the colour green to him; what would you do to communicate that? That's the concept. Because the dog has a sense that you or I can never comprehend....

You CAN overload that sense. But you must make sure you understand what it can do to begin with. If the "reward" scent is detected at all, the dog will posture, etc.

[paul88]

Yes I am wanting to defeat dogs in the off chance that they will be present.
How would you "overload" a dogs smell without being detected by the human nose?

[Charles Owlen Picket]

The very sensitivity is used against the nose owner.

The use of something that irritates (perhaps to an extreme) but is at low levels enough to maintain itself from the human nose is in order. There are many things that could be used but to make chlorine gas is very simple. If this process (of gas production) were to be slowed up to the extent that the gas would either continue OR be available on a residual level, you may have a winner. There are others; I will introduce a concept, rather than specifics.

CS crystals would be my personal idea as it fills the bill of an irritant, yet is maintain-able for several days, etc to deal with time delay. My point is to use an irritant so as to stop the reward odor from registering. This is the general concept and it makes logical sense. You cannot "mask", you must produce irritation to defeat the "reward" perception. Therefore, you need to minimize the primary thing to the absolute best of your ability and cover that with a TRUE irritant. This is not rocket science but not to be taken for granted - the concept is to produce discomfort so as to work within the training mechanism of the dog's reactive dynamic. If that concept is well thought out; it will defeat Fido.

This can be investigated from the standpoint of "detection training" and areas that have irritants existing. I didn't invent the concept. I read about the problems of detection and extrapolated the idea.

[monkeyboy]

Table: Scent-Detecting Cells in People and Dog Breeds

Species........................................... .........Number of Scent Receptors

Humans............................................ ........ 5 million

Dachshund......................................... ......25 million

Fox Terrier........................................... ...147 million

Beagle............................................ ........225 million

German Shepherd......................................225 million

Bloodhound........................................ ......300 million


I'm kinda fond of using a vacuum seal-a-meal, washing EVERYTHING with soap & water, vacuum seal-a-mealing it again, washing again, placing in tinfoil with capsicum, placing in a ziplock bag, placing in a tightly seal-able jar with dish soap...

but YMMV.

Also using the private shippers such as UPS may make a difference, or not?

[paul88]

Does UPS have there packages checked by dogs or what? I havent the slightest clue as to how the mail system works

[Charles Owlen Picket]

I (personally) would never take the information received on an internet source as gospel for anything I could not verify. The use of dogs or the use of an electronic sniffer may be in place for many reasons for many different things. The use of a dog is generally limited to government entities as they are mostly contracted [except in areas where they have full-time in-house mechanisms for the maintenance of the animals].

However.... if the government has a query about the transport of drugs via UPS or any other company, you can bet they will be there with their dogs! On the other hand anything that routs by air will be sniffed; public or private. If it even links by air - it will be sniffed. These are very significant issues that will never be disclosed publicly as they are public safety issues...so that getting concrete answers of what, who, when, where will never be available.....nor should they be if the people in charge have "brain one". Bottom line....think that everything will be sniffed and act accordingly.

[oskarchem]

Hey, I don't know where but I heard that if you put fresh ground coffee around the dogs won't be able to smell it. What do you think about that?

[mr_h3x]

Hey, I don't know where but I heard that if you put fresh ground coffee around the dogs won't be able to smell it. What do you think about that?

As was pointed out already, a drug dog smells all of the scents and can differentiate between various smells (that they are trained to detect). The coffee doesn't take away the chemical signature of what is packed in it it simply hides it amongst other smells. For humans this works. It may even work on a poorly trained dog, but I wouldn't bet on a poorly trained dog to be employed for this kind of work.

You probably heard about it in the movies.

[Merck]

Carbon paper wrapped packages do have some effect on dog detection. If carbon paper is noticed as a material used in packing it will be opened for further investigation.
Liquid immersion is effective.
See DEA microgram publication for further useful information.








__________
Moderator commentary:
I have not heard of a "DEA mircogram" publication, could you please sight specifics & date? If there is an interrelationship between the carbon paper & dog detection, is that an element of the dog detecting the paper or the existence of the paper itself? All these points are things that would have helped a great deal in your post. Note that posts that make it on the board are read by (perhaps) hundreds of thousands of people.

[ONLY]

I’ve heard that UPS X-rays their packages. But they do not X-ray overnight deliverys! Not to sure of how good this info is but a couple of years ago one of my close friends mailed an eight ball of crystal meth from Atlanta GA to some hole in the wall town in Tennessee via over night using UPS. Hope this helps.

[Merck]

I did not intent to be glib in my response, allow me to expound.
The dea (intentionally not capitalized) has a monthly publication on their website, actually two of them, deemed the microgram bulletin and the microgram journal. The former detailing discoveries made in whatever manner by that agency pertaining to failed smuggling attempts, the latter involving chemical consistancy of substances found in different locations (although the two topics are somewhat co-mingled). The journal is a bit secretive as far as footnote sources but some are presented.
Carbon paper is a trend well documented in the bulletin section of their online publication & a personal contact whom is a U.P.S. employee handling packages mentioned a memo pertaining to damaged packages or outer layer of a package with a description specifically of carbon paper to be immediately flagged for further inspection. The manner in which it was mentioned specified it as being an attempt to defeat olfactory detection of illicit drugs.
Liquid immersion does infact work, everytime (If not contaminated during packaging), due to vapors being unable to penetrate certain liquids. Allow me my discretion in not mentioning specifics here as most can surely research & incorporate such tactics on their own and as not to subject existing techniques to further investigation.

[phrankinsteyn]

Here is a link to a web site that sells odor proof bags, used for bears and such. Prices are decent but shipping is a little high. I have purchased a few items from them over the years .............

http://www.cheaperthandirt.com

search: odor proof bags
item#: BAG-202

[Merck]

A method that is rarely discovered and is currently employed in strict circumstance is the introduction of properly packaged foreign material into functioning hermetically sealed systems. Non-conductive adhesive is very much a consideration in this instance.

[Jacks Complete]

Anything that is a good oxygen barrier will work, surely?

If I were sending something that smelled of something, I'd seal it inside an electrostatic bag with a packet of activated carbon and a packet of silica gel. I'd probably then wash the outer bag with various things to remove any volatiles, before putting that inside a second more standard covering for postage.