How to get weed ash smell out of a Fjallraven fanny pack?

August 1, 2023 12:00 PM

I have a Fjallraven fanny pack I use daily. Instructions say not to put in a washing machine as it could affect the waterproofness. I smoke a lot of weed and spilled some weed ash in there recently, and it reeks. I've hand washed it in dish soap and water with a splash of vinegar and that helped, but I can still smell it. What can I do to get the smell out? I have to travel internationally soon.
posted by wheatlets to Home & Garden (9 answers total)

I would soak it in very strong dish soap and water for an hour or so, rinse, then hang in the sun inside-out to dry. Then stuff it with baking soda (when dry!!) and put it in a plastic container for a couple days. The baking soda will help absorb some of the odor. Then tap out all the baking soda and wash again in more dish soap.

But honestly maybe just get a different fanny pack to travel- personally I wouldn't want to smell like weed in an airport security line.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 12:25 PM on August 1, 2023 [6 favorites]

Turn it inside out, give the now-outside a wipe over with warm water with a squirt of dish soap and a few drops of eucalyptus oil, and hang it up in the sun.

Then get a second fanny pack to go travelling with. Airport security dogs will be able to smell yours for quite some months regardless of what you do to it.
posted by flabdablet at 12:28 PM on August 1, 2023 [12 favorites]

Carbona Stain Devils are miracle products. Their formula number 7 works for ash and soot. Formula number 8 works for nicotine and may also be worth trying. They're not expensive, so you can try both.

I recognize that you are treating a smell and not a stain, per se, but they both result from persistent particles embedding in the material so whatever would remove a stain should also remove the smell.
posted by slkinsey at 12:41 PM on August 1, 2023

Assuming it's a synthetic fabric, I would just wash it as you would anything else that you'd got very dirty, then wash it again with something like Nikwax's waterproofing tech wash.
posted by Kreiger at 1:47 PM on August 1, 2023

Definitely don't try to go through airport security with that fanny pack - you're just asking for trouble.
posted by dg at 3:14 PM on August 1, 2023 [7 favorites]

I would: do a soak in Oxi-Clean Stain and Odor Blaster overnight, rinse well; dry in the sun for a full day (ideally outdoors); and take some well dried used coffee grounds and leave them in it in an open baggy or some other sort of porous but non-messy container for a week or more.

I find coffee grounds better for deodorizing than just about anything, as long as you don't mind the smell of coffee and don't have to worry about stains.
posted by oneirodynia at 3:51 PM on August 1, 2023

Odoban gets rid of most odors.
posted by Lil' Blue Goat at 9:10 PM on August 1, 2023 [1 favorite]

Run it through the washing machine and if it's lost any waterproofing, re-wax it!
posted by gregr at 6:03 AM on August 2, 2023 [1 favorite]

Try a box of baking soda. Empty it into the pouch, and zip it shut. After a couple of days, dump the baking soda (Dump the baking soda into your garbage disposal to make it smell sweeter), then either rinse the pouch with cold water or else dust the baking soda residue out and carry on.

I did this with a leather day-pack given to me by a heavy tobacco smoker. I sprinkled two boxes in the main bag and the pockets. I had to do this twice, but it took out most of the odor.
posted by mule98J at 8:40 PM on August 3, 2023