[jmc]

Originally Posted by Vanabel01

I got samples of Progen chips and am seriously thinking of buying a set. My wife says they have a stink to them. A vinegar type smell! I am worried what a couple hundred chips would smell like, probably would end a game quickly.

1) Is there anything you can do to get rid of the smell ?
2) Can you oil these chips? My guess is no as they are not a true clay?

Any advice would be appreciated!

Baking soda seems to help. I put 15 chips in a plastic sandwich bag and filled half of it with baking soda. After 24 hrs, I rinsed 5 chips in warm water and they seem to smell less. Give it a shot, and maybe try a water/baking soda mix (try to get it like paste or something) to if that works better.

[Vince]

I got a sample of these too. Like the sound, like the feel, like the look, but I hate the smell.

[palmimports]

Originally Posted by Vanabel01

I got samples of Progen chips and am seriously thinking of buying a set. My wife says they have a stink to them. A vinegar type smell! I am worried what a couple hundred chips would smell like, probably would end a game quickly.

1) Is there anything you can do to get rid of the smell ?
2) Can you oil these chips? My guess is no as they are not a true clay?

Any advice would be appreciated!

Theres nothing to worry about- the chips are doing the same thing as a mobile home or prefab home does or many other products we buy after manufacturing- its called outgassing- only in mobile homes its formaldahyde thats outgassing-- with chips its the solvent used in manufacturing the chips-actually very harmless.

Weve learned to get MSDS sheets on everything we sell -- the chip odor is far less annoying to us then our printing room outgassing VOC's

The chips come off the machinery and get NO air time- theyre wrapped in shrink wrap plastic , put in cardboard boxes, into a container- and onto a ship in the belly of the ship which is high humidity--making outgassing not possible until someone buys them and unwraps them-

The odor goes away in time- oiling them will only slow the outgassing process

Oil them after theyve been opened and exposed to air for a period of time-lay them out and dont stack them and this will speed up the process.

As far as true clay- there are no true clay chips- hasnt been clay chips in probably 100 years-- the material is a per centage of abs, calcium carbonate and hardening material similiar to what is used in modeling clay- theyre made on a modified injection mold machine which runs higher head pressure then abs-and a pressure cycle rather then an injection cycle hammers the chips- we call them compression molded chips ONLY because vaguely they fall into the definition closer to injection molding. There are telltale indications of injection marks on these chips-because they are partially made this way.... and the original run of chips had some issues with the edgespot colors cracking-- this issue has been corrected as of last month.


They are not hand pressed like BCC and ASM etc-

I would put them above a soprano abs injection molded chip only because in random blindfold tests most people had a tough time distinguishing these from Paulsons-they do mimick the feel and weight of a paulson chip closer then they do any abs chip--

They are NOT paulsons-- theyre another reinvention of the proverbial chip wheel.

[munkyman]

cheers u judt dprted out my problem for bout a year ty

[RussB42]

I have 1300 of the PI Clays. 600 Edge Spots and 700 of the original Soilds.

I have oiled all of them.

I washed the chips in warm water and let them air dry for a couple days and then put them in racks for a a couple weeks and then applied the labels(PI Laminated Labels).
I then oiled them and let them dry for about 24 hours. The oiling took almost all the smell out of the Edge Spots and the Solids still have a little more of a smell to them. Either case being, that you have to put them close to your nose to smell them.

When I first open the case( I use the acrylic cases) you can get a bit more of the smell, but this disappears very fast after being opened for several minutes. You have to want to see if they still smell ,to really notice it.

No one has complained about the smell while playing with them. Great chips as far I am concrened..

[Jussi Halonen]

There is a good way to get rid of the smell. Take 10 lemons and cut into half then collect all the liquid from the lemons into a kettle. Then take the chips into kettle and in 15 minutes the smell is gone. (Warning some paints don't like the lemon).

[byline9]

Originally Posted by guinness

Second, I was joking that they probably have lead paint in them, but in a sorta-joking sorta way.

If the Progens are not really plastic, but are some sort of clay composite, then lead content is a valid question.
(I know a lot of people are tired of the lead-in-Paulsons story.)

I like the look and price of the Progens, but something from China that smells that bad...

Some people were using those lead-test kits on various chips, did anybody try testing the Progens? I would be curious what is actually in them.

[SeaLawyer]

I got some Progen samples and was a little surprised by their strong smell. I have always had a very sensitive nose, and I could smell these chips (originally) from over 3 feet away. After reading Joe's reply, I let them 'air out' for about a week and the smell greatly diminished but was still pretty noticeable up close. I then washed them in regular soap and water, and now they smell more like the soap smell (even though I rinsed well) than the original 'chemically' smell, although that smell is still very slightly detectable if you're REALLY trying for it. I'm fairly confident that cleaning them, letting them 'air out', and then oiling them would all but eliminate any smell, even for 'sensitive' noses like mine. Even vinyl labels (which aren't oderless) would serve to mask any residual smell.

[h-train]

I bought 1500 of those chips from Joe about 8 months ago. I could smell them when I first opened them. They don't smell anymore, not unless you put them right up to your nose, but who does that at a card game. By the way, if I had to do it over again, I would have just bought solids, they are super sweet. I only bought those for my two fractional chips .25 and .50. I'm extrmely happy with those chips and get nothing but compliments.