Why does MR smell so bad?

[Anonymous]

People , it is so simple, have you not all turned to page 78 of the August issue.

Need it say more except . . . Horny engine.

A sure fix is open up that page and 'mate' it with a nice open page from the latest Cosmo. One smell with offset the other (or maybe the Cosmo perfume smell will just excite the Horny one even more . . . oh well worth a try. I'll let you know the results when the tests come back.)

[cwclark]

I live in the Houston area too and have had issues smell pretty bad before..it smells like a cross between an insy belly button, old feet, and under arm BO

[Anonymous]

Never thought such a topic would be worthy of posting, but the timing is amazing for me. Just last week while reading the latest MR, I noticed a rather strong smell that I assumed was the ink and paper. My first thought was that I remembered that that was how the magazine always smelled back in the mid 1970's when I'd first open it after a trip to the LHS to buy it. I was in high school then (which is to say, I was a bit younger then) but I haven't smelled that same smell coming from MR since I started regularly buying it again starting in the late 1990's. So I called my 10 yr old son over and ask him if he can smell it too. He said "Yes. But your train magazines always smell like that." My conclusion - I'm getting old and my sniffer just don't work like it used to. LOL

Greg

[Anonymous]

If they'd quit showing pictures of those smelly diesels and print more of the clean burning steam engines the mag wouldn't smell so bad. Look at all of the diesel facilities that they print - no wonder the mag smells.

Have a blessed day and remember SANTA FE ALL THE WAY

Bob

[krump]

Roses are Red
Violets are Blue
This issue sticks
just like my shoe...

this topic is hilarious[:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D], but they don't all smell bad. February's was pizza aroma. ... My issue smells like a magazine. Perhaps the magazines should be sold at a perfume shop... (the occasional magazine really does smell poorly, but I think that's true with newspapers and any other magazine also).
cheers

[bruce22]

bcammack / tpaulsen gentlemen, gentlemen : some decorum please.

[Anonymous]

Well you never know what the MR magazine paper may have been used to wipe before it was recycled, It may have been little white round rolls of paper in a former life, Naw, shurely not.

Mac

[darth9x9]

Maybe it happens in certain batches (rolls) of paper. This could account for the randomness.

[Anonymous]

Laugh it up you silly guys. Anyone who is saying they don't stink simply hasn't gotten a stinky magazine. I've only exprerienced this stench in a couple magazines. I guarantee nobody would like the smell. It really reaks. I just thought it was funny that someone else brought it up.

[Anonymous]

Well, in the 8 years I have of reading MR, I've never encountered any foul smells, not even in the latest issue. Now, If we talk about vintage magazine smell... oh boy!

[Anonymous]

Mine don't smell like anything... I must be lucky...

[tomwatkins]

It smells like paper that has been printed on and then bound and mailed. Must be a magazine, huh.
Have Fun,
Tom Watkins

[Anonymous]

Ok, opening up the September 2004 issue right now.......hmmmm.....let's see......ok, right around the seal (binding) of the mag it smells strange, let's continue.....hmm...<sniff sniff>........Ok, the table of contents reaks...... page 18 smells bad...hmm......ah, page 25 with the Trix Big Boy add smells, expensive. Hmm, wonder why? Oh, the MSRP is $879.00[;)]. That explains that.......hmm......Page 69 with the add for the BLI E3& E6 smells horrible.......page 71 reaks...........page 89 about blew me over! AUGH!.......<sniff sniff>.......eeeeeww, the pages with the IHC adds smell awful (wonder why?[;)])......hmm........ otherwise I can't find anything else that smells.

[ham99]

No odor in my copies. Not even the ones dating back to 1958. However, the "blue stuff" mentioned above was probably hectograph copies, except it was usually kind of purple. It was also called a "ditto" machine. The mimeograph used black ink, but the original was typed on a blue wax-coated page. Both processes produced an odor, but the mimeograph was an unpleasant smell while the ditto/hectograph smelled strongly of alcohol. My students would always inhale deeply when I handed out a test. The mimeograph produced a permanent copy, but the ditto/hectograph copy would fade in time.

[Anonymous]

Gentlemen, all you need to do is take a trip to the largest magazine shop in your area. You will find the odor of print paper and printers ink to be rather prevalent. I, for one, like the smell. I find myself opening my new MR to the center page and placing my nose right down by the center staple, folding the magazine up around my ears, and taking very deep breaths through my nose. The euphoric high is beyond description. Inhaling model railroader. Yes! Might it last forever!

Tom

[Anonymous]

We get our foreign MR subscription copies sealed in a plastic wrapper.
(Yes, we do pay extra for this.[:0]) Anyway, there is a slight odor to the magazine, especially right out of the wrapper, but only if I hold really close up.
Some other glossy magazines seem to have the same or similar odor.
Newspapers do not.

I'm no chemist, but to the best of my recollection, years ago the print industry switched from solvent-based inks to soy-based inks, essentially for environmental and cost reasons, with fossil-fuel conservation a side benefit.
The easily-smeared print came along at the same time as solvent was discontinued, I believe.

So, is this odor a soy-based ink situation, combined with the paper now in use?
I can't verify this, as there are no soy based food products in our house, and mainly due to the taste, there's not much chance there ever will be.[xx(]

regards;
Mike

[Anonymous]

Holy cow - I have an issue from earlier this year that reaks. It smells like an oil well or something - seriously!

[bcammack]

Sheesh. Who p****ed in your cornflakes, Sparky? I'm nearsighted nearly to the point of legal blindness. I have macular degeneration in my right eye. I HAVE TO PUT THE BLOODY MAGAZINE UP TO MY NOSE TO MAKE OUT ANY DETAIL IN THE PHOTOGRAPHS YOU SUPERCILIOUS A$$.

Why don't you go find someplace else where you can climb up on top of people and feel real big? Or maybe you've already been thrown out of them?

[Anonymous]

I personally like the smell of new print. The smell of the paper, the smell of the ink. Yes, yes, yes! You're unhappy with the way MR smells? Take a trip to a large magazine shop, one that carries everything available. Notice how the shop smells. Just like model railroader. Gosh, why is that? But you can eliminate the odor if you really need to. Just stop subcribing to or purchasing MR. Then you can contact MR and have them make a complete xerox copy of that month's issue and send it to you. Gosh, you will only be paying $80 or so an issue, but the smell will be gone.

Or you can put your MR in the freezer for several days after it arrives. This will not only reduce the odor, it will make your hamburgers taste terrific as well.

Or you can sit and complain about the smell of the magazine, the lack of Z scale articles, the lack of articles dealing with the specifics you are currently working on. You can complain about the way Andy combs his hair (what hair?), the material in any of the monthly columns, the lack of $25 locomotives that come equipped with DCC and sound. I bet you don't like single ply toilet paper either and I bet you still only use one side. Take your mind off your gripes. Turn around and bite your wife on the leg, slash your own tires, burn down your garage, spray your magazine with English Leather.

Instead of putting your nose in the magazine, invest in some reading glasses. Give up on trains and start collecting bus tokens from aroung the world. Get a job working at the local sanitary landfill

Complain about the smell of MR? I think you need another layer of bricks on your load. Or maybe you should try rowing your boat with two oars

Tom

[LuthierTom]

I haven't really noticed any strange smells, but let me check....OK, here's the latest issue, let's open it up and take a sniff...hmm not shur, lemme sniffit again...nopenope, nooooo baaaaddd smmmulls but thrs summat woahsa wrd pix n i feics fnd threw qkirsdzcx bemmlrsth;rid, c,a'qwirgnmbzxv,V5lou-90e8rn xc,vl;..........................................................[zzz]

[Anonymous]

nice pic snake! LOL[(-D][(-D][(-D][wow]

[Anonymous]

The smell obviously dissapates while crossing the Atlantic, as I've never noticed it. MR doesn't smell any different to other magazines to me - but then again, I don't tend to go sniffing magazines on a regular basis!

[warner brook]

[8]damn you guys i just got arrested for sniffing mr at the local news stand[xx(] apparently it`s against the law in pa.to smell magazines but you can sell smelly magazines.just kidding i`am a closet sniffer.

roy

[Anonymous]

LOL, just got mine today and no smell, so all's clear here. [:)]

Jay

[Roadtrp]

All suited up and ready to look for weapons of mass destruction... [:D]

[Anonymous]

Never had a awful odor coming from my issues of MR. If the May issue comes today and it smells bad, I won't notice it anyway since I'm getting over a cold.[:D]
Good one, Snake!

[Anonymous]

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!!!!!!![(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D]

[Anonymous]

Gettin' ready to read the latest issue.

[Anonymous]

I also noticed the last issue had a very strong odor. I have read MR for many years (Oh geeeez I am OLD) and have never smelled one this bad. Oh well, many things in this world today stink so I took it outside to be aired. Problem solved.