Smell of loofah pads

[Mark-S]

I've seen many of you using these pads, and because they look very nice & protect my teaware I bought me some. I did not buy them from yunnansourcing.com, but they look identical (also the price is about the same).

https://yunnansourcing.com/products/loo ... ha-teapots

I used one of these pads today, and unfortunately, they have a pretty annoying smell.

My questions are:

- Is this normal?
- Does it evaporate quickly?
- Do you clean them before the first use?
- How often do you replace them?
- Do you just air-dry them after use?

Sorry for so many questions, but these pads are not common here.

Thanks in advance

[impromptuandy]

I haven't used loofahs to set under the teapot/cups, but I've used them for scrubbing pots and kettles. The ones I bought initially had a strong vinegar smell, but this went away a few days after opening the package. I was concerned at first, but now they smell like nothing really.

They were also whole, not already cut into a certain shape.

Personally, if I were using the pad-shaped ones in a teaboat or as coasters I'd set them on a cloth to air dry in between uses.

[Mark-S]

@impromptuandy
Thanks for the advice.

My pads don't smell of vinegar, but they smell of something... especially when I pour hot water over them. Could be the natural smell of the plant. After usage I'll use a paper towel and dab the pad dry.

I also found an advice on how to clean the pads:

Soak the loofah periodically to keep it clean and free of mold. Mix 1 tbsp. baking soda and 1 tbsp. white vinegar per cup of water and add to a bowl with the loofah. After an hour, rinse the loofah thoroughly and dry as usual.

Source: https://www.hunker.com/12446653/how-to- ... fah-sponge

If the smell does not fade away I'll try rattan coasters instead.

[Bok]

Loofah pads should not have any smell at all... I buy them on the street markets in Taiwan whole, they shouldn’t have any smell whatsoever!

My guess they where either:
- Not properly dried before cut and sold
- sprayed with some sort of chemical or other to avoid having bugs or other in them in storage houses.

[Mark-S]

Loofah pads should not have any smell at all... I buy them on the street markets in Taiwan whole, they shouldn’t have any smell whatsoever!

My guess they where either:
- Not properly dried before cut and sold
- sprayed with some sort of chemical or other to avoid having bugs or other in them in storage houses.

Okay, thanks for your insight. I have bought them from two different sellers. They are from the same factory (same sticker / wrappers). Only the pads from one seller have this smell. It could be on the other one too but it's very very subtle. The smell does not seem to be chemical. But before I use them again, I'll clean them with baking soda and white vinegar.

[Bok]

Loofah pads should not have any smell at all... I buy them on the street markets in Taiwan whole, they shouldn’t have any smell whatsoever!

My guess they where either:
- Not properly dried before cut and sold
- sprayed with some sort of chemical or other to avoid having bugs or other in them in storage houses.

Okay, thanks for your insight. I have bought them from two different sellers. They are from the same factory (same sticker / wrappers). Only the pads from one seller have this smell. It could be on the other one too but it's very very subtle. The smell does not seem to be chemical. But before I use them again, I'll clean them with baking soda and white vinegar.

Dry them in the sun afterwards if you can. Out of curiosity, for how much are they sold? I think it must be a good business to sell these, they literally cost nothing as they are basically the waste of an edible vegetable

[Mark-S]

Dry them in the sun afterwards if you can. Out of curiosity, for how much are they sold? I think it must be a good business to sell these, they literally cost nothing as they are basically the waste of an edible vegetable

I will thanks for the help. They are sold for about $1.5 to $6 per item including shipping from China to Germany. yunnansourcing.com sells them for $1.8, but their shipping is too expensive if you only buy those pads.

[Janice]

I use rattan saucers like these from Seven Cups.

1C91E9E0-3FBD-4BE4-A4B8-D7A9B4744295.jpeg (162.32 KiB) Viewed 13977 times

[Mark-S]

I use rattan saucers like these from Seven Cups.

And do they smell of anything if you pour hot water over them?

I cleaned the loofah pads multiple times now and the smell is now almost gone. It's great that I did not have to trow them away, but I don't think I'll buy them again.

[Janice]

I’ll do the hot water test tomorrow. A little hot water didn’t have a negative effect but I don’t mind giving one of the rattan saucers a good soak.

[Pants404]

Again, mine appear to be from the same factory but different reseller. There is no smell to these whatsoever, even when they are wet. They do hold a lot of water though so I stand it upright when I'm finished so it can drain and dry.
If I recall correctly these were around a dollar each when I got them.

[pantry]

For mine from bitter leaf. No smell but they absorb so much water and become puffy, rendering them rather useless as the pot could not sit level on the pad

[Mark-S]

@Janice

That would be great!

@Pants404

That's a good idea, thanks. I think they'll dry much faster that way. Maybe my seller did not store them right. Next time I'll search for a seller who also sells teapots.

@pantry

Maybe it would help to wet them before the use? I have only used my pads twice though. They are still pretty flat. But I also don't drown them in water. It's just to protect the bowl/teapot and to absorb some of the water so it does not cool down the pot that fast. Works quite nice in my opinion

[Bok]

They are still pretty flat. But I also don't drown them in water.

For me it's the opposite. In its original state, dried loofah is very voluminous. Only with continued use it becomes flat. Mostly I activly help to speed the process by pressing them under books or similar.

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=dried+ ... 704597.jpg

[Mark-S]

@Bok

That's interesting. It seems that our ready-to-use loofah pads were processed somehow.