Coal scented smoke fluid?

JT Megasteam sells coal fired steam, oil fired steam, and diesel locomotive scented smoke fluids. I use all three and really like them. I am considering trying the camp fire scent on my planned smoke effects but that's in the far off future.

Incense that smells like a steam locomotive? I don't know. But I also haven't ever looked. I wonder if you could use smoke fluid in a reed diffuser to get the effect you're looking for.

@BillYo414 posted:

JT Megasteam sells coal fired steam, oil fired steam, and diesel locomotive scented smoke fluids. I use all three and really like them. I am considering trying the camp fire scent on my planned smoke effects but that's in the far off future.

Incense that smells like a steam locomotive? I don't know. But I also haven't ever looked. I wonder if you could use smoke fluid in a reed diffuser to get the effect you're looking for.

I heartily second Bill's recommendation! Jeb Kriegel of Mega Steam makes smoke fluid scents for EVERYTHING except, maybe, wet buffalo fur. I am a former train business owner and stocked many Mega Steam scents. I had to frequently reorder to keep our stock full.

Also, a side note. I use the Nada scent for whistle steam that is produced by a separate smoke unit. That way, the scented exhaust smoke is not too strong.

The Hot Chocolate scent is excellent at Christmas. I have an older 0-4-0 with the puffing unit. People go crazy when they smell it and realize what's going on haha

@BillYo414 posted:

Also, a side note. I use the Nada scent for whistle steam that is produced by a separate smoke unit. That way, the scented exhaust smoke is not too strong.

The Hot Chocolate scent is excellent at Christmas. I have an older 0-4-0 with the puffing unit. People go crazy when they smell it and realize what's going on haha

@BillYo414

Bill:

Our Christmas, "pop-up" train store (bot year around) was in a huge, climate-controlled greenhouse at Richardson Farms farm store in eastern Balitmore County, Maryland.  There was an indoor entrance to the greenhouse from the store. We had 1/2 of the greenhouse. The other 1/2 was full of live evergreen trees for sale during the Christmas season. When I would come into the greenhouse in the morning through an entrance from the outside on the Christmas tree side, I was engulfed by one of my favorite scents, the smell of pine! I would get things opened and put two trains pulled by steam locomotives on our 12' x 26' train layout loaded with Mega Steam Hot Chocolate smoke fluid get them running. When customers would enter from the indoor store entrance on our side of the greenhouse, they would see our layout and the massive display of live Christmas trees and, oddly enough, the first words out of their mouths were, "I smell chocolate!!!" The smell was wonderful!

Megasteam Coal scent is an acquired taste. To me it would gag a maggot in a gut wagon, good way to end a party and send your guests home.

Pete

I agree with Pete! There's a fine line between the "aroma" of coal smoke (any brand) and the smell of burning tires! Particularly, in the lingering smell in the room long after operations have ended for the night.

Jim

I had / used  the coal scented fluid once.  One and done !! Pitched the entire bottle - Way too strong and weird smelling.

What if you tried an inexpensive aromatherapy machine?  The essential oils they use aren't much different than smoke fluid so I don't see why you couldn't try putting smoke fluid in one.  With the ones that come with lights, the lights can be turned off.

John

Stick with the Lionel smoke pellet scent for the real smell of the holidays!   

Thank you all! I will look for the coal fired steam smoke fluid.

@Norton posted:

Megasteam Coal scent is an acquired taste. To me it would gag a maggot in a gut wagon, good way to end a party and send your guests home.

Pete

@Jim Policastro posted:

I agree with Pete! There's a fine line between the "aroma" of coal smoke (any brand) and the smell of burning tires! Particularly, in the lingering smell in the room long after operations have ended for the night.

Jim

@rrgeorge posted:

I had / used  the coal scented fluid once.  One and done !! Pitched the entire bottle - Way too strong and weird smelling.

I support these posts 100%.  Coal smoke fluid is like the McRib of the train smoke.  Just Nasty!  LOL!

Seriously though I'm in the burning tire category.  I had a buddy use it once.  That was enough for him and me.  Never again. 

@BenLMaggi shoot me an email if you hate the smoke fluid I'll buy it off you haha

@Randy Harrison definitely a unique and pleasant scent. My goal is to use it when we start a family. The kids will associate that smell with the holidays, I will associate the Lionel smoke fluid of the 90s, and our esteemed older members will think of smoke pellets haha

I will say my first time smelling coal fired steam in real life was breathtaking but not in a good way. It took a bit to get used to it. Same with the distinct smell in the steel industry. I thought it was gross when I first encountered it.

@Norton posted:

Megasteam Coal scent is an acquired taste. To me it would gag a maggot in a gut wagon, good way to end a party and send your guests home.

Pete

@Jim Policastro posted:

I agree with Pete! There's a fine line between the "aroma" of coal smoke (any brand) and the smell of burning tires! Particularly, in the lingering smell in the room long after operations have ended for the night.

Jim

@rrgeorge posted:

I had / used  the coal scented fluid once.  One and done !! Pitched the entire bottle - Way too strong and weird smelling.

@MartyE posted:

I support these posts 100%.  Coal smoke fluid is like the McRib of the train smoke.  Just Nasty!  LOL!

Seriously though I'm in the burning tire category.  I had a buddy use it once.  That was enough for him and me.  Never again.

Ditto.  I crawled under the layout looking for the electrical fire before I figured out it was the Coal Fired Smoke scent.  I do like all the other Megasteam scents I have tried.

Bob

I never tried the coal smell since I only run diesels but i did try JT MegaSteam diesel. When my wife came downstairs, she said no more smoke.  It was very strong; I switched to vanilla, and all is well.

Marty

When I sold Mega Steam, I did not stock Diesel scent until several customers asked for it. I personally wonder why anyone would want to make their train room smell like the butt end of a city transit bus? But, to each his own.

There are a lot of kinds of coal. MegaSteam coal doesn’t smell like ours. I like most of the scents, but the coal, not so much.

Maple and Cinnamon Roll both smell good.

I have a bottle of the coal scent from megasteam.  I only use it in my hotbox car.  Guests love the whole effect of the burning truck and the nasty smell from the smoke.  Its a perfect pairing.  It makes the whole effect more complete.  For the steam locs, i normally use pine or vanilla.  They quickly cancel out the smell from the hotbox.

I find diesel exhaust has two smells. I'm not really a diesel guy so I don't know what causes the different odors. One typically comes from buses and kind of burns my throat. The other comes from the old forklifts I encountered at my first job. I had a friend with a Powerstroke that smelled similar. I figure there's probably unburnt fuel in the exhaust and that's what makes it smell good. Anyway, the positive points are what I recall from my first job. Having my locomotives produce the same smell takes me back to that. Same with the coal fired steam. It smells like the Reeves steam traction engine smelled at the county fair where I spent my time as a kid.

It probably helps that I have a ventilation system over the layout though.

Oddly enough, I find some smoke units make the smoke fluids smell different. I ran the coal fired steam in my 0-6-0 docksider...rancid. I mean really unpleasant. I switched it to Nada. I don't know what the deal is.

Truthfully, I found both the diesel and coal fired steam scents to be kinda' obnoxious, and my wife didn't like them either.  I used several of the less obnoxious Megasteam scents, they're much easier to live with for both of us.  I am going for the visual effect, I have no desire to smell diesel exhaust in my train room.

Well... I love McRib sandwiches and I don't mind overpowering smells. But I want it to smell like actual coal smoke and not burning tires.

I like the smell of coal-fired steam in real life.  It's distinctive and triggers fond memories of Strasburg and #2102 on the Reading & Northern.  But I agree with Pete and the others. Megasteam's "Coal" is pungent, to me it smells like an O-gauge tire fire!

My ex-girlfriend really liked Hot Chocolate, it was perfect for our Christmas set-up when we invited friends over to bake cookies.  It's fun trying out different scents but they take a long time to fully evaporate from the wick and I wouldn't mix them.  Most of us have a closetful of locomotives, so if you want to try something new, it's a good excuse to run a different loco.  My $.02.

I imagine that one could dilute the smell to be as subtle as you like by mixing it with ordinary smoke fluid.

That said, I personally am in the "give me the postwar Lionel smell" school.

--Pete

@Avanti posted:

I imagine that one could dilute the smell to be as subtle as you like by mixing it with ordinary smoke fluid.

JT's Megasteam Eliminator, it kills the scent of the previously used smoke fluid.