Hi everyone. I received my MLD pot last week, which is great, light and perfectly sized. And the lid fits great :-)
But it smells metallic, slightly chemical. I expected it to be inert, and therefor not have much odour, but evidently this is not the case.

Has anyone else experienced this? Did it go away? Has anyone found a method of removing the smell?

I have some titanium sheet that doesn't smell, so I assume it is part of the manufacturing process that imparts the smell.

Also, it seems to have a greyish coating on it, and when I washed it in the sink (I always wash new pots etc before use) I used a green plastic pot scrubber, and seemed to take off some of the grey, as if I were scratching it away. Should I be concerned? It hasn't a coating, so this shouldn't affect the pot adversely - should it?

Argh. I've become a gear hypochondriac! Any news of others experiences would be hugely appreciated.

Anyone had any experience with the pot smell? Is it normal?

I don't have the MLD pot, but I have owned 3 Ti pots (Snow Peak Trek 700, Evernew Ultralight 600ml Short, BPL Firelite 550) and didn't notice a smell with any of them. The MLD pot may be made by the same company as the BPL pot, but I am not 100% sure.

I had got one also when MLD had there sale. I haven't used mine yet so I went to smell it. Mine smells fine.

odd

Thanks for the info Bradford.

And Andy, thanks for checking yours. That's discouraging. I'm in Australia so shipping two ways again wouldn't be cheap.

Has anyone else had one that does smell, and did it ever leave the pot after repeat use? Thanks for all responses so far.

"Anyone had any experience with the pot smell? Is it normal?"

MT- my MLD Ti mug has the same odor that you described. I didn't notice it until this week when I used it for the first time, the odor was still present after two uses on the trail. I only boil water for cooking and didn't notice any transfer taste in my food. I have other Ti pots and no metallic odor with them.

I can't remember whether mine smelled when it was new, but it doesn't smell now. Perfect little pot.

Thanks JJ, glad to hear it doesn't transfer to the food. I'll be using mine just for water also. Makes me feel better knowing I'm not the only one. Thanks for response

Would anyone be concerned about this, or should it be safe?

I would suggest washing any utensil or pot well before first use.

I'm sure they have to use some surface lubricant in the manufacturing process for any Ti pots as it gets pressed into shape for it to release from forms + the name gets lazer etched.

It's also a 'fresh" product and has not sat on a shelf for a long time.

Peace,
Ron

I also just got one from the MLD year-end sale, and just went to check it. I notice the smell also. I'm going to wash it several times before I put it to use on the trail, for sure. As for the coating scraping off like you describe, I haven't washed mine yet, but I'd be interested to hear anyone else's experience with this.

"I can't remember whether mine smelled when it was new, but it doesn't smell now. Perfect little pot."

I agree, it's the "perfect little pot" enough water for my FBC and a hot drink w/o having to do a second boil

Ron, are you back from vacation early? I'm anxiously awaiting my MLD 850 mug (smell or no smell).

In fact, if anyone wants to sell their smelly pot, I'm looking for one for my son's kit...

Thanks everyone for their feedback. And thanks Ron - always nice to get info from the source. Lubrication from the manufacturing process sounds right - that is the kind of smell I am detecting. I washed it in an environmentally friendly dishes detergent, which isn't very tough on fats and oils, so that could very well be it.

I'll try washing it a few times in a heavier duty detergent right now, and post back my results.

No chance on me selling it - it is perfect in all respects bar the odor, which hopefully will shortly be eradicated. Thanks for all the responses people, great responses as always!

When they deep draw sheet metal into forms cups, they will use a lubricant. Try sticking it in your oven for 1 hr at 200F or higher for awhile.
Tom

Michael
I have a smaller pot from the same manufacturer and it doesn't smell, just like all the other Ti bits I have.
So yes,give it a good wash a couple of times and you will be fine.
Nice set up, BTW..
Franco

I washed mine in the dishwasher prior to using, and again after my trip this week. This morning i used a SOS pad and throughly scrubbed the pot.

Odor is gone!

An old veteran once told me that there was nothing better than smelly Ti pot.

Try boiling a quartered potato or potato skins for 30 minutes in the pot.

It's an old timer's trick for cleaning cast iron pots to remove any oils or other residue before seasoning.

Edited by dag4643 on 01/03/2010 09:08:42 MST.

The odor is due to manufacturing lubricant. It disappears with use and washing. The MLD 850 and the Caldera UL-1 is my "near perfect" cooking kit. It is light, compact, and efficient. Only 5.5 oz. for the kit including 2 ti stakes, Bic lighter and stuff sack.

Happy Trails.

Mark

Thanks for all the feedback. I tried some of the suggestions.

First thing, I tried washing it in stronger detergent. Thoroughly. This helped maybe 5-10%. Not as much as I had hoped.

Next I tried baking it in the oven for an hour. I had it fairly hot, hotter than suggested - I am in Australia, so it was at 200c. This helped a lot - I could smell the odor while it was "cooking" which I thought was a good sign. After taking it out, and washing it again with detergent, I tested it. I would say this helped around 50% I could still smell the lubricant, but it was a lot better.

Next I tried the boiling a potato trick. I put an oldish potato on with the pot full of water and boiled for about 2 hours, maybe a little more, checking the water level periodically. After I removed the water and washed the pot with detergent once again, I dried and tested. I think this was a great method, the smell was pretty much all gone - I could detect the faintest traces, but it was hard to discern. So for those out there, try this one first. I reckon I was 95% there with this method.

Next on a suggestion from my girlfriend, I rubbed the pot in bicarb of soda, on the presumption that it may just draw out any oils left, and freshen up the pot. I left this overnight, and rinsed it off and dried this morning.

The chemical/lubricant smell is gone. The pot smells clean and fresh. I can still detect some metal smell, but no chemical overtones to it.

So I am declaring my pot safe to eat from. I have been pretty dogged in getting it smelling ok to me, I doubt this is completely necessary on a safety level. Its just important to me that I don't worry about that sort of thing. Thanks again for all your help, I'll be out using this great pot shortly,
regards, MT

This is good news. I haven't used mine yet, but I think I'll cook up some potatoes soon.... Thanks for the research!

I had more or less the same issue with mine.

But I was pretty sure straight away that it was release lubricant.

My guess as to why it seems hard to remove is that it's on the surface on the inside of the rolled edges of the cup and lid, which means you can't mechanically scrub it out; it can only be slowly cooked and/or leached out, which would explain why one scrub and and boil don't do the trick.

You may also notice a very fine oily film on top of the water at first.

FWIW, as soon as I got mine, I scrubbed it hard with detergent and the green scrub sponges, and boiled two full pots of water back to back, and fed the plants with it (cooled of course). Since then, yesterday morning, I've made two cups of coffee and boiled water for oatmeal in Joshua Tree and everything tasted fine.

BTW, I love the pot. The BPL shorty spoon, a small 110 gram canister, and the Ti Trango burner all tuck nicely inside with room to spare to boot!

Mike:

That took a lot of work! Wonder if Ron of MLD would give us his thoughts regarding this smell? He should be back either today (1/4) or tomorrow.

Edited by ben2world on 01/04/2010 20:43:50 MST.

"Wonder if Ron of MLD would give us his thoughts regarding this smell? He should be back either today (1/4) or tomorrow."

Hi Ben,

He did, earlier in the thread.

Oh, I see now. My bad. Thanks.

Ben, yeah, it was a lot of work. Felt a bit strange having to put so much effort in, just to ease my mind, but I think it was worth it - hopefully it will last many journeys. I really like the size shape and weight of the pot, and I am hoping after a few nice meals I will think of it as a good little friend. Right now it feels a bit like a demanding acquaintance :-P

I appreciate this thread --- I just got this pot, and had noticed that the bottom looked a little, I don't know, greasy or something, though not a lot of smell. So I scrubbed the heck out of it, boiled some water in it, did it all again --- it's looking a lot better now, and without the greasy film on the water surface when heating water.

The only thing I have (had) against this pot is that it was a little challenging with a pot this narrow to scratch/mark lines inside at the 1.5 and 2 cup level, but I managed to get something that works when the light is right. That's one nice thing about not having a non-stick coating (I only felt comfortable marking my previous pot on the *out*side).

Looking forward to using it this coming year.

Edited by brianle on 01/05/2010 10:51:49 MST.

A quick update:

I was doing an infrequent load of dishes in the dishwasher, on high heat (I like to periodically run my toddler son's bottles, utensils and such through a high heat cycle), and tossed the MLD pot and lid in, and they came out completely odorless.

Maybe steam is the magic bullet.

Edited by Pieter on 01/06/2010 13:56:10 MST.

Hi everyone again,
Sorry to take up peoples time with this, but my pot still smells and its really bugging me. Since I last posted I've tried boiling it in water and detergent, followed immediately by spraying with a fairly full on kitchen cleaner and thorough scrubbing with the green plastic scourers. To no effect, the metal smell remains.
I am now boiling it again, this time submersed in water with some tea leaves thrown in, hoping the acids in the tea will be beneficial and cover the smell somewhat.

But could someone do me a favor? Would someone be willing to scrub their MLD pot with a green plastic scourer, then rinse and dry, and sniff? I want to eliminate the possibility that it is just the exposed bare metal smelling, as I believe I read somewhere that titanium also oxidizes like aluminum, but I'm thinking maybe it takes longer, so before it oxidises I can smell it? Is this possibly what I am smelling? Because surely I have eliminated the manufacturing lubricant by now?

My major concern is the the baking may have baked the lubricant on to the pot when I placed it in the oven.

Thanks for any further help with this,

Michael

"But could someone do me a favor? Would someone be willing to scrub their MLD pot with a green plastic scourer, then rinse and dry, and sniff?"

I think I clumsily said I already tried this above, to no real effect, at least not by itself. It was followed by three boiled pots of water, and then a cycle in the washing machine, on high heat. The smell is completely gone.

I want to say that I can absolutely assure you it's not the bare metal, but I'm not a metallurgist, although I've been using and abusing and even once plasma cutting titanium components on bicycles and cars and other odds and ends since around 1990, and nothing made of titanium I've ever handled or used has had any particular inherent odor.

Your previous post gave me hope, but then I tried all those techniques and didn't get the result I had hoped for. What you say was my understanding also, which leads to my concern over the persistence of this darned odor! I don't have a dishwasher though, so have had to rely on the old school methods I've outlined. I'm very thankful you gave it a go, I just wish I could get your results! Thanks for the info though - I thought titanium was pretty darn inert.

Michael, before doing anything else I used a green scourer and dish soap to wash mine, and it seems okay from just that simple step. It's possible the smell is still there, though, because I'm starting to get a bit of a cold :(

Thanks Ryan, that seems to be the consensus. Hope the cold passes without too much inconvenience.

"I don't have a dishwasher though"

Surely someone you work with has one! If not, if you work near Fort Belvoir, I'll get it from you and take it home and put it in my dishwasher for you.

"I thought titanium was pretty darn inert."

It darn well better be. I've got two screws made of the stuff permanently embedded in one of my fingers!

Funny, I forgot about that when I was posting earlier. I guess that's as good a testament to titanium's safety as you're going to get!

For that matter, a friend of mine has a perforated titanium plate in his cranium.

Yeah, we live hard here in Hollywood! ;)

Good luck with the pot; it'll improve!

Happy weekend!

Thanks Douglas, that's a very kind offer - people here are great. Unfortunately I live in Australia. But I would have thought submersing and boiling it in water and detergent would have been a similar. Maybe its the steam effect that would make all the difference that I can't get?

Oops! Ironically enough, there's an Annandale in the Northern Virginia area, where I work. Hence my offer. You know us danged yanks, we think EVERYTHING refers to the US!

Yeah, I have a titanium screw in my elbow :-) But I thought there were different grades, ie some with more aluminum, so I thought maybe that's part of the smell. Long shot I know.

There are different grades, oh YES!
CP: commercially pure - 'soft' in a manner of speaking, can be bent and shaped
6Al4V: about 50% of the world's Ti consumption is in this alloy. It as hard as the hobs of hell, and unbendable when cold. However, it can be hot-formed.
There are other alloys too ...

As to the smell - 99% confident it was a drawing oil.

Cheers

Michael,
If your are getting flavor from your pot when cooking with it but don't smell it when at room temp, that means that the higher temp is accelerating the release of off-flavor causing compounds from the surface.

Heating the Ti pot in your oven (at a moderate temp) should speed the driving off of those problem compounds. The high temp won't "bake the lubricant onto the pot," it will evaporate off the potential compounds.

What fuel are you using? Esbit tablets do have an odor associate with them.

What have you cooked in previously?

Unless it's your food, so have someone boil water in your pot and in a stainless cook pot from your kitchen, then serve you each of the boiled (but cooled) water without revealing which is from the Ti (i.e., in a glass). This might help confirm that it is the pot...and not your food, your taste buds, or imagination. Not trying to be sarcastic here, just want to eliminate other causes.

I am a material scientist and work for one of the world largest food companies to identify new packaging materials for everything from cookies to coffee, so I can assure you that this is what we would do in similar situations.

Please feel free to PM me with any other questions or to talk about your findings.

Tom

Edited by TomClark on 01/08/2010 21:09:39 MST.

Thanks for your input Tom. I haven't eaten from it yet, I have been trying to eliminate the smell before consuming anything cooked in it. I have done so much cleaning of it that is probably is quite safe to eat from, so I may try your suggestion. And rest assured I didn't find your post at all sarcastic - I like a good, analytical, scientific suggestion. A blind test with my girlfriend as lab assistant, could at least ease my concerns, and sounds like fun :-)

And thanks Roger - good to know, I thought that must be the case re grades of the alloy.

You are wrong for that Tom...