Shoutout to the guy at the flea market who told me to sniff old records before buying them

I was digging through crates at the Alameda flea market last weekend and this older guy next to me goes 'kid, if it smells like mildew walk away no matter how rare.' At first I thought he was just being dramatic but then I picked up a 1978 pressing of Rumours that looked perfect. No scratches nothing. Got it home and the whole sleeve stank like wet basement so bad my apartment smelled for days. I had to throw the sleeve out and now the record itself has this weird musty sound on quiet parts. So here's the debate: is it better to only buy records that look clean and risk the smell later or should we be sniffing every sleeve like weirdos in public? I'm leaning toward the sniff method but it feels kinda sketchy doing it in front of vendors.

2 comments

2 Comments

henderson.mila28d ago

Yeah, gotta sniff em, no shame.

john43028d ago

My buddy tried that once and grabbed the wrong box by mistake.