Specialty Paint Marketed in Colorado for Controlling Cannabis Odors

A paint that conceals odors is being marketed in Colorado as a cannabis odor-blocking product. The paint, which was developed by Denver-based ECOBOND and is called OdorDefender, is designed to lock in the residue that builds up on walls and furniture — sometimes called third-hand smoke — in rooms where people smoke.

“We don’t make typical paint products. We make specialty paint products that are designed to help the environment. We’ve been doing research on not only secondhand smoke, but thirdhand smoke. There have been studies that show thirdhand smoke can be every bit as dangerous as smoking or secondhand smoke. It can re-emit to the air from the floor, from carpeting and from walls.” — Eric Heronema, ECOBOND product manager, via Westword

One of the paint’s primary effective odor-concealing ingredients is alginate, extracted from seaweed. Heronema said that alginate is “nature’s best absorbent.” ECOBOND ran tests with pieces of drywall in tanks filled with cannabis smoke, as well as tobacco smoke. Once saturated with the smell — which, by reports, was overwhelming — they painted over the various pieces of drywall with different brands of paint, running the gamut from the most common industrial paint down to home latex paint. OdorDefender did best during a sniff test after curing on several different occasions, in an experiment involving 11 people.

The paint is being marketed to managers of commercial properties, private homeowners and landlords, and home restoration companies. More products aimed at the wide-ranging impacts of legalized and normalized cannabis consumption should be expected.

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