The lacquered wood box that came with the 2013 set gave off a strong smell. I let it aired out for about a week and the smell somewhat subdued and I put it away. Today, I took it out and the smell was just as bad. What exactly is giving off that odor? I plan to store my coin in it. Is it bad for the coin? The 2012 San Francisco set was emitting similar odor but I guess not as strong as 2013 after a year.
I'm pretty sure it's the smell of fresh laquer. My set had the same smell. The hold up on shipping these sets was because the Mint was waiting on packaging, so they're freshly manufactured. As far as storing the coins in it, I wouldn't. In fact, I don't store anything in the OGP if the coins are removable.
Doesn't much matter really, the simple fact that there is a smell present should be enough to tell you that you don't want to store your coins in them.
The is a little extreme but should I replace the original capsules with airtites? I did a look up on lacquer and found that it usually has high solvent and volatile organic compounds such as xylene and toluene. I'm not sure whether the capsules are contaminated now.
Nahhh, your capsules are fine. Maybe open them and let any air inside be replaced by room air, close 'em up, and store them away from the packaging. By all means, safely store your packaging too. Just don't store it in the same place as your coins.
