First and foremost, this is a beautiful bag. It is very well made and quite nice. I gave it to my wife as a gift and she loved the look and feel. That said, it arrived smelling *very* strongly of cow manure. I tried everything (soap, water, baking soda, vinegar) to remove it, as well as good old air, and it remains as strong as ever. Because I tried to thoroughly clean it I could not return/exchange it, and because of the terrible smell my wife can never use it. Such a shame as it is a nice bag - if you get one hopefully yours will not smell remotely close to this one.