OK, so I tried a different oil this evening that I picked up off of amazon. Claimed to be clean burning with no smell but I still get a smell when I burn it. Could it be how I'm burning it, maybe I need to trim the wick differently or something? I cant figure it out.
I dumped the other oil out and refilled them with the new stuff. New oil looks the same as the other.
Is a 1" high flame too high for a small dietz style lantern? Could it be the lantern just doesn't function well because it is a cheap knock off?
I remember my mom and grandma having the crystal looking oil lamps when I was a kid and I don't remember them smelling at all. Seems they were an "in" thing sometime in the 90's.
I've tried both "firefly" brand simply pure lamp oil and the Wal-Mart Florasense lamp oil. Both are completely clear. I've just tried trimming a wick with a shallow "v" shape like Carl mentioned. Maybe I wasn't burning it high enough to get a clean burn. I've left it burning in the kitchen for a bit at a slightly higher flame to see if it doesn't clean up the smell some. I'm determined to get this figured out. The flame does have a nicer shape this way.



FWIW, I don't seem to be getting any smoke but I get a smell that is not completely unlike that of a recently blown out candle smell without the smoke smell (if that makes any sense, I guess it's a vaporized paraffin smell)