90%+ rubbing alcohol makes a very good solvent for removing things like this. And it’s probably cheaper than goo-gone.
Alcohol solvent can make this worse depending on the adhesive. It can just spread the stuff and thin it out. Someone else suggested oil, that’s the ticket. Bit of olive oil on a rough cloth brings it right up. Wd40 was also suggested, same idea. You want it to move easily, not dissolve.
WD40 is great for dealing with things that are rusted in place, which is what it’s supposed to be used for. It’s just that it’s not a great lubricating oil, and people often recommend it for use as that. Too thin and leaves a waxy residue to repel more water from rusting the surface, which you often don’t want in things that you’re lubricating.
Nobody’s mentioned lighter fluid so far, but that stuff works well. Dad always used Ronsonol and it’s quite cheap. It’s also highly flammable, so mind that.
A couple points:
The lighter fluid that the parent poster is talking about, Ronsonol, is not the stuff that goes in butane lighters, nor is it the “lighter fluid” used to start charcoal barbecues. He’s talking about the stuff that goes into Zippo and similar refillable lighters, stuff that’s also called “naphtha”.
If you want to use it as a solvent with much frequency, you can get the stuff at dramatically-lower unit prices in much larger containers than what Ronsonol is sold at.
https://www.amazon.com/2-Pack-VM-NAPTHA-QT-KLEAN-STRIP/dp/B01LWRQPWK/
Keep in mind that this is potent stuff and can damage some surfaces. For example, another user is talking about using Goo Gone above to remove adhesive from paint on a wall. Naphtha is more-or-less paint thinner – your wall’s paint will dissolve in it. It’d be fine on glass, what OP is intending it for, but if you use it elsewhere, be careful with it, try it on a small amount of the surface somewhere first to see if it damages it.
It can also cause skin irritation. Probably not a big deal unless you’re regularly using it, but worth keeping in mind.
I also have a container of white spirits, which are similar but less volatile.
This is a really helpful post. Thank you for the link, because I spend way too much buying Ronsonol
I don’t smoke, but I absolutely adore the sound that a Zippo makes when flicked open and struck, and wanted to get one a while back. I was kind of appalled at the fluid pricing – the Zippo-brand fluid is even pricier, and I’ve seen the Ronsonol fluid itself recommended as a lower-priced alternative.
There are a lot of other things that people can burn in the refillable lighters, but I went through various testing that other people did and tried some myself, and none other than naphtha are really satisfactory. Some – like white spirits – aren’t volatile enough, and won’t maintain a consistent flame. Some, like gasoline, or low-water-content isopropyl alcohol, are too volatile and evaporate even more quickly than the regular fluid does or risk making an out-of-control fire.
Also works for the hand-warmers, which use the same fuel (and go through a great deal more of it than the lighters, so it’s more-important there).
On an side note, I really wish that lighters of that sort would introduce some type of gasket that isn’t dissolved by the fuel to help reduce the fuel vapor leaking out of the device when closed, or maybe some sort of other mechanism that seals the fuel reservoir off when the lighters are closed. As it stands, for a regular smoker, the fuel loss isn’t a huge deal, but for someone who infrequently uses a lighter of the sort, the fuel loss is much more obnoxious – it only takes several weeks for the reservoir to empty itself, in my experience.
Goo-B-Gone or Goo-Gone, plus steel wool like SOS pads or Scotch-Guard. Razors would work if it was a flat surface, but on a curved one like a bottle or glass, you want the flexibility of the steel wool.
Lots of good suggestions in this thread already, but long ago I used to work at a company that sold second-hand stuff where we often had to deal with stubborn labels and I haven’t seen our “nuclear option” mentioned yet. Brake cleaner, which is basically an organic solvent in a spray can, should be great on glass. Be careful with it, though, it melts some kinds of plastics. And ensure it’s used in a well-ventilated area.
Try that if the usual GooGone type stuff doesn’t work.
We also used WD40, it tended to be gentler on plastics. Though it left a greasy residue that we’d need to clean off afterward and it was pretty slow.