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I have a King 3b trombone made in the late 70's that I offered to sell on the internet for a friend who has no internet access. I've held off listing it because I can't get rid of the nasty smoke odor coming from the outside of the case. He is a heavy smoker and the smoke odor is really bad.
I have been able to clean out the horn itself and the lining on the inside but the case just wreaks on the outside. I can't even keep it in the house because it smells so bad. For now it's in the garage. For those of you old enough to remember when smoking was allowed everywhere it reminds me of the way old office buildings with bad ventilation and full of smokers would smell. All musty and smelly from all the leather furniture and clouds of tobacco smoke.
I let this case sit out on the screen in porch where the sun could hit it for 2 months and that didn't help. I don't know what cleaners would be safe to use on the covering. It looks like real leather and I don't want to destroy it. What can I use safely ?

Consult a car detailer .... they deal with this kind of stink all the time, on leather, fabric, etc. upholstery, and on carpets. You can probably hide the stink with a spray of "new car" perfume (there is such a thing, for use in fog machines).

You could also try saddle soap (google for it - Walgreens sell Kiwi saddle soap) which is intended for cleaning leather.

There are also all kinds of leather cleaners and conditioners sold for the leather upholstery in fancy trucks and autos.

WD40 leaves a good "new machine" smell on ratty old computers, but I don't know what it would do on leather.

Yuck! Smoke smell permeates even the lacquer on the horn. Very tough to get rid of. As one other poster commented.... see a used car dealer or detailer for some tips.

I know next to nothing about 1970's trombones... but is the case even worth keeping? Though it might be a worthy project to clean up something important or memorable, it seems like thankless work for a case. I could be wrong.

If it were me, I would either trash the case now and sell without it, or sell with the caveat that the case smells like cigarette smoke and is being used for shipping/protection only. Who knows, another smoker may buy it and not be bothered at all by it!

Ozone generator. Owner should rent one, stick the case somewhere where the ozone won't get out (it's poisonous) and ozone it overnight. That should take care of the smoke smell. You can even leave the case open and ozone the whole thing at once.

MA

I have successfully removed about 98% of the odor from both the inside and outside of this case. I bought 2 boxes of Arm&Hammer baking soda and put them and the case in a giant plastic bag and left it there for 4 weeks. A couple times a week or so I would open the bag and air it out. It worked!
I'm hoping to have this sold tomorrow.

Zep makes some odor removal products just for smoke odors. I've had luck with their products before. Worth a shot. I've also tried ozone generators for odor removal (I'm a real estate broker by day). No luck with the ozone generator. It will remove odors from the air, but not from an object. My experience has been that you must have something chemically alter the residue on the object for the odor to be removed. Good luck.

There was definiately a residue on the case. I cleaned it 3 different times using window cleaner (non-ammonium) . Each time it got lots of brown nasty stuff off. I am assumeing its tar from the tobacco. I then cleaned it another 2 times with just a towel I wet down with warn water. I got more of that brown gunk off . It still smelled after that. That's when I put it in the bag with baking soda.

I hope it's worth all that trouble!

On another note... I knew a fellow who bought a pair of 'Odor Eaters' insoles and put them in his shoes. Two days later, he disappeared!

That stinks, man!

Pete