I had the same experience with the VW camper I bought from my chimney-smoking step-dad, back in 1981. The interior was factory-new, under the brown (not green) layer of residue, from his smoking. Like it was hermetically sealed, for posterity. So, all you smokers out there, your lungs are probably very awesome, under all those layers of tar (I quit back in '88).

The singer on the vid looks eerily like Roger Daltry.

The smoke may or may not have protected it, but it certainly penetrates the porous wood of any musical instrument. Some people, usually non-smokers, are sensitive to the stink that permeates these instruments, which is why "used in a smoke-free studio" is a selling point for many musical instruments. I have memories of several otherwise-very-cool musical instruments, particularly some fairly nice vintage guitars, that I literally could not stand to have in the house and had to get rid of, because they stunk. I have been told that if you leave an item outside to soak up the sunlight it will get rid of much of the odor but honestly even these desperate measure did little to get the stinky vibe out of the item. That's too bad, because some of these were totally keepers. Not really sure about the smoke and the effects of the finish--the finish was in decent shape on most of these items, if a bit yellowed. I suppose you polish off the yellowing and reveal a nice finish underneath, but that would happen if you polished the top layer off of an un-smoke-damaged finish as well, wouldn't it?

Lets be a little sensitive to people who are still stuck in the 60's and own VW hippie vans ........ :) Jump For Joy

I know they make a spray that you can use in vehicles that will totally get rid of the smoke odor from previous owners. I've used it and it works very well. I was thinking that might work on some of those guitars mentioned above. I got the stuff at a local auto parts store.