I'll leave it as it, the smell is nostalgic. My parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles all smoked. It was part of the life of those days. I never picked up the habit myself, and later on I began to detest tobacco. The guitar doesn't smell as bad as it did a few years ago, and when I play it, it reminds me a little of earlier days. I have a pretty good collection of guitars, but this old Les Paul has some magic in it.