Effects of smoke on tonewoods

[AeroJoe]

...my questions are, what is the effects of long-term exposure to cigarette/cigar/pipe smoke on the inside (unfinished) woods of a mandolin? Will it harden the wood cells more quickly than one not exposed to smoke or will it "coat" inside surface of the wood with whatever residue coats your exposed skin and clothes when you play in a smokey bar (and makes you feel the need to hit the shower as soon as possible and put the evenings' clothes in the washer). Is it harmful for/to the glue that's used in mandolin inner construction? (tone bars/x-bracing, kerfed lining, so forth) Lastly, if a mandolin is exposed to extremes of smoke for an extended period of time, are there different approximates for humidity/dryness or do the basic approximates still apply?

Thanks in advance, have a blessed day.

[Givson]

I think you should worry more about what will be the long-term effects on the player.

The mandolin will probably smell bad, but it will not get lung cancer or heart disease.

[Dale Ludewig]

I personally would not worry about the mandolin. Leave it out of the case for a few days. I don't think it's a big issue.

I would toss my clothes into the washer, take a shower, and get a good night's sleep.

[Red Henry]

Since a great many of the best instruments have been played for years by musicians smoking tobacco or other substances, and are not apparently any the worse for it, I'd say that the biggest disadvantage is in the smell that can really get into the instrument for a long time.

In the old days after we'd played in some particular smoky bars (the Malabar Lounge in Jacksonville and the Seminole Bar in Okeechobee especially come to mind), our instruments retained that aroma for months. Best cure, as noted just above, is to let them air out. The cases, too.

Red

[JeffD]

...my questions are, what is the effects of long-term exposure to cigarette/cigar/pipe smoke on the inside (unfinished) woods of a mandolin?
Its adds mojo!!

[Bruce Evans]

It makes them stink.

I came home from dancing one night and my clothes smelled so bad I took them off in the back yard and hung them in a tree rather than wear them into the house.

[Herb H]

It's just a form of tar deposited as tiny droplets and taking a long time to leave because to leave it must evaporate and it's very slow to evaporate. The inside surfaces are subject to a lot less of the tar than the outside surfaces, because to get on those inside surfaces the little droplets in the air have to find their way in through the eff holes or sound holes and then make their way through random motion and on thermal currents to the interior surfaces. There's no reason at all to expect the tar to have any effect on glue or wood structure. IMHO, of course.

[JeffD]

It makes them stink.
Yes it does.

But times have changed and the reaction to that stink has changed.

At first, as a youngster it meant Daddy was home, which was great. His smoking a pipe meant he was happy and things were good.

When I was an older kid, that stink was a kind of badge of adult ineraction and accomplishment, the smell of adult activities lingering on my clothes and hair. I loved it.

Later, as a pseudo adult (very old adolescent) it meant exposure to places where "things could happen" (for good or ill). #I recall a girl who detected the "stink" on my clothes, and decided she would go out with me because I smelled like I went to interesting places.

And a kiss from a girl who smoked, back in the day, could overwhelm an inexperienced lad like me with its seeming promise.

Times have changed, and nowadays it is just a stink. But memories and emotions and feelings are not easily dis-asssociated from the aromas in which they were created. Certainly we have brought about a more healthy environment, but I can't help feeling we have lost or at least misplaced something as well.