I'm looking for a cheap commuter/ runaround.

One I'm currently interested in is

 

1. mostly but it takes more time than this car is worth and it will never truly go away. You basically need to shampoo the whole cars upholstery and degrease that which is not upholstered but there will be places that the tar has stuck to but you just can't get to imo.
2. my guess is yes but it all depends on the value of the car.

Personally if you don't plan on smoking in the car and want to sell it on - better leave it to a smoker

 

Cars without Service history are generally worth 10% less the ones with, so is the car about 4K?
I'd only buy really cheap cars without Service history (under 1.5K), it could be clocked and you won

 

One always gets the odd whiff from cars that have been smoked in.

But once upon a time, every car was smoked in.

No service history; odd, but not necessarily a bad thing. You have to use your judgement on the overall condition.