so, i woke up to a different smell today: cyanide & carbon monoxide. that is, the smell of cigarette smoke.
that's
 a smell i know well. it's dankness - the way it falls over everything 
like a blanket. you simply can't address this without opening the 
windows and letting the room air out.
i'm actually not
 sure if the tenant directly above me smokes or not. i think he might be
 a secret smoker from time to time, which is why this comes and goes. i 
think that the other tenant on the main floor does. the tenants two 
floors up are very heavy smokers and you can smell it when you walk in 
the front door but it doesn't usually bug me down in the basement.
this
 isn't the first time i've noticed this, but i don't think it's been 
this bad before; or, perhaps, my smell is better now than it has been 
since i've moved here. but, i didn't quit smoking just to deal with the 
second-hand smoke from upstairs. so, i'm not backing down on this point:
 the windows will remain open (with the heat up...) until the smell 
clears out.
and, the answer is to stop smoking inside.