I write in hope of some serious answers. I know this general issue has come up before, and wading through the incredulous and the trolls doing a search yields nothing that seems likely to work. Maybe there is nothing; if not, so be it. We just moved into our new home after over 7 months of renovations. The problem is cigarette smoke from one of our neighbors. This is an attached house, with a party wall (concrete). (attached on the other side too, separate construction, not a problem. When the walls were open, I was not aware of any plumbing coming directly from the smoking neighbor. There are cabinets mounted in our kitchen on the party wall. Holes were cut in the cabinet backs to accommodate some drainage and steam pipes (ours), and there is an opening around our plumbing which we will seal off. We don't know what might be the best way to do this, and I have no idea if it will work (though the cigarette smoke is strongest in these cabinets. This does appear to be coming through the walls--somehow, and not through vents to the outside. This is old construction (c. 1940). There is no question that there is cigarette smoke. It's not nearly as big a problem for me (my sense of smell was never the same since organic chemistry), but my wife is very upset. I'm quite sure I have no legal recourse, and in any case wouldn't expect my neighbor to modify his smoking on my behalf. Really just interested to know if anyone has dealt with some mechanical means of dealing with this problem that was effective.
TIA, Steve