Yeah it was pretty bad. The CDROM2 had been heavily smoked on: It arrived with Mild Seven cigarette cartons and empty packets as the packaging material. lol. Smelled like a dirty ashtray before it came out of the box.
I should say that after 7 years, there has been some re-yellowing of the controllers, but they were in a relatively bright room in California, so that is to be expected. As long as you keep them out of the light you should be OK. I don't think that they will spontaneously re-yellow if you keep them in the dark. My IFU/PCE/CDROM2 are still newish looking now that I'm checking...