Well, there are only a few wires in the column and the only other source of "smoke" could be from the engine bay if the column seal at the bottom is trashed.
All things being equal, the answer is almost always the simplest.
Sounds to me like some insulation is smoking from inside the column. Don't risk it and keep running it. Take it apart and look. Remove all doubt as to the source and you'll be better off.
That all said, if you don't have gauges, isn't there a 5v source under the dash somewhere. Maybe that fried and it only appeared to come from the column?
-C
