Cleaning meth off of MCM?  

This is such
a funny thread title. The Euros are saying "huh"? Meth gets on tables? I have one little piece of cleaning advice. When I have bought something at an antique fair or off of ebay and it was covered with nicotine residue, the only thing that has worked is vast quantities of Windex.
Assuming the surface is just laminate, spray some Windex on it and if it immediately bubbles up brown-ish and disgusting, you've got yourself a smoker's table. You'll be amazed and disgusted by the crap that comes off the table with Windex.
If it is actually meth that's on your table, I have no advice. Throw them in a chlorinated swimming pool, maybe? Or in a volcano? Or send them through your local waste water treatment plant?

Mix vinegar with water and...
Mix vinegar with water and get scrubbing.
Be careful not to use too much vinegar or it might eat away at the wood finish.

Do you mean the drug? Yes smo...
Do you mean the drug? Yes smokers tar is disgsuting to clean off, I gave up up about 12 months ago (yay for me) and was an inside smoker and one day I looked at the cieling and thought I'd clean it...foul job.
I don't know if you can get it there but eucalyptus oil in some warm water in a rag wrung damp worked really well, theres a film of oil to take off after but thats easy done, maybe tea tree or lavender oil would work.

Naptha (petroleum benzine) from the hardware store.
Give it a good rub with a cotton rag. Follow safety directions on can.

To get unknown
gunk and grime off of a surface like Formica, I use either liquid detergent, powdered cleanser (don't scrub any more than absolutely necessary), or paint thinner (mineral spirits). Actually, with formica (or metal, or glass) you can use any volatile spirits you like -- acetone, lacquer thinner, etc -- depending on what needs to be removed. The milder menu above, up through mineral spirits, can be used on virtually any painted or varnished finish -- in my experience. Each substance will attack a certain class of soil, whether water-borne or something else.

Murphy's Oil Soap straight up...
Murphy's Oil Soap straight up works very well on nicotine and just general dirt and grime. Do not dilute. And rinse it off thoroughly, then dry even more thoroughly.

More or less agree with most of the advice here.
Generally, the approach should be to start with the least aggessive method (water and a cotton swab), and then proceeding through steps (surfactants and detergents before solvents) until you arrive at the least aggressive technique that will achieve the desired results. Don't start out with acetone or lacquer thinner if your intent is to preserve the original finish!
Testing on an inconspicuous area is always recommended.
For high-pressure plastic laminates, plastic polishes or automotive paint buffing compounds will often work when all else fails.