Smoking.
Do you know why all the wall paint and curtains of the 70s and 80s never included pristine white? Yes, that’s why. I’m convinced the choices of golds, oranges, and browns were just giving in to the inescapable film of nicotine tinge on everything, everywhere.
To this day, when I see “cream”, “ecru”, “chiffon” or any other creative name for not-quite-white, I think of nicotine stains.
Restaurant smoking was the worst.
I’ve never, and this is likely why. Growing up in that acrid awfulness was a great deterrent.
It’s a film of goo. If you’re in a kitchen of a smokers house and a tea kettle or boiling pot goes for a bit, rusty drips will form on the ceiling and down the walls. There’s a filmy goo to it if you get it on your hands. It’s a piece of what needs to be cleaned then painted over, sometimes multiple times, to lock it away.
I guess if there’s no context for it, then it’s a mere sepia tone or some such.
I could not find a listing for this paint of yours.