I think it was the 1980s when I first heard someone say Holy smokes! instead of Holy Smoke!
The original. 1627, in a poem by Beaumont, referenced the burning of incense while praying. It seems to me that it was about the 1980s that nicotine fiends seemed switch to a box of Pall Mall, calling them smokes instead of rolling up a soft pack of Luckies or Camels in their sleeve and calling them fags. Of course, if you go back far enough, we find that a woman is only a woman, but a good cigar is a smoke! But that was see-gars, not cheap ole coffin nails, and I didn't ever hear cigarettes referred to as a pack of smokes by ordinary people.
The Daily Kos just published a headline, "Holy smokes! Democrat drops out in Kansas Senate race—but increases chances of a Republican loss". I hate to mention it, for fear of being associated with liberal politicians, but since I'm calling them ninnies, I guess I can risk it.
So what's the skinny on this? Do people find tar and nicotine to be sacred, or is this merely degenerate illiteracy. like the fools that say card sharks where card sharps is intended? Is there any information on by who and where Holy Smokes! originated?
Ordinarily, Google is my friend, but it has the ordinarily-useful policy of treating plural and singular the same.
deaconB,
Try Google Ngrams. It finds a few in the 1879 to 1883 "books". I did not look up 'holy smoke' to see how prevalent it was during the 19th century. Perhaps you can check and report.
Emmett
I was under the impression that "holy smoke" had its origin in the ritual of burning various papers/substances to indicate whether a new pope had been elected by the College of Cardinals. I'm pretty sure a nun told me that back in grade school. But then, the nuns told me lots of lies too. 
I clearly remember stopping off at the drug store with contemporaries of mine, in the '60s, for a pack of smokes. Only took me another 25 years to quit.
'Clearly' and 'the 60s' - rather interesting contrast of terms