Originally Posted by snowsled7

The fuse blows when the amperage in the cicuit exceeds the fuses rated burn. Usually caused by a dead short somewhere in that circuit.

I would be looking under the dash since you had smoke. If it isn't obvious you could hook it back up, I suspect it would heat again. Take it seriously though, smoke usually means a wire or wires that the insulation is burning off of. So look for a bare wire and burnt insulation.

You have some clues, you know what the fuse controls, you know the cluster wasn't working, you had smoke in the car. Good Luck