no, you lot are talking about wicky sticks- joints dipped in embalming fluid & then smoked once dry. tho I've never been clear on whether "embalming fluid" is actually that, PCP (tho it is slang for PCP) or something else entirely. anyway, kids used to talk about them when I was growing up (I had the good sense to stick to proper drugs, none of this inhalants/weird chemicals shite), I think it's something of a Chicago thing. supposedly when smoked they'd cause you to "freeze up", be unable to move - I've never done K but perhaps similar to that.
formaldehyde itself is just a chemical compound. I don't think you can smoke it.
either way, smoking PCP or somehow getting "high" on embalming fluid, that is indeed some "brutal shit".
AFAIK "sherm" is just generic slang for PCP.
Sick Boy you must know - PCP is hella popular in Canada. especially in Montreal, in my experience. the runaways & street kids & so on are way, way into it, in place of crack or heroin or whatever. every time I've been there I've been offered PCP by some dude or another.