As we discussed, this week the UK signed off on a generational smoking ban that will make it illegal for anyone 18 or younger to buy cigarettes starting next year. There are many ways in which the ban may fail, but I still say it’s a drastic move worth taking in order to finally stomp out the killer of more than 7 million people a year (1.6M of whom are non-smokers). Apparently, I am at odds with the American media in this thinking. Instead, it seems my country heard about the UK ban and collectively responded, “Hold my pack of unfiltereds.” In suspiciously quick succession, multiple cigarette-fond articles have popped up touting how they’re all over Hollywood again, be it on screens, magazine covers, or trays at industry parties. The NY Post had the most revolting coverage by far (on brand): after declaring “smoking is well and truly back — Surgeon General’s warnings be damned,” the Post quoted youths describing why they’ve embraced the comeback of cancer sticks. Some hurlights:
Ashleigh Rodosta, NYC matchmaker & relationship coach: “I’ve definitely seen an uptick in singles describing themselves as ‘sometimes’ smokers — not pack-a-day smokers, but occasional, where it’s tied to nightlife, travel aesthetic and intimacy. … The post-sex cigarette is also making a comeback. … What’s ironic is that many of these same people are otherwise intensely wellness-oriented — cold plunges, peptides, clean eating, the whole thing.”
Rebecca Reingold, 30-year-old NYC comedian: “We’re all adults, and we were educated as best we could be about the dangers of smoking. … So now it’s up to everybody on their own to use that education and make that decision for themselves. … Plus, you don’t know when your time is going to come. God forbid you walk outside and get hit by a bus. So if you want to dabble in a drunk cig from time to time, who cares? You’re doing shots!”
Curt Walker, 25-year-old in NYC: “I like to enjoy a smoke outside of a lounge at night,” Walker, who doesn’t consider himself a habitual smoker but presented his 25th birthday party guests with a spread of cigs on a gold platter, told The Post. “The music’s loud, your martini is strong and it’s a bit warm inside. You head out for a cigarette and it’s a breath of fresh air — you can hear, and the conversation sparks. I’ve met a lot of new people over a cigarette.”
Jared Oviatt, 27-year-old Canadian with the Insta account @cigfluencers: “It’s almost a rejection of wellness culture,” Oviatt told The Post, chalking his own occasional smoking up to a tendency towards nihilism. “Or an acknowledgement of, ‘If I smoke and look a little different 10 years from now than I would have if I hadn’t smoked, I can just reverse it with a facelift or anti-aging serums. It’s this idea that the world is coming to an end anyway, and even if it is, I can change my face in the process.”
Fin Fika, 29-year-old LA content creator & musician: “You have to intentionally smoke a cigarette. … You might talk to someone new, or you might be by yourself, just thinking about something. It’s a little more meditative because of the intention behind it and the time that it takes. … It’s weird, but I feel like smoking just makes me feel more present in the moment. There’s a nostalgia factor linked to them, because they’ve been around for so long. It’s the same way that everyone likes classic cars and how blue jeans are never going out of style, and how a glass bottle of Diet Coke is never not going to be cool. Cigarettes fit in the same category.”
It’s just… I mean… words fail. Where do we go from here? Let’s start by rebutting (yes it’s a smoke pun, but I’m too exasperated to add the exclamation point) these comments. “We’re all adults, and we were educated as best we could be about the dangers of smoking.” Were you?? “You head out for a cigarette and it’s a breath of fresh air…” No, the FRESH AIR is the breath of fresh air! As for Mr. Cigfluencer who thinks he can plastic surgery his way out of any long term ill effects, the Post included a clap back from a doctor who emphatically said no, that’s not the way health, aging, or surgery works. My uncle was a smoker and before cancer took his life, it took half his face off. They gave him a mask that attached magnetically, but the piece was irritating and he vastly preferred keeping it off. Whenever I visited him, I was determined to keep my reaction neutral/relaxed/not a big deal, as I looked him in the eye while the other half of his face was a gaping hole. That’s more than looking “a little different in 10 years.”
The abundantly clear health hazards aren’t enough of a deterrent, which is depressing on its own, but what further crushes my spirit is the underlying motivation: to look cool, to fit in. As if smoking were this year’s Stanley Cup or Labubu. It’s not the smoke, it’s the stupidity.
Nooooo, I thought we were past all of this. Ramp it up on those super sad commercials of people who got lung cancer, etc from smoking where they warn everyone not to smoke. Smoking will kill you, the end. It has killed people I love. It is not sexy. And I am a former smoker saying this: smoking cigarettes makes you smell awful.
I wonder if this isn’t something similar to anti-vaxxing: just as whole generations have now gone without measles, mumps or even, for Gen Z, chicken pox, so much that people (idiot people) start to think those diseases weren’t so bad as to be worth the “risk” (complete BS of course) that they believe vaccines cause.
And now these younger generations that grew up losing far fewer family members to lung, throat, mouth, etc., cancers, or grew up NOT being bombarded by gross second-hand/equally harmful smoke in every restaurant, bar, airport, office building entryway, etc., now don’t realize how harmful smoking is (or what a major imposition it is on everyone around you, even if they don’t want to smoke or inhale that grossness).
This is a good point. “It’s my choice! What does it matter anyway?” Because we live in a society and your decisions affect you, your loved ones, and complete strangers.
Those quotes are exhausting. And also juvenile? No, you’re not the first to discover this. You’re the latest in a long line of generations who’ve been targeted by extensive marketing w/o real-life experiences to make you question it. You’re completely predictable.
I hate the smell of smoke. Am I going to go back to coughing violently whenever I’m around people smoking where they shouldn’t be? I’ll do it. I remember smokers didn’t like that very much.
Add to this that extreme thinness is back. And what better appetite suppressant than nicotine? Two unhealthy habits for the price of one!
i think this is a really good point. As a personal anecdote, I said the other day that I used to smoke in college and right after (young and stupid.) While my grandparents smoked (at least my moms parents did), they had stopped by the time I was old enough to understand what it was and did not die directly from their smoking (although I’m sure it played a part, but they lived to 91 and 89 in relatively good health until the end, overall.)
My husband – three of his four grandparents died of lung cancer. He has never touched a cigarette in his life.
People aren’t scared of what they don’t know, sometimes.
My mother’s death from smoking was one of the worst deaths you could imagine; like smothering for two agonizing years. Imagine how awful it is to struggle to breathe. Then imagine doing that for 2 years until finally you gasp fruitlessly and smother to death. Not a peaceful end.
YES I’m anti-smoking and it was nearly gone but you keep seeing it more and more.
Is the tabacco lobby paying the movie&tv industry?
I’ll never forget the bit in Michael Moore’s tv show where he took throat cancer victims to stand outside the offices of one of the major manufacturers & they sung christmas songs on their voice boxes
Great add to growing young age colon cancer statistics….
Smoking never went away in these spaces, especially in the music scene. In the 22 years I lived in LA (the second time), I spent a lot of time in the underground art and music scene. I smoke. Is it gross? To non-smokers yes. I quit for many years when I got pregnant, but eventually started again. Would I like to quit again? Yes. Am I ashamed of smoking? No, but I’m not proud either. I don’t smoke in the house, the car, or near my child. Just outside. But I do see how normalizing it in the culture is a problem, since I started after watching Reality Bites when I was 20. I follow that last creator who was quoted, Fin Fika, and her sister. They’re young and wild and free. I never see them smoking, but I’m not surprised to hear that they do.
Yeah, I’m an ex-smoker. I didn’t stop until I moved out of Brooklyn. If I was there, I likely still would be. So, to me, smoking never went away but it depended on where you lived and especially if you worked in music or film or anything with long hours. Vaping is a very big thing in GA where I live now. Glamorizing it should not be a thing but the vibe I’m getting is that young people and celebrities are not hiding the fact they smoke either. Idk, that f-ck it mentality to me is a sign of our apocalyptic times. We’re freaking rolling back voting rights. But yeah hopefully, this won’t spread to a whole new generation.
Nothing worse than stepping outside during work and inhaling cigarette smoke. Yet another sign we are going backwards and forward.
I noticed this when watching Dakota Johnson smoke in “The Materialists.” She was supposed to be an attractive character and I thought, WTF? We’re going backwards! It was like watching Carrie Bradshaw 25+ years ago.
Smokers stink! One friend, now deceased, quit and told us he found it impossible to hang around smokers afterwards. He was disgusted by their smell.
He then asked whether he smelled that bad when he smoked. When we nodded, he burst out, why didn’t you tell me I stank? I would’ve quit!
Maybe that’s a more effective deterrent than death.
Several of these people mentioned the social part of smoking. It’s part of the analog nostalgia people are having, especially Gen Z kids who’ve never been around significant cigarette smoke. It’s seen as subversive, all these kids are saying they smoke when they drink.
I know a bunch of people from my generation (young Gen X oldest millennial) who smoked when they drank in their 20s. None of them still smoke now, or even smoked outside of going out to bars.
My grandpa smoked from the time he was 15 until 55, and emphysema and COPD got him. He quit smoking when I was born, and every time in my life I’ve been extremely stressed, I’ve wanted a cigarette even though I’ve never smoked. I guess, I get why some 20 something’s are messing with this, and it’s a bit healthier than vaping (which scares the crap out of me) so it’s an overall shrug. Alcohol has major cancer and other implications, and it’s generally accepted as something folks in their 20s experiment with, and also has the strong ability to get people addicted.
I had an aunt who started at age 11 or so, and lived to be 92. It never really got her the way it gets other people but lord, did I hate taking road trips with her
Man those people quoted in the article are grown a* centennials behaving like teens. I thought their generation used to sided eye smokers.
I blame it in the popularity of vaping that sadly had taken over teens. Once you get hooked on impersonating a Dragon or an old bus you want to jump to the real feeling and taste 🤢
Is the person in the Vanity Fair cover Kylie Jenner or is another Kylie?
I’ve been told that smoking calms people down and contributes to weight loss — two intractable issues that become even more intractable for people who lack adequate health care coverage in these stressful times. Plus, the companies that sell cigarettes are intertwined with the ones that sell junk food. Think of the corporations! This so fits with MAGA efforts to spin us back to the pre-civil rights eras of “greatness”.
Both of my parents were smokers. Both quit. It was not easy.
Someone who would know told me that quitting cigarettes was harder than quitting heroin. In my mind, this is all about valuing corporate profits over humanity.
As an asthmatic and someone allergic to smoke, have at it. Just do it away from me.
I think this society we’ve built is so difficult to navigate for all of us, but for young people especially. The future seems dark, we’re dehumanized at every turn, cancers among the young are on the rise, they’re told constantly that they’ll never buy a house or be able to retire or even have a decent career. I can absolutely see why smoking appeals. It’s a rebellion against the adults who have messed everything up, a reflection of the nihilism that is under the surface of everything right now.
To be clear, I hate it! But I am not surprised by it at all.
I’ve commented to a few people recently that I keep seeing younger people with cigarettes and I got used to them not really being around much. This depresses me.
The tobacco/nicotine industry will fight to their last breath to keep raking in the profits.
15-ish years ago I worked for a boutique consultancy and in our city there are some historic tobacco businesses. We were approached by one of them to do some (lucrative) work and the owner/directors brought it to us to see if people would be on board. Of about 40 in the consultant pool at that time one (hugely ambitious) guy said yes and it was a hard nope from everyone else.
I was in NYC this weekend and I was floored by how much marijuana smoke I was smelling. If smoking weed is socially acceptable and “cool,” then why are we surprised that smoking cigarettes is making a comeback.
Ok but I don’t think weed and cigarettes are even remotely in the same ballpark in terms of health risks. Some people like to light up a doobie after work the same way they would have poured a cocktail.
My mother and father were hard core smokers when I was growing up. He never quit and died of metastatic lung cancer. He could barely breathe at the time of his death, lungs riddled with disease. My mother quit smoking over thirty years ago and went on to lead a very active and healthy lifestyle. She was committed to change and did an amazing job with quitting and never looking back. She was diagnosed with small cell carcinoma in the lungs (smokers cancer) and it killed her within months of the diagnosis. It is deplorable in 2026 to have this huge marketing push for smoking again.
It is one of the absolute worst things that you can do to your body. I truly feel awful for our youth.
Curt, you’re a smoker. Stop weaseling out of it.
Of course it’s making a comeback when you have the most talked show in the world (Heated Rivalry) with two of its hottest actors who light up and look so damn hot doing it. It’s like watching two James Dean doing it and looking so damn fine.
But I find smoking in general disgusting and anyone who just flicks the cigarette butts onto the streets thinking its biodegradable are idiots.
I am (was) a Canadian subscriber to the print edition of Vanity Fair. I cancelled after receiving the cover above (April / Spring 2026) and wrote a strongly worded letter to the editor. I’ll be honest, it wasn’t only the smoking, but the whole image which is offensive and degrading to women. Combined with the March 2026 cover of Margaret Qualley – dead-eyed, open-mouthed, naked holding a towel – that was the last straw for me. Vanity Fair in 2006 should not be aspiring to emulate Maxim magazine in the early 2000s.
Huh, interesting. I have to say that I never see anyone smoking cigarettes anymore. Smoking isn’t permitted indoors, so you would only see and smell cigarettes outdoors, but I never do – nor any cigarette butts on the ground. What I do see and smell is weed – it’s everywhere.
My mother smoked, quit for 30 years (but smoked on occasion) and died of lung cancer at 70 after 8 months of treatment. 3 of her 4 kids have asthma (my father also smoked, but prostate cancer got him first). My husband smoked casually when we met and I asked him to quit as a wedding present. Instead he ramped up to 2 packs a day as I became horrifically allergic to nicotine, so he could not even touch me without giving me hives. I couldn’t sleep in the same room as him unless I was clutching my emergency inhaler. Amongst other problems, it was a key item in me divorcing him. I am now older and wiser and just walk away from relationships or even friendships with smokers, I’ve had my fair share of that heartbreak.
What are people doing? It’s bad for you and for the people around you who breathe second hand smoke. And if you’re in the service industry, you can’t just leave the area to breathe fresh air.
I recently started seeing a neurologist for headaches, who scheduled me for an MRI and they found an aneurysm, which I had clipped last week via craniotomy. I learned that the ONLY thing that they KNOW causes aneurysms to burst is smoking cigarettes/second hand cigarette smoke, which I had no idea. Then I realized how infrequentlly I actually am around it anymore, but I have been noticing an uptick in cigs in media. I think there will always be people that do things that are bad for them. Cigs ar weird in that they don’t really give you a buzz, but not going to lie, I smoked in the 90s and after I stopped I missed it for awhile
Watching my uncle die of throat and lung cancer from tobacco use was absolutely horrifying. Yes you could get hit by a bus tomorrow, but unless you are actively sashaying in front of said bus, the argument doesn’t hold up.
i quit over a year ago because I realized that at a carton a week ($150/carton), I was literally burning about $600/month. I just did a quick search, and in my IL county, premium cigarettes now run $170-$210 per carton. Seriously, kids — you could fund a pretty nifty retirement fund, eat some very fancy dinners out, go on exotic vacations — TONS of beneficial things if you just saved your money instead of smoking it.