<p>In just a few decades, smoking all but disappeared from American culture. But now, despite the best efforts of the anti-smoking brigade, cigarettes are back.</p>
<p>Though overall smoking rates in the United States remain low, Gen Z has embraced cigarettes as a symbol of rebellion. On film and television, in music and fashion, smoking is cool again. A 2022 <a href="https://truthinitiative.org/lights-camera-tobacco" target="_blank" rel="noopener">analysis</a> found that more than half of the top 15 streaming shows among viewers aged 15 to 24 — like “Euphoria” and “Peaky Blinders” — contained tobacco imagery.</p>
<p>Another report found 80% of the 2025 Oscar Best Picture nominees included tobacco imagery. Then there’s pop star Sabrina Carpenter, who used a fork as a cigarette holder in the music video for her latest single, “Manchild.”</p>
<blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CtzJ1pVxg4x/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14">
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<p>Other celebrities popular with Gen Z, including Charli XCX, Addison Rae, and Dua Lipa, are frequently photographed or filmed smoking cigarettes in public, onstage, or in fashion campaigns.</p>
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<p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DBekkYdSmwt/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Cigfluencers (@cigfluencers)</a></p>
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<p>On social media, popular accounts like @cigfluencers are standing by to capture these moments, reframing smoking as a high-fashion or edgy lifestyle accessory rather than as a health risk. Cigarettes were spotted at New York Fashion Week and even popped up in editorial spreads as props. This time, there weren&#8217;t any warnings or advisories. Instead, cigarettes are being used to capture a mood, whether it’s glamorous or rebellious or some combination of the two.</p>
<p>For many Gen Z observers, the interest in smoking appears to be driven less by addiction than by aesthetics, nostalgia, or even as a form of protest after decades of cigarette demonization.</p>
<p>Young adults today seem to be saying that smoking is a way to channel “main character energy,” a way to stand out from the hordes of wellness-obsessed, yoga-posing, vegan millennials.</p>
<p>Some smokers blamed their habit on the pandemic, when stress, isolation, and a complete reframing of previously normal behavior led to new routines and new interests, The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/06/style/self-care/smoking-pandemic.html">reported</a> in 2021. It seems new smokers worked cigarettes into their day as a vibe, not a vice.</p>
<p>This renewed interest in cigarettes could be seen as a temporary aesthetic moment, but it’s not stopping public health experts from panicking about future implications. With celebrity influence and the absence of counter-messaging, which tapered off as the number of smokers decreased, they’re afraid smoking could make a real comeback because it is still addictive.</p>
<p>It’s true that cigarette companies still aren’t legally allowed to advertise to youth. However, seeing role models and Instagram influencers smoking is a form of advertisement all its own. When a popular television show includes a smoke break, viewers will be more likely to replicate that behavior in real life. Smoking in shows and movies has a normalizing effect that anti-smoking crusaders have been desperate to eliminate.</p>
<p>Despite its decline, cigarette smoking never completely disappeared. Among older generations, smoking persisted in certain communities and cultures. Among Gen Z, smoking has been quietly evolving into a symbol of defiance and a return to rituals from the past.</p>
<p>Whether this trend results in long-term changes in how the public treats smokers and smoking is still a big unknown. But for now, it’s clear that smoking, once demonized and dismissed, is having its renaissance moment.</p>

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Are Cigarettes Making A Comeback? How Gen Z Is Staging A Smoking Rebrand