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.
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 analysis 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.
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.”
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.
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’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.
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.
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.
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 reported in 2021. It seems new smokers worked cigarettes into their day as a vibe, not a vice.
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.
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.
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.
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.
