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We’re smoking hot.
Yes, you read that right – cigarettes are having a moment again. Just when it seemed we’d burned that bad habit to the ground, Hollywood — ironically part of the nation’s most health obsessed state — is lighting up again.
From trays filled with cigarettes at the Vanity Fair Oscar’s Party to Kylie Jenner smoking on the mag’s latest cover; Sarah Pidgeon’s Carolyn Bessette Kennedy taking effortless drags while skulking around John F. Kennedy Jr.’s apartment in Ryan Murphy’s FX hit “Love Story” to Jeremy Allen White’s “The Bear” character Carmy’s frequent smoke breaks outside the restaurant, smoking is well and truly back — Surgeon General’s warnings be damned.
“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,” Ashleigh Rodosta, a Gotham-based matchmaker and relationship coach, told The Post. “The post-sex cigarette is also making a comeback.”
Rodosta emphasized that while having a smoke is now back in vogue, how the habit shows up in everyday life has changed in significant ways.
“What’s ironic is that many of these same people are otherwise intensely wellness-oriented — cold plunges, peptides, clean eating, the whole thing,” she continued. “So cigarettes are showing up less as a real lifestyle and more as an occasional indulgence tied to image, mood and social setting.”
Rebecca Reingold, a 30-year-old comedian based in Manhattan, is one of these city-based singles who fancies herself an “occasional” smoker — specifically after she’s had a few glasses of whiskey on the rocks following one of her shows, as she finds it’s an effective way to schmooze with other comedians and influential folks in the entertainment industry.
“(Smoking) is definitely much more prevalent in the comedy world,” Reingold, who typically prefers Camels and American Spirits — or when she’s feeling “frisky,” Vogue Superslims — told The Post. “I think that’s actually what pushed me to do it more frequently. It’s also a great way to network. Cigarette breaks are a really good way to meet people and have a conversation. It’s like the water cooler of the art world.”
Though Reingold admits to poo-pooing smokers when she was younger — even going so far as to cheekily walk by people engaging in the habit and “cough dramatically to let them know it’s disgusting” — she now feels that it’s a choice everyone must make of their own volition.
“We’re all adults, and we were educated as best we could be about the dangers of smoking,” Reingold said. “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!”
For 25-year-old Manhattanite Curt Walker, the subject of smoking was never taboo, having grown up on a tobacco farm in North Carolina. While he believes people absolutely have a choice in whether or not they want to become a smoker — emphasizing that there’s “more than enough science to understand the consequences” — he’s drawn to the element of glamour and sophistication that cigs can add to a night out.
“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.”
“Any chic celebrity or influencer is sharing photos of themselves smoking these days,” Walker continued. “Especially in NYC, all you have to do is go outside to see it. Doormen smoke, patrons at bars, the fashion students over by FIT and everyone in between.”
Walker personally enjoys following the @cigfluencers Instagram account, run by 27-year-old Canadian content creator Jared Oviatt. The page, which Oviatt started in 202, boasts 98.8K followers, who tune in for shots of their favorite celebs and influencers — from Sean Penn at the Golden Globes to Kesha posing in a floor-length fur coat — lighting up and chilling out. In the account’s bio reads the Chapell Roan-inspired tagline, “Your favourite smoker’s favourite smoker,” complete with a cheeky emoji.
“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.”
But Dr. Ben Talei, a Beverly Hills-based plastic surgeon, shared that to rely on skincare products and aesthetic procedures to erase the damage smoking can cause to the face is “very naïve and hopelessly optimistic.”
“Cigarette smoking is very likely one of the worst age accelerants possible,” Talei told The Post. “There is no amount of magic, serums, potions, or vitamins that would reverse the damage done by smoking…Facelifts, fat grafting and any skin treatments are so much less effective because we can’t rely on the patient’s body to heal properly, nor can we rely on their tissues to have good structural integrity. It’s a surgeon’s headache and sometimes a nightmare.”
Fin Fika, a 29-year-old content creator and musician based near LA, understands and appreciates that her penchant for cigarettes may not be the best thing for the short or long term health of her skin, not to mention the rest of her body — but feels that her sense of originality is ultimately what’s most important.
“(Smoking cigarettes) definitely won’t help you fit the traditional beauty standard,” Fika told The Post. “But I’ve spent most of my life hoping to look interesting, rather than perfect or beautiful.”
Fika, who shared that she indulges in about five cigarettes a week, sometimes more when she goes out, enjoys that smoking — rather than vaping — can often lead to new connections, describing the habit as almost a form of meditation.
“You have to intentionally smoke a cigarette,” said Fika. “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.”
Plus, like many who’ve chosen to revamp the habit, she can’t help but feel drawn to the nostalgia of it all.
“I think smoking a cigarette is romanticizable,” Fika continued. “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.”
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