A Reemerging Trend Among Gen-Z: Cigarettes are Cool Again

A smoker holds a cigarette. (Dreamstime/TNS)

Picture a random bar in the downtown of some suburb in Chicagoland. It’s dark, the streets are quiet, and not even cars are passing by. The air is brisk, cold, and feels sharp on the face. No one knows what time it is, but conversation is making room for a smoke break.

The group of young adults makes its way outside, onto the sidewalk in front of the bar they’ve settled with for the night. Those who are participating are taking out their spirits, or Marlboros, or Camels, and lighting up. 

I attended high school from 2015-2019, and throughout that time frame, vaping got really popular. I can still smell the mango Juul pods when I think about my old high school. So, I found it completely fascinating that all of these people, around my age, are smoking now.

Is this rise in popularity for cigarettes due to the amount that we’re seeing it in our media again? Models, actors, musicians, singers, directors, influencers, politicians, even… I’m noticing people in the public eye being a lot less ashamed about their nicotine habits. 

Are habits changing? Are people changing their preferred source of nicotine? Or are people simply being more open about their habits?

I looked for the data. According to both Gallup.com and the American Lung Association, the percentage of people smoking and vaping is still consistently declining. Which is a good thing overall. 

However, when asking a collective of individuals who regularly use nicotine products what their preferred source of nicotine is, the answer was primarily cigarettes. 

I have a few theories as to why. First, the price for vapes/vape products has been increasing very rapidly over the last five years. So individuals who have consistently vaped could be switching to cigarettes. 

Second, every person in America knows how dangerous it is to smoke cigarettes. There have been countless studies on the long-term effects that smoking cigarettes has on the human body.

Vaping, however, hasn’t been around long enough for researchers to collect enough data to conclude what the long-term effects of vaping are. So, folks who have vaped in the past, but don’t necessarily want to quit using nicotine, could be switching to cigarettes because at least they know the health risks they are facing. 

Third, a lot of people in Gen Z are now becoming the age where they are legally allowed to go out to bars, and they are now legally allowed to buy nicotine products in the U.S. This new availability for people to access these products could be contributing to the popularity of cigarettes in young adults. 

Fourth, if Gen Z are out at the bars, where other people are also commonly smoking, the likelihood of them also participating in smoking cigarettes is very high. So, I think alcohol consumption could also be adding to the popularity of cigarettes. 

At the end of the day, as the data has shown, the overall popularity of cigarettes and nicotine products is consistently declining. It is interesting, though, that there was a time period where it seemed every single person our age owned a Juul, or a Suorin Air, or even a freakin box mod… and now this same age group is switching over to cigarettes. 

I guess we’ll see where this goes in a couple of years.