I don't smoke cigarettes often and I definitely wouldn't say I'm addicted, however, I do always enjoy having one whenever I drink. Fortunately for me, I drink several times a week so I get to smoke cigarettes all the time without getting addicted.
It's also not the attitude that reflects the situation. It's not the existential threat that it is often talked about as. It will most likely not end you before cigarettes, especially if you're not in a third world country. It will just make your life slightly worse on average. The doomer mindset is just a product of quarantine + recession. Plus a large portion of gen z is still in their teen years, where hormones make many depressed
Can definitely confirm anecdotally that a lot of early 20s people around me socially smoke, without being daily smokers; quite a few of my friends smoke when we drink
Unironically, I’ve had many conversations with other Gen Z-ers about how embarrassing it is to vape and how smoking cigarettes looks a lot cooler. I don’t think we’re the generation that brings back smoking, but the logic isn’t far off
That endpoint thing with cigs is legit: I can count how many darts I burn pretty easily, but who knows how much of an elfbar I sucked down any given day.
Even if you smoke an elfbar 20 times more its still healthier. Nicotine itself isn't that dangerous. Its all the compounds from burning leaves that cause serious problems.
Yeah it's to easy to get to the point where you just don't feel it that much, and it can end up costing way more than cigs. If I buy a pack of American spirits, it's like 10 bucks and lasts me a week or more, but vapes can be like 20 and last the same amount of time. Maybe it gets burnt, or maybe I just finish it, but it ends up costing more per month
Not just that, I can rip a disposable anywhere. It is literally glued to my hand. I have to make a conscience effort to smoke a cig. I can’t do it indoors and it is much easier to justify leaving the pack in the car rather than the vape not in my pocket cause my crippling nicotine addiction makes me feel like I’m missing something when I don’t have it.
Lowkey had the same, especially because its easier to vape inside, the flavor is nicer etc. I just kept upping the nicotine amount too, began getting headaches if i didnt vape for a while. I still wanna get off cigarettes but I felt vaping was worse for me.
here in melb, australia, theres two common attitudes (as a 19yo who goes clubbing regularly and knows, at least i think, a lot of people). one is kids who smoke or vape only on weekends/when drunk, but rarely during the week. the other is kids who want to get off the vapes. this is because tobacco in a cigarette is meant to be 2-3% nicotine, and a vape is 8-12%. no idea if this is true, i dont smoke or vape, but i do smoke mix (tobacco and weed). the other thing is you can vape constantly indoors, whereas to have a cigarette you have to go somewhere dedicated and hide the smell.
As a person who hangs out with nicotine addicted people, a lot of what drives smoking in our group is the social aspect of it. Everyone steps outside to have a cigarette break every hour when we hang out, it’s like another thing we do. I would never smoke, but I live in central California so my lungs are fucked anyways
The only person my age (20s) I met that smokes cigarettes said that she did it to stop vaping as well. She didn't give the same reason, but it was something to the effect of vapes are more addictive than cigarettes. I've heard a lot from other Gen Z students who go abroad from the U.S. that they'll smoke when in Europe but don't smoke when they're in the U.S, because it is so acceptable to smoke in Europe. I still know more Gen Z who vape rather than smoke cigarettes, but the idea of smoking becoming more in vogue sounds right (or, as the article suggests, less out of vogue).
I don't think sales are up with genz because a lot of them are pretty young like genz is everyone between 12 - 27, but as someone who's in high school, I guarantee you that everyone I knew in middle school and high school think cigarettes are cool as fuck compared to vapes. vapes are just easier to get than a cig
Yeah I doubt sales are up because I think also, there's a lot more occasional smokers and a lot fewer pack a day smokers. Like a pack lasts me easily a month or two at least and that's if I'm really overdoing it, and I never smoke at home or alone only socially. Whereas most of the older smokers I know smoke daily and a lot more heavily.
Big A being the cigarette streamer is the best thing that could have happened in 2024. The Smokathon is setting itself to be absolutely stacked this year!
I think smoking looks cool, but due to the health effects I think it’s not actually cool. I feel like if possible, someone should just make like fake cigarettes where you don’t inhale any smoke but looks the same as cigarettes.
@@BenDodson-id8em I’m pretty sure they just use Tobacco and Nicotine free cigarettes which I think means they look the same as regular cigarettes but aren’t addicting at all. You still have to inhale smoke though, so while you won’t get addicted to them and they provide no pain relief at all, you probably shouldn’t use them at all. I was thinking more like a small machine that creates smoke but you don’t inhale so that you get 0 side effects other than inhaling smoke.
One thing that actually made me enjoy smoking was going to Japan. You can smoke in a lot of bars, and it was super nice going to the neighborhood izakaya and having a smoke and a drink, and talking with the regulars. It also was a great way to practice my Japanese, since none of them spoke English. It actually made it pretty enjoyable. I'm definitely hoping to quit nicotine eventually though. I just wish I had other stuff going on that would make it more practical. As it is, I just work and sit at home, and having nicotine helps with that. But if I have stuff to do and a life outside of that, I usually find it way easier to not smoke or vape
Yeah i started smoking after living in japan as a social thing. And another factor is, they're dirt cheap as well and can be bought anywhere. One pack for like 4$.
This got me actually curious, the first article, from Summer 2023, states that here in Germany nearly 40% of all people between 18 and 24 are smoking. They didn't make a differentiation between cigs and vapes. My youngest sister turns 17 in a few months, she also got on the smoke grindset through her dumbass friends, even though she saw how stupid it is to smoke on our Dad, who's also on it for I don't even know how many decades.
@@greenoftreeblackofblue6625 I guess yes, but I'm not sure. I honestly have no idea how well vapes are researched today. Some people claim it's less harmful than cigs, but I doubt that's really the case
@@greenoftreeblackofblue6625 Youre not inhaling the same shit, they both contain nicotine but thats about it. The really harmful part about cigarette isnt the nicotine though, its the tar
I used to smoke cigs because I wanted to get along with tuff classmates and it was kinda a social thing, then I switched off to vaping because in uni majority of people were vaping instead (id say out of 25 people at least 23 were vaping). I shit you not, adhd causes me to fidget with my pod a lot and vape in lowkey terrifying amounts each hour, my fucking blood pressure is giving up at times due to how much I was vaping, so I sold that shit and got back to cigs that let me limit myself a lot better. What a fucking predicament
Lol I started vaping in the military to stop smoking, because the smoke pits are the social spot on a military base, and then I realized the vapes were way way stronger than the cigarettes so I swapped back.
5:00 honestly that's why I can't vape because vaping just feels like having a whole 2 liter coke bottle on the table that you keep drinking little by little throughout the afternoon compared to a single 8 oz that you can finish and maybe open another one a few hours later. It just feels intuitive to stop when the bottle is empty and there's an endpoint so you end up consuming less.
I agree with chatter that a lot more other young people I know are smoking occasionally or socially but a lot fewer are actually daily smokers or severely addicted. Me as well, I smoke at hostels when I travel or if I go out clubbing, it's almost entirely social. I will very rarely if ever smoke at home, so a pack lasts me months. Completely anecdotal and it might just be social circles or whatever but it's probably more common than not that the people I meet have no problem with occasionally bumming a cigarette or two at a party just for the vibe but most don't make it a regular habit. When I first started smoking I started to realize I was getting addicted and stopped before it became a problem, suffered for a week and now I know my limit and never overdo it. I think it comes down to 1) general nihilism, and lack of concern for the future that's already bleak anyway, 2) more awareness of the dangers of tobacco and addiction leading to more moderation, and 3) the irreverence of knowing something is bad and then doing it anyway because lmao who cares nothing matters anyway kind of speaks to the general mood of the generation and what is considered cool? In the sense that irony, apathy, and insincerity have become kind of the norm for millenials and gen z. It's the generations who constantly joke about killing themselves after all. There's also the social aspect of like, man it's so hard to connect with people anymore or make friends, but whenever I want to meet new people I'll just go to the smoking area and ask for a light and suddenly there's like a whole community aspect. To the point where I usually advise people who don't smoke to just buy a lighter and a pack of cigs to carry around and give out to people when they go out or travel because letting someone bum a cigarette is one of the fastest ways to make a new friend. I think we have a relatively healthy relationship with alcohol and tobacco and drugs for the most part compared to previous generations tbh, our biggest vice and problem is clearly phone and internet addiction.
@@nachinis can be or not I guess. I have been doing it this way for years and it's never been a problem. I think as long as you only smoke socially, it's self-limiting. It becomes a problem if you start smoking at home or work imo when there's no occasion for it. But it's different for everyone I'm sure, like plenty of people are capable of using moderation with alcohol and drugs and some can't for whatever reason. Doesn't mean it's not possible to drink without becoming an alcoholic.
I think there's also a curiosity factor. I wanted to try alcohol and hated it. White wine gives me an instant headache. After trying what my step dad drinks, I don't get how the fuck he goes through like 4-5 beers and at least 7 cigs a day. Then claim he's not addicted. He also splits his sleep into 2 parts smoking in between. I'm surprised his ass isn't dead if I'm gonna be honest. 😂 I'm like "HOW DO YOU LIVE LIKE THIS!?" it seems miserable bro. He doesn't even want to change it, it just seems so weird that that's where all his enjoyment comes from. Drunk Zelda after work every day. And then black out drunk on the weekends.
@@soasertsuseither way I don't want tacbacco in me so I'll stick to weed. And I know weed culture is dependent on the state you are in so sometimes it's limiting what circle you can get but I choose it over cigarettes.
Smoking cigarettes is becoming cool because of how lame vaping has become, like my 35 year old coworker who is a mother vapes, thats how you know ciggs are coming back at least ironically Essentially its just a fashion trend and the 2 will keep switching forever and ever until we die due to the lung damage that both have caused us
as a programmer alot of programmers smoke but they feel werid if you go out with them if you dont smoke to be social so what i used to do is i bought a vape and 0% nic juice and i would smoke that also carrying a lighter is also a good way to start a conversation since alot of smokers tend to always loose lighters for some odd reason
another trick if you dont want to be asoicated with vaping is herbal/prop smokes still prbably bad but not as bad there what actors actually smoke in moives ussualy. ( you may want to still carry some real smokes because people like to also forget cigarettes also a good conversation starter)
Yep, I always tell people who want to make friends to buy a pack of cigs and a lighter and toss it in their bag. You don't have to smoke it even, but if you let someone bum a cig or borrow a light when you're out clubbing or traveling or whatever, you pretty much just made a friend if you're able to keep a conversation going.
4:10 when i was younger i started smoking just to get breaks. I never inhaled (these lungs are for a different smoke) and if you wernt actually smoking, your manager would call you out on lying. I went through a entire thing with facial hair too.
I took it as I was just getting older and that people start smoking around 20 these days, but way more of my friends smoke now as opposed to 4 years ago where it was exclusively vaping. I think it’s easy to vape in high school and hide it from parents so I guess those people are just picking up cigs
I'm 25, gen z, been smoking since i was 14 or so, quit 2 years ago and swapped to vaping and I can concur that I feel much more unhealthy, maybe it's the longevity of 11 years of inhaling garbage chemicals nobody should be inhaling but also with vaping i never stop. i take a hit from my vape at least once every 20 minutes, if i don't know where my vape is i immediately drop what i'm doing and search for it, i swear this stuff is insane.
It's funny you brought up the smoke break thing. In the military unless what you are doing is so incredibly time sensitive, you are always allowed a smoke break. For many, it might be the only time you can catch a break
I relate to the guy that said he quit vaping to take up smoking. Both fill you with this sense of self-disdain, but chain smoking is a lot harder and more expensive to do than chain vaping, so it makes you slow down a bit more. Plus I don't really like cigarettes when I'm sober so that helps too.
I hadn't smoked a cig once in my life, but I vaped once. And it felt... embarrassing and humiliating tbh. From my POV, smoking a cig, is cooler, because of the cultural aspect of it, it's normalized to the point where I wouldn't classify it as cringe. Like, I will still regard someone as sub human for smoking around others. But vaping? That's the stuff 10 year olds do. Who cares if it has nicotine in it, it feels childish and insecure. You paid for this cotton candy flavored poison with your mommys credit card? That's cute Timmy, now go to bed, it's past your bedtime.
Yeah I feel like this too, cigarettes are associated with a lot of character archetypes like cowboys, mob bosses, or just general cool guys in movies and shows. But vaping? The coolest you’ll get is maybe like a vape shop owner but that’s it.
Exactly same however where im from vaping got even more normalized. When I was at uni lowkey 23 out of 25 people were vaping, we would all go to the bathroom to tap that shit after every class which is what hooked me up personally. But it doesnt make me feel any cool, just lets me socialize better with my peers persay.
I don't smoke, but when I was working in a kitchen I some of the leadership changed start joining my colleagues for their smoke breaks in the heat of weekend rushes. We used that time to reevaluate and prioritise shit to be done and also calm down and reduce tension between us. The breaks are 100% good for one's wellbeing. Wish that more employers could see the value in that without encouraging smoking.
So many people at my college smoke cigarettes regularly which was a huge shock because no one did it when I was in high school I think it’s gonna be big soon
When I was 20 I used to only smoke weed then I went to rehab and I picked up smoking there because that was the only thing that was allowed and almost required because everyone smoked there staff and clients. They didn’t allow sugary drinks because people can be addicted to it but nicotine was completely fine. 25 now still haven’t quit either
As a UK frog cigs are popular as ever, rolling tobacco is more affordable than straights (pre-rolled cigs eg marboro reds), however vapes are EVERYWHERE
I feel we were on track to be the first generation to tell tabacco companies to pound sand. Like cigs were so fucking lame. But then we made it taste like cotton candy.
I will say, that as a 19 year old cigarette smoker, I am way more careful with smoking than like people 2 generations before me. I never smoke at home, i only do it if i’m out with other people. That means there can be like a week between cigarettes and that has made me have more control. I go through one pack maybe every 2 months or so but i don’t feel any obligation to smoke, since it’s more on my terms i guess.
Can also confirm, I'm 22 and several people in multiple friend groups smoke sporadically but not regularly - a cigarette or two while out at the bar, and never elsewhere - and often more for the aesthetic than anything. It seems exceptionally stupid to me to tempt fate with a nicotine addiction over a look, but it's definitely happening.
With my sister it was taking the edge off the stress of university which ended up turning real bad. Thankfully a really bad chest infection means she can't handle them.
Every1 in my college has normalized smoking socially bc its the easiest way to consume cannabis that you got less than legally. as a side effect, smoking cigs doesn't have nearly as much of a stigma now, where vaping definitely does. Def think that would change if we lowered the age for weed to 18 so people can get gummies more easily
The difference between people who vape and people who smoke cigarettes is that people who vape will do anything to justify while you can tell a cigarette smoker they will die and they will just be like “I know”
We “gen z” call our ciggs “glizzys” me and my buds would light up in the bathroom during English. “Yo Brandon you got the gliz?” Man those were some times
It's so sad. My roommates smoke cigarettes to "destress". Their stress is that they need to pay rent. Rent is 450. They spend at least $350 on drugs, alcohol, and clothes each month (yes, they buy new clothes MONTHLY). They get food stamps and money from their families and make decent money at their jobs that they love quitting. Yet, they purposely only pay half their portion for rent each month and constantly struggle to pay the actual bills. But I'm the ass for working a full time job and pointing out how they could easily better their lives...
As an older genz (mid 20s) it makes sense that a lot of younger genz:ers (late teens) would notice more people start smoking around them since smoking is a lot more common when you approach adult age. I didn't see a lot of people "party smoking" when I was 12 but that suddenly increased a lot when I got to the end of high school.
Calling it, Next trend is going to be flameless cigarettes. Did a focus group survey where I had to rate ads based on “Heated cigarettes.” It’s basically just cigarettes put inside vape juice warmers where the thing is heated enough to produce vapor but not enough to “Burn” so it’s supposed to be way less toxic (Im not convinced it’s any better but it will be the next big thing)
Those are big in japan. Absolutely abhor them, they smell so unbelievably bad like way worse than regular cigs. I'm an occasional smoker and even then those things disgust me. I tried it once because I thought it might be healthier, and instantly binned the entire pack, and I still gag when someone uses one. I hate vapes too but I'd rather blow through an entire sickly sweet fruity vape than those things, they're the worst of both worlds.
My take is that cigarettes look and feel cool, while vapes just look fucking stupid. I don’t do either, but if cigarettes weren’t so disastrously unhealthy and expensive, I would smoke for the aesthetic of it.
Vapes replace cigarettes -> Gen z get hooked on affordable disposable vapes -> disposable vapes are banned -> gen z turn to cigarettes for nicotine fix.
As an 18 year old, I went on a school trip/summer vacation to Italy and half of the people there with me (mostly within a year of my age) were going through a pack or two a day, smoking is coming back. Not me though I just got drunk like a normal person.
Cigarettes really are cool now for real. The other day I saw a pack of marb lights wearing sunglasses and a leather jacket while riding a motorcycle and smoking an even smaller cigarette.
Snus is the tobacco version and nicotine puches is the white synthetic version. My guess is that the nicotine pouches will destroy your gums but they havent been out long enough to know yet.
nicotine itself doesn't cause cancer, the problems with tobacco products are when plant matter is burned it creates carcinogens, even snus that is with sun-dried tobacco is much healthier than snus made with fire-dried tobacco, nicotine pouches have only been found to cause mild irritation of the gums that goes away when you stop and that's why zyn doesn't need to have any health warnings on the pack besides the one that says nicotine is addictive as per the FDA
