So...Are Cigarettes Really Back?

Don't judge me, but my favorite trend on the internet right now is the whole notion that "cigarettes are back." Women aligning their chakras with a smoke and a cocktail, girls lighting up and simply not giving a f*ck, comment sections full of people saying how refreshing it is to see someone rebelling against the optimizing, just for a second.

Even Gwyneth Paltrow deadpanned on Good Hang with Amy Poehler that when she's 87, she's going to start smoking again — which, honestly, is the most relatable thing Gwyneth Paltrow has ever said.

But are cigarettes actually back? Not really. According to the CDC, only about 10% of U.S. adults currently smoke, down from over 40% in the 1960s, and women have been leading the charge to quit faster than anyone else. So no, we are not lighting up en masse. This is not a movement; it's a mood.

And I think I understand the mood.

Yes, we know cigarettes cause cancer. Yes, they impact fertility and accelerate aging and do approximately zero good things for the human body — nobody's arguing otherwise. But I think what's really happening here is a pressure-release valve, a collective, slightly unhinged exhale from women who are exhausted by the never-ending performance of being "well."

So when someone lights a cigarette on camera and looks genuinely unbothered, what people are responding to isn't the cigarette. It's the idea that you could just exist in your body for a hot minute without running a full diagnostic on it (which, if you've spent any time in the wellness space lately, honestly sounds like a vacation). 

Nobody's actually advocating for smoking. But if the alternative is stressing yourself into a cortisol spiral trying to live forever, you start to wonder: would a martini really kill you? Probably not... and sometimes that's enough.