The dangers of smoking, including death, are well known but experts say Gen Z is drawn in by the romanticisation of cigarettes on social media.
Warning: This article discusses cigarettes and tobacco use
Robert Spillane slouches on an outside bar stool, his figure illuminated by the poker machines blaring behind him.
He holds a schooner of Hahn in one hand. In the other, a cigarette is clasped between his fingertips.
He flaunts it as he talks, taking long drags during pauses in the conversation.
Spillane isn’t a smoker, but he’s drinking tonight.
“No one’s gonna look down on you if you’re having a cig with a schooner,” he says.
“It just feels like a societal norm to have a smoke while I’m intoxicated.”
Breeanna Starkey sits to his right. She plucks the cigarette from his hand and takes a puff.
“I do feel cool when I’m smoking a cigarette,” she says.
“There’s nothing better than putting that up to your lips, grabbing a lighter and just starting to smoke a ciggie.”
Many young people like Spillane and Starkey are taking up the habit, all seeing the act of smoking "cool".
But why, after decades of research into the harms of smoking tobacco even in moderation, is this generation is eager to light up?
Why is smoking back?
On paper, young Australians are smoking less than ever. According to the 2025 National Drug Strategy Household Survey, around 90 per cent of those aged 18-24 have never touched a cigarette.
But if you’ve been on social media or ventured into a club or pub within the last six months, these statistics don't seem accurate.
Rather than being viewed as a cancer-causing killer, cigarettes are seen as signifiers of coolness and they are promoted online by celebrities and influencers.
Emily Jenkinson, the lead for tobacco control at Cancer Council NSW, says this is one of the main factors behind the increase in youth smoking, along with increased accessibility and a shift away from vaping.
"Smoking has had this rapid reemergence in pop culture,” she says. “It's definitely not subtle, it's basically everywhere we look.”
“Young people are pretty susceptible to their social and environmental influences, so when they see smoking in the content that they're consuming, it can influence them to take it up.”
Smoking has a major presence on social media platforms, where hotness is sometimes associated with smoking a cig.
Content creator Jared Oviatt, started his social media account Cigfluencers in November 2021 after noticing the perceptions of smoking start to change.
The account, with over 100,000 followers, features photos of celebrities and influencers smoking, but those who don’t meet Oviatt’s "cigfluencer" requirements aren’t featured.
“Someone who’s hot and cool,” Oviatt says of those featured. “There’s a degree of taste associated with who gets featured on the feed.”
Oviatt's account is part of a growing online niche establishing a connection between being hot and smoking cigarettes.
Experts like Jenkinson are aware of this social media romanticisation, but she says it’s difficult to stop.
“In Australia, our law completely bans all forms of tobacco advertising on television and in broadcast media,” she says.
“However, these media portrayals of smoking act as a form of brandless product placement, that can bypass our laws, which leaves that loophole and means they can skirt around [it].”
Veering away from vapes
Smoking cigarettes has become more fashionable as popular culture sees a so-called vibe shift away from vapes.
“Vaping has gained this view that it’s seen as cringe or uncool,” Oviatt says.
“So if you’re a cool person or you wanna be seen as a cool person, you’re probably gonna pick up a cigarette before you start vaping.”
As head of Cancer Council’s Generation Vape project, Jenkinson’s work focuses on understanding these trends, their causes and the link between smoking and vaping.
“Young people who vape are actually five times as likely to go on to smoke cigarettes,” she says. “So I guess that really just confirms that vaping acts as a gateway or a bit of an on-ramp to smoking cigarettes.”
She points to the increased accessibility of tobacco as vapes become more expensive and harder to buy due to nationwide reforms.
“There’s some gaps in our enforcement, which means that illegal tobacco or illegal cigarettes are easier to access.”
When an average packet of cigarettes costs between $40 and $50, it’s difficult to understand how young people can afford to smoke during the current cost of living crisis.
The Illicit Tobacco and E-cigarette Commissioner’s Report(2024-25) estimated that the illicit market made up approximately 55 per cent of the total Australian tobacco market, with a value of $5.6 billion.
That means more than half of all cigarettes smoked by Australians are illegal.
Generation Vape studies by the Cancer Council also show that 80 per cent of tobacco products purchased by young people aged 18-24 were likely illicit.
These statistics highlight the recent growth of the illicit tobacco market and show that price is often the driving factor pushing young adults towards making these illegal purchases.
“When a vape is 60 bucks where I can buy two packs of durries [cigarettes] for $24, it seems a lot smarter to just buy the two packs of durries,” Spillane says.
Stress relief
Another reason for the uptick in cigarette smoking is the perceived stress relief nicotine may provide.
“Sometimes you just need a smoke,” Spillane says.
“People are struggling to afford a mortgage and stuff,” he says. “We can’t all just go run a 20K marathon to de-stress. Sometimes you just need that nicotine hit.”
Oviatt has noticed this perception among his followers, that young people are picking up smoking as a way to cope.
“One thing I've talked about a lot is the degree of nihilism especially post-COVID and now with AI blowing up, the world is coming crashing down so one cigarette's not gonna kill me,” he says.
"It's also like an extension of [the] 'little treat' culture," he says. "If you have one cig every six months or you've had a tough week, it's not so bad."
But Jenkinson highlights the flaw in this thinking.
“While it can provide a little short-term high, the low of that nicotine withdrawal can actually exacerbate mental health and anxiety symptoms,” she says.
“There's a risk that young people could get into that cycle of poor mental health and then be using a dangerous product as a coping mechanism, when really the best thing you can do for your mental health is to quit or never take it up in the first place.”
But do young people actually want what's best?
The reality is that smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in Australia, killing over 24,000 people a year and dramatically increasing the risk of 23 major diseases, according to the ANU.
But while Spillane and Starkey are among many young people who understand these risks, they simply don’t care.
“I feel like everybody understands the harms of smoking,” Spillane says.
“Like you've grown up seeing people affected by smoking and the cancers that it causes and the advertisements against smoking.”
“You know it's gonna harm you, but you're like 'What's the point?”
What now?
So while the consequences of smoking remain the same, what can be done to stop young people from taking it up?
Jenkinson believes reinforcing existing measures would be a start.
"It's mass media campaigns that have a really, really big impact on how people view smoking,” she says.
”Campaigns can prevent people from taking up smoking, they can encourage people to quit, and they can also just denormalize smoking as a behaviour."
