There was something about watching the world smoke.
Icons like James Dean made it look cool, Audrey Hepburn made it look sensual, Ronald Reagan made it look sophisticated and Bob Dylan made it look artistic.
For the rock age through the ’60s and the ’70s, smoking was a staple of being on stage. Lead musicians went as far as to rest their cigarettes between the strings of their guitar between drags.
Actors smoking cigars and cigarettes in old black-and-white shows and movies was a classy statement for the age period.
Smoking has continued to evolve. In some form, people will always be smoking something. The world isn’t quitting anytime soon.
Starting as a harmless hobby, it became a health issue as research started to come out suggesting it wasn’t just harmful to your health, but was a sure way toward death. Those who continued to smoke grasped onto flimsy safety measures like cigarette filters which dominated the market by 1960. They were a failed belief that people could avoid lung cancer through a small filter between their lips and the cigarette.
According to The Guardian article, “When smoking was cool, cheap, legal and socially acceptable,” by 1995 smoking was banned in most enclosed places of employment. Then, by 2005, less than a quarter of the population smoked cigarettes, which continues to fall.
The number of people who smoke cigarettes is dropping, but the number of people smoking may be increasing.
The first commercial electronic cigarette was created in 2003 and would become the stepping stone to vapes, hookahs, e-cigars, Juuls and disposable e-cigarettes. The clouds of flavors like strawberry, cucumber and mint are commercially a lot more enticing than tar.
This brings up the question of what direction smoking attitudes are going with the continuing age of anti-cigarette ideals and amongst e-cigarettes reaching an all-time high.
Calli Bicknese,’19, a self-described frequent vaper, said that she vapes all day so she uses the 3 mg. of nicotine option so it doesn’t overwhelm her. Her start in vaping was a transition from a habit she had when she was younger.
“I used to smoke cigarettes, I smoked American Spirit Yellows for a long time. I started smoking probably when I was a freshman in high school,” said Bicknese. “My dad owned a body shop and the guys would leave their cigarette packs out so I would steal one out of the pack.”
For a lot of people, the introduction of vaping, e-cigarettes and Juuls helped them transition away from the harmful effects of cigarettes. While vaping still involves inhaling things into your lungs, it doesn’t contain the chemicals and tar that are known to do significant damage to an individual’s health.
However, the attitude toward vaping seems pretty mixed.
“One part of me says it’s more acceptable to smoke cigarettes because there’s a lot of stigma against vaping. A lot of people make fun of it or say that you’re vaping just because you think it’s cool,” said Bickenese. “I think that in a sense it’s more acceptable to smoke cigarettes. That’s what people have been doing for so long, so if you’re going to smoke, just smoke cigarettes.”
The stigma around vaping has a lot to do with millennials and the mixed reasons people have put down cigarettes. While vaping is often a way to get away from smoking, it has become a cultural movement and a hobby. Using electronic cigarettes is not just a method to get away from smoking tobacco cigarettes.
“Vaping has created this community. I know its cheesy, but with the vape tricks, like doing O’s and tornadoes on the table, it’s become a hobby for people more than just smoking… so even if it’s not good for me I’m going to keep doing it because I enjoy the hobby,” said Bicknese.
Nostalgia, however, is a pretty good attack against cigarette smoking. A study from Medical News Today from 2017 showed smokers between 18 and 39 a nostalgic PSA and non-nostalgic PSA and noted their attitudes toward smoking after.
“The researchers explain that nostalgic PSAs increase viewers’ engagement by arousing images of their own treasured memories, which can impact attitudes and behavior. They believe that such PSAs may be useful to help people quit smoking.”
While smoking and quitting are paired together, vaping and e-cigarette companies continue to thrive and the number of people who use it also continues to rise. Cigarette users are susceptible to ads convincing them to quit because in many ways this has become the expectation for smokers. The same isn’t quite there for vaping.
Eighteen-year-old high school student, Arjun Pandey, said he consumes tobacco products regularly, but has been trying to cut back his nicotine intake. He said his start came from tobacco through cigarillos for blunts, which turned into vaping.
Vaping in high school is a continuing conversation for parents and has appeared in the media consistently. Naperville Central High School recently had an event for the community titled “Vaping and Beyond” which targeted the growing increase in nicotine use for young adults specifically in secondary education.
“Often times the bathrooms are packed with kids hitting their vapes so much that people who actually have to go to the bathroom can’t use the stall,” said Pandey. “The classes that graduated before me were never into vaping as much as current high schoolers are.”
An article by Jia Tolentino in The New Yorker said Juuls have a heavy presence in schools. A school district in Pennsylvania went as far as to ban flash drives because of its resemblance to a Juul. Viral accounts like @doit4juul have become a popular way for the company to have a strong social media presence.
“They are populated with a different sort of imagery: a bodybuilder Juuling in a tank top that says ‘Real Men Eat Ass’… a topless college student who has a Juul in her mouth and is wearing a pink hat that says ‘Daddy.’ Teen Juul iconography radiates a dirtbag silliness. Vapes are meme-ready, funny in a way that cigarettes never were,” said Tolentino.
The growing difference between smokers seems to be intent and age. While cigarettes had a cultural presence and popularity years ago, vaping seems to reach a different demographic and serves a new purpose.
Pandey said that teens his age hold a stigma against cigarettes because they’re “dirty and smelly.” However, they receive more nicotine via vapes than a traditional cigarette smoker would.
“I think the trends going around right now are just an example of new-age kids finding ways to rebel against the system because I think there’s a lot of apathy in our generation,” said Pandey. “Nobody seems to agree on anything so I think students are more likely to simply tune it out.”
