With celebs and influencers glamourizing 'cigs' online, experts are carefully watching smoking trends
asserted
experts → glamourize → trends
Experts say online content glamourizing cigarettes is harmful and no amount of smoking is safe
Dua Lipa in the streets of Italy.
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amount → say → Italy
Singer Clairo snapping selfies.
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Clairo → snap → selfies
These are just a few of the world's biggest celebrities who've recently appeared in dozens of photos on Instagram and TikTok, looking impossibly cool while doing something notoriously unhealthy: smoking cigarettes.
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who → appear → cigarettes
"It's almost like they're glamorizing smoking again," said Carolyn Baglole, an associate professor with McGill University's department of medicine.
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Baglole → glamorize → medicine
But even with celebrities caught puffing and influencers hyping the habit, data suggests tobacco use has long been trending downward.
uncertain
use → catch → habit
Still, if we want it to stay that way, experts say online content glamourizing the habit shouldn't be ignored.
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content → want → habit
Dedicated accounts to smoking culture have popped up online, including @cigfluencers, which boasts more than 100,000 followers on Instagram and posts pictures of celebrities smoking.
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celebrities → pop → pictures
Meanwhile, posts normalizing "cigs" abound online.
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posts → normalize → cigs
Like the one that jokingly declares cigarettes don't count if you smoke them with your morning coffee or overseas.
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you → declare → coffee
In another video, a woman defends influencer Alix Earle for smoking a cigarette with the caption, "Let a girl smoke a cheeky cig!"
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girl → defend → cig
In another, the content creator says cigarettes don't count "if you're in the middle of writing."
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you → say → writing
However, experts warn that this is the kind of behaviour that can lead to addiction.
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that → warn → addiction
This doctor says he's seeing the harms of social media on youth
Health officials trying to tackle massive and 'tragic' use of vapes among teens
"
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officials → say → teens
Nicotine is so highly addictive," said Rob Cunningham, a senior policy analyst with the Canadian Cancer Society.
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Cunningham → say → Society
"A small number of cigarettes can lead to addiction and cravings."
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number → lead → addiction
According to Health Canada, tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of premature death in the country, and can lead to more than 40 debilitating and potentially fatal illnesses, including cancers and heart disease.
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use → accord → cancers
That hasn't stopped some people from posting about trends like "social smoking" — the practice of only smoking with friends or peers — while others even claim that smoking could "cure the loneliness epidemic" or help people make friends.
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people → stop → friends
Though some of these posts may be facetious or played off as jokes, experts told CBC News no amount of smoking is safe.
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amount → play → smoking
"Even smoking socially, you don't want to risk a nicotine addiction," Baglole said.
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Baglole → smoke → addiction
"If that happens and you become a life-long smoker, the risk of developing a chronic disease such as lung cancer, is so much higher."
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risk → happen → cancer
Jared Oviatt is a smoker who runs the @cigfluencers account.
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who → run → account
Despite the popularity of his content, he previously told CBC Life that he doesn't believe we're in a smoking renaissance.
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we → tell → renaissance
“I don’t see the comeback of cigarettes in celebrity culture as a true return to smoking as a mainstream habit,” Oviatt said.
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Oviatt → see → habit
“Are we seeing it more often?
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we → see → it
However, I also think we’re already nearing the peak of that trend.
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we → think → trend
Smoking on a downward trend
Cunningham confirmed that smoking isn't on the rise, at least not yet.
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smoking → smoke → rise
"So far, we have not seen an increase in smoking and that's good," he said.
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he → see → smoking
Recent data from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health shows a significant downward trend between 1999 and 2025.
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data → show → 1999
For students in grades 7-12 in Ontario, smoking tobacco cigarettes decreased from 28.4 per cent in 1999 to 3.5 per cent by 2025.
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cigarettes → decrease → 2025
Drinking among Gen Z adults has gone up, busting the sober myth
New data shows 1 in 3 young Canadians have tried nicotine pouches
According to the federal government, smoking rates have steadily declined across the country.
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rates → go → country
About 300,000 Canadians who smoked in 2023 reported that they quit smoking in 2024, with just 11 per cent of adult Canadians reporting smoking that year.
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cent → smoke → smoking
"We want to keep that trend going downward," Baglole told CBC News.
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Baglole → want → News
"I would hate to see that trend reversed in any way and in any age demographic.
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trend → hate → demographic
Cunningham says the habit damages teeth, skin and causes bad breath.
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habit → say → breath
"It's also very costly once you're addicted," he said.
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he → say → ?
In Canada, a pack of cigarettes can cost anywhere from $14 to $26 Cdn.
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pack → cost → Cdn
U.K. lawmakers approve lifetime ban on sale of cigarettes, vapes to anyone born after 2008
A 'smoke-free generation' tobacco ban is coming to the U.K.
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ban → approve → U.K.
Could it also happen in Canada?
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it → happen → Canada
He also warned that the content on social media that glamourizes smoking is harmful.
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that → warn → smoking
…and 4 more, not listed.
The Aporia
