Smoking

Story Stream

Donald Trump, the Smokers’ President January 08, 2025

You’re not supposed to inhale the smoke from cigars. Some have up to 25 times more nicotine than a single cigarette. But that’s what I was doing with the ones that were sent to me by Michael Knowles. So I felt a little lightheaded as the Daily Wire c...

Harmony Korine Says Hollywood Is Starting to Crumble September 02, 2024

Harmony Korine doubled down on his thoughts about the current state of the film industry at a Venice press conference on Saturday, saying that we’re “starting to see Hollywood crumble creatively” because it’s “so locked in on convention.”As he puffed...

Stolen Moments September 02, 2024

I’m in Trisha’s in Soho again, perched on a stool in the tiny basement-level smoking area with two dozen people crammed in around me. My friend is an hour late but it’s the sort of place where you can turn up and talk to strangers, provided you have ...

No, Smoking Isn’t Back August 14, 2024

Is smoking having a renaissance? At her recent birthday party, brat du jour Charli XCX was gifted a bouquet chaotically arranged with cigarettes. Meanwhile in Paris, the Olympic golfer Charley Hull was prevented by le woke mob from enjoying her custo...

Sad People Who Smoke: On Mary Robison July 15, 2024

I am reading Mary Robison and thinking about smoking. Specifically, I’m rereading Robison’s 1979 debut, Days, a collection of short stories about sad people who smoke. There’s Charlie Nunn, the retired teacher who smokes while supine on the rug, lett...

Hints of an Unknown Reality July 02, 2024

Sebastian Junger was in seemingly good health. For those who have read Junger’s books or are familiar with his work as a war reporter, this would only confirm one’s impressions: Junger has always been a man of action, interested in the heroic and adv...

Nobody Wants This From Will Smith July 02, 2024

The Will Smith image-rehabilitation tour ramped up over the weekend with the release of “You Can Make It,” a stormy gospel rap tune featuring Philadelphia singer-songwriter Fridayy (DJ Khaled’s “God Did,” Lil Baby’s “Forever”) and Ye’s Sunday Service...

On the Great British Smoking Ban April 19, 2024

I wonder, I wonder how the campaigners at Action on Smoking and Health feel this morning. Their mission to kill off the dreaded cigarette is all but accomplished.No doubt those righteous souls celebrated the passage of prime minister Sunak's petty sm...

Lauren Oyler Wishes You’d Fact-Check Your Reviews April 10, 2024

I first discovered Lauren Oyler, as many did, when I read her scathing review of Jia Tolentino’s essay collection Trick Mirror in LRB. Tolentino was a writer I felt got too much credit for making facile observations, and I whispered as much to other ...

The Secret Shame of Smoking Moms April 08, 2024

I wish I could say that I ever tried to hide my smoking from my children, but the reality is that I couldn’t, because I was around them all the time and I also smoked all the time. When I switched to vaping after about a year into my midlife relapse ...