Is smoking really back?
Sorry to disappoint. Plus: The Quince growth chart revealed, and seven years (!) of The New Consumer.
Hello hello! It’s Dan Frommer, back with The New Consumer.
Last weekend, on March 21, The New Consumer turned seven years old. It’s been a while since I’ve reflected much about the site/newsletter/business itself — who has the time?! But I want to say THANK YOU for supporting my work; for reading and replying; for asking me to speak at your events and offsites; for hiring me on advisory projects; for sharing my slides and charts; for making this whole thing possible.
This continues to be the best job I’ve ever had, and I’m more excited about the year ahead than I have been in a while.
If there’s one thing I’m most proud of from the past few years, it’s the growth of my Consumer Trends research series with Coefficient Capital — easily the most “me” thing I’ve done with The New Consumer, and maybe the most successful thing I’ve created since helping start Business Insider 19 years ago. We plan to publish four main reports again this year, plus a new micro report — stay tuned. And I’m working on making it easier for you to browse the archives and get more use out of all that research and data.
In the meantime, the best way to support my work is to become a member, add colleagues by upgrading to a team plan, or reach out about speaking, consulting, or brand partnerships. Thank you again!
“Cigarettes are back!” the New York Post has declared.
“From trays filled with cigarettes at the Vanity Fair Oscar’s Party to Kylie Jenner smoking on the mag’s latest cover,” Allison Lax wrote last week, “…smoking is well and truly back — Surgeon General’s warnings be damned.”
This has been coming up more in conversation: After all that wellness posturing, are young people really smoking?!
On a mass scale, no.
In mid-2025, 11% of Americans said they had smoked a cigarette in the past week, tied for the lowest percentage ever, and down by nearly half from a decade ago, according to Gallup, which has been conducting this survey for more than 80 years. That percentage has been in decline since the 1950s. And while it moves a little year to year, the overall trendline is that fewer people are smoking, not more.
The smoking rate is even lower among young Americans, both in comparison to young people in the past and to older consumers today, according to Gallup’s polling.
