Medical professionals are pushing back hard after a wave of young smokers began claiming cigarettes are the healthier choice.
Everest Simmons, 26, a Los Angeles resident, has become one of the most visible voices in the viral trend after her TikTok video documenting her switch from vaping to cigarettes racked up 4.2 million views and over 650,000 likes. She told The Post she first picked up cigarettes at age 13 before moving to vaping in her 20s when JUUL exploded in popularity.
“When I was vaping, one-third of the breaths I was taking were hitting my vape,” Simmons recalled. “I noticed it becoming harder to catch my breath on walks or hikes. My skin looked duller, and my eyes looked dull.”
Simmons said her breaking point came after she fractured a bone in her hand. Six weeks passed without healing, and her doctor explained that nicotine constricts blood vessels, restricting circulation and stalling recovery. She tossed her vapes but chose traditional cigarettes over a nicotine patch and a doctor-approved quit plan.
“At my next checkup, I had significant healing,” Simmons recalled. “I’m not saying cigarettes are healthy, but people’s relationship with cigarettes is more sustainable than with a vape.”
Simmons said her brain fog lifted and her energy returned after quitting vapes for cigarettes. She also claimed her lung capacity improved significantly — along with her social life.
“Vaping is isolating — everyone sits in corners with their own device,” Simmons explained. “Cigarettes bring people together. Someone steps onto the porch, others follow, and suddenly you’re having real conversations without phones.”
She is far from alone in preaching the supposed benefits of regular smokes on TikTok. Mollie Fraser posted her “controversial opinion” that cigarettes are healthier than vapes, and thousands of young smokers agreed in the comments, framing it as organic versus chemical. One user wrote, “I never woke up 15 times a night to hit a cigarette,” Another added, “Vapes probably started out being a healthier alternative but the convenience and how discreet it is made a lot of people’s addictions much worse.”
Vlogger Cora Hamilton went further in another video, declaring cigarettes “spiritually healthy.” One fan agreed, saying her cigarette break was a moment to “touch grass.”
A 22-year-old New Yorker, an HR associate who asked to remain anonymous to avoid parental discovery, told The Post that cigarettes’ inconvenience actually works in their favor. “I actually think [cigarettes] are low-key better,” he said, “because you have the shame of smoking a cigarette, but you can vape sneakily, which leads you to consuming more nicotine.”
The trend arrives as tobacco stocks hit five-year highs. Philip Morris International has climbed more than 100% over the past five years, while British American Tobacco has gained nearly 73%.
Dr. Carol Eisenstat, a board-certified physician and Medical Director of Line Eraser M.D. In New Jersey, told The Post the idea that cigarettes are a healthier alternative to vaping is “concerning.”
“In my opinion, the most troubling aspect of this trend is the potential confusion between nicotine exposure and overall health risk,” Eisenstat shared. “A vape may deliver more nicotine than a cigarette in certain circumstances, but that does not make the cigarette healthier.”
Eisenstat emphasized that nicotine drives addiction, but the combustion of tobacco carries a substantial “burden of disease” that vapes don’t. “Although vaping is not harmless, cigarette smoking generally exposes the body to a substantially greater burden of toxic chemicals,” she explained. “You’re essentially replacing one nicotine delivery system with another, while introducing the well-established dangers of combustible tobacco.”
Dr. Sylvie Stacy, MD, MPH, an addiction medicine specialist, agreed that cigarettes are in no way a healthier alternative because they are combustible. “The vast majority of disease and death from smoking comes from combustion,” Stacy shared. “It’s not the nicotine component itself. When you light dried plant matter on fire and inhale the smoke, you draw in a lot of harmful chemicals, tar, and carbon monoxide into your lungs.”
Stacy acknowledged that nicotine vapes on the market today pack significantly higher amounts of nicotine than cigarettes. Still, she said, it doesn’t make either option safe. “Vaping does have risks – particularly nicotine dependence and lung irritation,” Stacy said. “But it certainly doesn’t make sense to switch to cigarettes to lessen those risks.”
Rebecca Boone, a licensed counselor specializing in addiction recovery, told The Post that smokers tend to have the vape “live in their pocket” and use it as stress relief after an email, in the car, while scrolling and before bed. “It becomes an unconscious decision, while going outside and lighting a cigarette forces a beginning and end,” she explained.
Boone warned against mistaking this ritual for being less addicted or making a healthier decision. “If stress happens, nicotine follows, relief happens, and the brain learns that sequence again,” she told The Post. “The packaging has changed but the lesson hasn’t.”
The viral claims have spread across multiple platforms. On TikTok, one youngster framed cigarettes as the “plant-based alternative” for vaping. On Reddit, Gen Z members actively debate whether cigarettes might actually beat disposable vapes. Instagram accounts like @cigfluencer continue to promote smoking culture. Ironically, many Zoomer smokers said cigarettes were their gateway to vaping — and now they’re reversing course just as tobacco stocks surge.
The Post spoke to multiple young smokers who said cigarettes have been better for them than vaping, though they asked to remain anonymous because they didn’t want their parents to discover they had started smoking.
Philip Morris International has stated it is working to phase out cigarettes, though its smoke-free product lines continue to drive revenue growth.