If you’re throwing a party and want downtown’s new It girl, Meg Superstar Princess, to show up, a couple of things will attract her.
“Anywhere I can smoke inside, I will go,” Meg, 25, told The Post. “Places that allow you to smoke inside feel more luxurious.”
With marijuana now legal in New York City, plain old tobacco seems to be the new taboo — and retro in a way that’s appealing to a younger generation already embracing vinyl LPs, vintage clothing, and flip phones.
The new cigarette brand Hestia, which bills itself as being made from “naked, wild, tobacco,” is seemingly cashing in on that market — getting into the mouths and hands of Gen Z tastemakers such as Meg, fashion influencer (and a rumored ex-flame of Kourtney Kardashian) Luka Sabbat and the hyper-pop musician Slay Lover Boy.
Approved by the FDA last year — and the first new cigarette to get approval in 15 years — Hestias were handed out at the Little Italy restaurant Grotta during a Fashion Week party put on by the hipster newsletter Perfectly Imperfect, as well as a bash celebrating the apparel brand Celine in LA and at celebrity grifter Anna Delvey’s birthday party earlier this year.
“We will make sure the best and brightest are enjoying the very finest,” Hestia’s founder, David Sley, 38, told The Post. “I am trying to reframe tobacco as something that can be enjoyed responsibly like any other product.”
And the fact that you can’t actually buy Hestia cigarettes in New York City yet only makes them more coveted with a certain ahead-of-the-curve demographic. (Now available in Texas and Florida, they will debut for retail sale in New York this summer.)
Working with a limited budget, the cigarette brand has been savvily providing free packs and cartons to social media stars even as the Hochul administration has been quietly exploring the notion of banning tobacco cigarettes in New York State.
But that may also be creating a new youth rebellion.
nypost.com
