“A ball of fire on one end and a fool on the other.”

That’s how my high school history teacher Mr. Holt described cigarettes. (He also preached cigarettes make you smell like an outhouse, which is why I hired my brother to construct a miniature outhouse that I could fill with empty cigarette cartons for Mr. Holt’s Christmas gift. Tyree’s Permanent Record, now on audiobook.)

Big Tobacco’s tawdry wares maintained a stranglehold on the public consciousness for another 20 years after my graduation. Then the tide began turning. Via public service campaigns, taxation and legislation, America’s smoking habit became shamed, marginalized and exiled.

But now, an article in the Washington Post reveals that cigarettes are back in vogue, at least among entertainers and influencers. (The Post should have expanded its “Democracy Dies in Darkness” motto to include “And Cousin Olivia Dies in the........

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