The ‘fridge cigarette’: how gen Z reframed the smoking break

Name: Fridge cigarette.

Age: As a thing, not so new, but the term has only really been knocking about for a few weeks, since a user called @reallyrachelreno posted a video.

On TikTok? On TikTok, of herself in the park on a sunny day, cracking open a can of Diet Coke and taking a sip, with Taylor Swift’s Cruel Summer playing over the top. With the caption: “Overheard someone call Diet Coke a ‘fridge cigarette’ and nothing’s been more true to me since.”

So she didn’t actually come up with it herself? No, but that’s not important.

What is? That the video has now had 3.8m views.

So a fridge cigarette is what gen Z is calling a cold can of pop? Correct.

Is it even addictive? Does it give you cancer and heart disease and the rest? No! (Definitely not, say the lawyers.) It’s not about cigarettes; it’s about that moment.

Which moment? “I feel like it’s one of those things that doesn’t need a lot of explanation,” Reno, a freelance creator in New York, told the New York Times.

I’m sorry, Reno, but I feel it does. She went on to say that “the crack of the can is like the spark of a lighter”.

Different sound. That’s not the point. Don’t be so pedantic. It’s about expectation. Look, @josiepeaches gets it.

Also on TikTok? Also on TikTok. She says: “I’ve never related to anything more in my life!”

She also says she doesn’t even smoke. Again, it doesn’t matter; it’s about the ritual, taking a break from your routine to reach not into a pack of Lucky Strikes but into the fridge for a cold, crispy one. Then the hit, not of nicotine to the brain, but bubbles and artificial sweeteners …

Mmmm. I remember when a Diet Coke break meant ogling ripped topless workmen out of the office window. Well, that was the 90s and 00s, when objectifying the male body was acceptable. Not any more.

But it’s OK to associate fizzy drinks with a dangerous drug that kills people? It’s like smoking without the smoking, taking the edge off without taking years off your life.

I’m not sure fizzy drinks are that healthy, are they? They’re not as bad as smoking, and this is a generation that cares about its health and wellbeing, but also about work-life balance, and taking a moment to escape the pressure …

And TikTok. And TikTok.

Do say: “A juice, perhaps? Or a ‘fridge vape’, as I call them …”

Don’t say: “I’m going out for a smoke. Or should I say a ‘tobacco spritz’?”