What can a cigarette tell us about creativity?
A revealing conversation with the founder of a new(!) cigarette company
Sometimes, you just want to stand there silently, alone with your thoughts. Sometimes you just want to stand in the corner and stare out of the window. Now the problem is, when you can’t smoke, if you stand and stare out of the window on your own, you’re an antisocial, friendless idiot.
If you stand and stare out of the window on your own with a cigarette, you’re a fucking philosopher.
Anyone who has spent any time perusing this little corner of the internet knows by now that I tend to be a cheerleader for our vices.
The reason goes well beyond the simple pleasures to be had by rebelling against the social mores of polite company — it’s because there’s a profound inspiration to be found in deliberately and purposefully enjoying the things that make life more pleasurable.
For me, this has always been one of the biggest problems with cigarettes — they’re rarely regarded as anything other than a quick fix for a craving. The typical lungdart is crafted with about as much attention to ritualistic tradition as a shot of Fireball; and it shows in the (low) quality of the products lining gas station tobacco shelves and smoke-shop counterspace.
The prevailing philosophy in much of the tobacco industry is, apparently, fairly straightforward: Sell cheaply manufactured cigarettes and hope that nicotine riddled consumers continue to fork over their money for increasingly uninspired brands made by multinational tobacco conglomerates.
However, as Ogilvy Executive Rory Sutherland likes to point out: Sometimes, the opposite of a good idea is a good idea. And if there’s at least one person out there testing that theory in the tobacco industry, it has to be David Sley, the founder of Hestia Cigarettes.
As I wrote about when the company Hestia first came across my radar:
Apparently, a little artisanal cigarette manufacturer has done the impossible, and made smoking cool again… As a branding guy, a storyteller, and someone who is simply fascinated with the way cultural trends evolve over time, Hestia’s story is (itself) fascinating.
To begin with, the idea the FDA would give a green light to a brand-new cigarette company while it’s busy waging war on nicotine is downright surprising. In fact, when Hestia received approval from the federal government to begin making its artisanal cigarettes, it represented the first approval from the FDA in 15 years — which is, in and of itself, an impressive feat.
More than merely navigating the insidious labyrinth of federal regulatory hurdles, however, Hestia has done something even more impressive: It’s become popular — especially with those who are anti-establishment enough to appreciate an artisanal purveyor of vice.
Recently, I was lucky enough to catch up with David Sley and learn more about what drove him to start up a cigarette company in our modern age. Most importantly, we were able to discuss what his seemingly Quixotic effort to take on “big tobacco” can teach us about creativity.
Here are a few highlights:
Hestia: Naked, wild, tobacco
“I believe anything worth doing is worth doing to the best iteration of itself.”
When David began his independent tobacco company, there was little reason anyone would have thought it would succeed. Regulatory, cultural and political headwinds were seemingly endless — which probably accounts for the 12 years it took him to finally bring a cigarette to market after deciding to partner with some independent tobacco farmers.
However, David remains undeterred, because he believes in his mission — and because demand for his product won’t likely be evaporating anytime soon.
Tobacco is not going away…
“Drink a few beers and smoke a few cigarettes. That’s always going to happen. It’s been going on for hundreds of years, and I don’t see it stopping in the near term… I don’t know why it would or should.”
The truth is, cigarettes (and tobacco products more generally) aren’t going anywhere. Laws may be passed, vapes may be sold and cultural taboos may intensify — but there will always be those who wish to suck down a cigarette with their craft cocktail on a Friday night or taste the sting of warm tobacco with an early morning coffee.
Indeed, as I’ve written before (click here to be sidetracked) vice is a fundamental driver of what it means to enjoy life — and a few measly puritans peddling “clean living” through the coercive body of democratic governance or the peer pressure of pop-culture aren’t going to get in the way of such indulgences.
And with that in mind, why not create something built with passion, ritual and tradition for those who seek to slake such iniquitousness wants?
It’s not about tobacco… it’s about passion
“When you just do something right, it doesn’t really matter if people like it or not. There will be enough who appreciate what you’re doing that you’ll be able to continue on.”
As Sley points out repeatedly, he’s simply making the best cigarette he can. And, as it turns out, there’s a market for what he’s offering — just as there’s a market for virtually anything produced with passion, integrity and creativity.
It’s this facet of Hestia’s journey that serves as inspiration and encouragement from a creative standpoint, regardless of how one might feel about cigarettes in general.
After all, what Sley is doing is central to what creativity demands. Creativity isn’t dependent upon seeking out what others want. Instead, it requires that we put aside the expectations of the world and pursue an idea for its own sake.
If Vincent Van Gogh, for example, worried his pretty little head about what sold instead of what he wanted to paint, we’d be left with a drearily uninspired library of commercial offerings from some unknown 19th Century Dutch madman instead of the transformational treasures currently hanging in museums across the globe.
It’s for this reason I’ve long championed the (responsible) indulgence of vice — because those who light a cigarette, puff on their cigar or throw back a handcrafted cocktail aren’t merely chasing a toxic high… they’re deliberately and consciously choosing to experience life on their own terms — a prerequisite for thinking divergently and independently in our world of conformity and illiberal intolerance.
As I’ve stated previously:
There’s a case to be made that smoking, drinking, gambling and all the other indulgences frowned upon by polite company absolutely have virtue in their own right — even if it can’t be easily articulated by laboratory technicians or bureaucrats crafting healthcare policy.
Such vices pepper life with pleasure, lower our inhibitions, paper over depression, excite our senses, elevate moments of elation, and give entry to social cliques and communities we wouldn’t otherwise know.
…
To be sure, a life without tobacco smoke, distilled spirits, black coffee or any other “vice” would be healthier — but what of our minds, our sociability, and our comradery with others? What about the intangible benefits occasional hedonism can bestow on us mortals who grapple with the travails of daily life?
Perhaps the reason so many “creatives” of past eras overindulged in vice is merely due to the higher level of impulsiveness among radical free thinkers. Or, perhaps, vices allow for a social connectiveness and perspective of the world that actually sparks creative thought in the first place.
In other words, what Hestia Cigarettes has done is precisely what most creative individuals should aspire to accomplish in their own narrow field of interest: Passionately pursue a purpose with a blind faith that, somewhere, there’s a niche audience willing to reward you for your efforts.
If an independent cigarette company can teach us anything about creativity, it’s that there’s always a market out there for someone who believes in what they’re doing — even if what they’re doing is producing a consumable product that has long been in the crosshairs of cultural scolds, prohibitionists and government regulators.
As Sley and his independent cigarette company illustrates, you don’t have to create something everyone likes in order to find success, enjoyment or fulfillment. Instead, create what you find awe inspiring and enthralling…
… And have faith there will be some little corner of the world that not only appreciates your efforts, but also grows hungry for more of it.
Click below for my full conversation with David:
Michael Schaus is a communications and branding expert based in Las Vegas, Nevada, and founder of Schaus Creative LLC — an agency dedicated to helping organizations, businesses and activists tell their story and motivate change.