In a time when male celebrity smoking is highly discouraged when it comes to an image, it is still a bit of a guilty pleasure to those who adore the men that are considered celebrities. After all, sometimes you simply cannot express “bad to the bone” better than kicking up the heels on a desk and lighting up a smoke – can you? Regardless of what the current passion with respect to non-smoking dictates, there are a number of celebrities that are simply hard to imagine without the cigarette that slowly and gradually became a part of their image.

When it comes to male celebrity smoking, the Rat Pack was probably as well known for their antics as they were for their smoking habits. Dean Martin, who played the boozer, was a real life smoker and eventually died from lung cancer. Sammy Davis, Jr., famous for breaking several color barriers and for being romantically linked with Kin Novak at a time when this was considered illegal, was a male celebrity smoking continuously. Sadly he died of throat cancer. Frank Sinatra used the cigarette as his trademark in many movies and also on stage, and newspaper articles chronicling his funeral assert that he was buried with a pack of Camels and a lighter.

Of course, male celebrity smoking did not just take place in the casinos and on stage, but many literary geniuses were known to be smokers as well. Take for example Kurt Vonnegut who is best known for his book Slaughterhouse Five and has been photographed numerous times with a Pall Mall cigarette in his hand. Hunter S. Thompson is famous for the book covers that show him with a cigarette holder. Famously infamous comedian Bill Hicks whose rants are legendary and who has influenced legions of younger comedians was known for his heavy drug abuse as well as his habit of smoking which affected his voice toward the end of his life.

All these male celebrity smoking images have been preserved for eternity in movie footage, pictures, and online stories. Some have forever been associated with the smokes while others seem to not have made cigarettes an integral part of their persona. Yet in today’s society where smoking is no longer considered to be a fashionable attribute to a celebrity’s lifestyle, many young actors and writers are no longer publicly indulging this habit. As a matter of fact, many older celebrities who have been around the block a few times and in the past have been depicted with cigarettes no longer do so.