Influencer comments on S'pore vaping ban & having to go to 'cigarette jail' to smoke, draws criticism

An influencer's Tiktok video has drawn criticism for her comments on Singapore's vaping and smoking laws.

Sam Najm, who makes content explaining personal finance online, said in the Sep. 28 video that she had just landed in Singapore 10 minutes before, and was already reminded "how much Singapore is not for [her]".

Since she could not vape in the country, she "had to buy cigarettes", which she had wanted to quit.

"Not only that, I had to cross the entire street to be in this little cigarette jail, and that's my smoking area" she said, then turned the camera to show the corner of the sidewalk she was standing at.

It meant that whenever she wanted to smoke, "day or night", she would have to walk a distance to find a designated smoking area, she explained in frustration.

"I know it's a very first-world problem, and it's my fault, I should not smoke to begin with," she added. "But also, I'm just a girl."

Najm also captioned the video, "I'm in Singapore once a year and that's enough tbh."

"Go home"

As of Oct. 2, Najm's video has racked up over 92,000 views and drawn over 300 comments.

Several people agreed with her views: one lamented, "This is why I don't go to SG anymore", and another said, "Actually as a Singaporean, I do miss when we could smoke freely".

However, most commenters expressed appreciation for Singapore's smoking laws, saying that they were precisely the reason why they liked the country.

"Singapore just went up on my list," someone wrote. "I cannot stand having to walk through other people's cigarette smoke."

A few questioned why Najm came to Singapore, while some slammed her more strongly, telling her to "go home" and "don't come".

A more sympathetic comment pointed out that "foreigners aren't as accustomed to" such laws, and thus did not warrant getting bashed.

Mothership has reached out to Najm for comment.

Top images from samnajm/TikTok