Keith Richards, 82, Says He Quit Smoking 'Childish' Cigarettes Years Ago But Admits 'I Smoke a Lot of Weed'

Cara Lynn ShultzFri, June 19, 2026 at 8:20 PM UTC

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Keith Richards speaks in Brooklyn in May 2026Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty -

Keith Richards quit smoking cigarettes six years ago, calling the habit "childish" after decades of smoking

The Rolling Stones guitarist says he now smokes "a lot of weed" and drinks alcohol only "in moderation"

Richards reflects on slowing down his lifestyle to keep going and acknowledges his age as he looks back on his career

Keith Richards says he quit cigarettes years ago, calling the habit "childish" — but does admit that he smokes "a lot of weed."

Although his hard-partying ways with The Rolling Stones are the stuff of legend — he once revealed he snorted his father's ashes mixed with cocaine — these days, he's taking things much more slowly, he told The Guardian.

Keith Richards performs in 1995 in the NetherlandsCredit: Frans Schellekens/Redferns

"Suddenly, I felt like after all these years of smoking — because, you know, a man smokes — I was sat around with this silly thing in my mouth thinking: how childish," Richards told the outlet about quitting nicotine six years ago. "It was that that put me off more than anything, although I smoke a lot of weed."

As Richards told PEOPLE in 2022, he used nicotine patches to quit, saying, "I don't miss it." And he saw the benefits once the band began tour rehearsals, explaining, "I realized that I had 10 times more wind."

As for alcohol, he said he partakes in moderation, joking, "yeah, it's only a ton of heroin a day now." (Richards, who had well-documented struggles with the drug, quit heroin in 1978.)

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Richards explained that he decided to cut back on some of his vices because "I wasn't far from the end of the runway before I screamed for help."

"You tend to slow down if you want to keep going," Richards said. "You pace yourself."

Keith Richards performs in Missouri in July 2024Credit: Gary Miller/Getty

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Although he told the outlet that it "might cross the mind" that the Rolling Stones' latest album, Foreign Tongues, could be their last, "it's not something you dwell on. By now I'm fully set on my path and I'm just going to see where it goes."

Still, he says, "I mean, you do suddenly turn around and say: Christ, I'm 82. It's a long thing to look back on."

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”