Why has no one mentioned Allen Carr!!?? Allen Carr's book, The Easyway to Quit Smoking, is PHENOMENAL! I've been smoke free for 2 years without so much as one "bad day" thinking I wanted a smoke. It can be easy to quit without drugs and without pain.

It should be listed as a viable solution to stop smoking and the best part is that the book is super cheap.

Everything else is just putting even more money into the pockets of other people. Why do that when you can quit for less than 10 quid?

Mike, Liverpool,

As a Registered Clinical Hypnotherapist, I would like to ask that anyone who thinks they may want to have Hypnotherapy, to go to a registered Practitioner. The cost won't be any more than a random person taken from the phone book, but it will make sure that the person they deal with will be fully qualified and insured. An ideal place to look would be on the 'General Hypnotherapy Register' website, the largest UK register of Hypnotherapy Practitioners
Clinical Hypnotherapist, LIfeWorksUk

Anthony Gravestock, Worcester Park, Surrey

I am a qualified Hypnotherapist and have helped many people to stop smoking. I spend about an hour talking with each client to find out about their habit so that when we go on to do the hypnotic trance work I can give them suggestions that are tailored for them and their triggers.
As many of my clients come by referral, it seems to be effective for most people that I see. The most important thing is that the client WANTS to stop for themself - not to please someone else.
I hope that this post may be helpful for those of you considering hypnosis as an aid to stop smoking.

Sandra Trebinski MBSCH, Old Windsor, UK

Just to clear up some info above on patches: patches come in 2 different forms 16 hour (15mg) or 24 hour (21mg) - there is not a 25mg patch as outlined in this article. They deliver roughly the same amount of nicotine per hour but just over different lengths of time.

Rebecca Campbell, Glasgow, Scotland

"It concluded that all forms of NRT can help smokers to quit and nearly doubles the number who stay off cigarettes long-term." You don't give any actual figures: long-term studies published in the British Medical Journal give NRT success rates of between 10% and 16%. That would vindicate the advertising claim of doubling the smoker's chances of quitting - doubling a chance from almost nothing to not very much at all.

James Hamilton, London,