Don't drag it out - smokers have a better chance of quitting if they go cold turkey, says a new study.
Those who quit immediately were 25 per cent more likely to not be smoking four weeks later than those who cut down gradually.
The University of Oxford study, published in Annals of Internal Medicine journal, involved 697 smokers who had chosen to give up the habit.
Those in one group set a quit day and stopped all smoking on that day, while the others set a quit day but gradually reduced their tobacco use in the two weeks leading up to that date.
"Both groups had advice and support and access to nicotine patches and nicotine replacement therapy, like nicotine gum or mouth spray," said lead researcher Dr Nicola Lindson-Hawley.
A month after quit day, 39 per cent of the gradual cessation group had kept off tobacco, compared to 49 per cent of the cold turkey group.
This equates to them being 25 per cent more likely to quit.
At six months, 15.5 per cent of the gradual quitters and 22 per cent of the abrupt quitters had given up their habit.
"The difference in quit attempts seemed to arise because people struggled to cut down," she said.
"It provided them with an extra thing to do, which may have put them off quitting altogether.
"If people actually made a quit attempt then the success rate was equal across groups.
"We also found that more people preferred the idea of quitting gradually than abruptly; however, regardless of what they thought they were still more likely to quit in the abrupt group."
But smokers who can't imagine quitting immediately should try doing it gradually rather than doing nothing at all, she advised.
"We should increase support for gradual cessation to increase their chances of succeeding."
