A new research suggests that the habit is still as hard as ever to kick despite more and more people are trying to give up smoking. 

According to the Cancer Institute NSW’s Smoking and Health Survey 2009, around 66 percent of NSW smokers will try to quit in the next six months.

Health warnings and new laws governing the sale of tobacco are helping persuade a greater number to make the effort says the report. Smokers still struggle to turn good intentions into reality.

‘While large numbers of smokers understand the health risks of smoking and want to quit, doing so is still seen as relatively difficult,’ the survey says.

One-fifth of NSW smokers light up within five minutes of waking and half start smoking within an hour.

The number of cigarettes smoked daily dropped over the past few years, with dependency rates among regular smokers remaining largely unchanged.

The good news is that the overall number of smokers has fallen in the past decade and fewer people are taking up the habit.