Campaigners urging people to stop smoking are focussing on two messages they say are often misunderstood or not believed.
The manager of Smokefree, Marija Vidovich, says cigarettes can reduce a smoker's life expectancy by as much as 15 years, and hand rolled cigarettes are no less harmful.
She says those are the two messages being pushed in the ongoing Face the Facts campaign, which urges people to get help to quit the habit.
Ms Vidovich says when people realise smoking can cut short the lives of their loved ones, they are more supportive in helping them to stop.
Paul Ockelford from the New Zealand Medical Association says the impact of smoking deaths on the people left behind is often forgotten, and the best thing people can do for their families is to give up.
