National No Smoking Day

National No Smoking Day is held on the second Wednesday of March every year. Designed to raise awareness and motivate smokers to make an attempt to quit. This year's joint National No Smoking Day campaign with ASH Scotland is themed "Quit and Win" and focuses on encouraging smokers to quit and benefit their health, well-being, and personal finances.

Any day is a good day to decide to quit smoking. Smoking remains the single greatest preventable cause of death in the world today. No matter how long you’ve smoked, or how many cigarettes you smoke a day, your health will improve as soon as you quit.

Here at Totally Wicked, our team have completed official training with the National Centre for Smoking Cessation Training (NCSCT) and are qualified to support quitting smokers. You'll also find that many Totally Wicked employees successfully quit smoking themselves through vaping and found a passion for helping others do the same.

So, in honour of National No Smoking Day, there's never a better time to share some of their success stories.

Ready to take the first steps to kick the habit and quit smoking? Contact one of our team today for guidance and support on starting your journey.

“I realised it could easily be me in a few years if I didn't quit once and for all.“

Ryan

Phil, Totally Wicked Production Team

Phil from our production team had smoked for 10 years and was smoking 15 a day. He'd previously tried to quit a few times 'cold-turkey' but gone back to smoking. Phil took part in our 30-day Challenge in October 2021. He attended group sessions at our Head Office where he received face-to-face support in quitting. Phil found the morale support helped keep him off cigarettes "it almost became a bit of a competition, who could quit for the longest." It wasn't an easy journey for Phil "The first few days felt easy, then it got more difficult. The worst temptation was when drinking and being around smokers, so for the first couple of weeks I stopped going out which helped a lot."

He began his journey on the Skope Air as a simple, easy-to-use device to get started, and has since upgraded to an Arc 5. He has also reduced his nicotine strength from 1.4% to 1%. Phil has now been successfully quit for 18 months since he set his quit date of 11^th October. "I can be around smokers now and never feel tempted. To be honest the smell knocks me sick, I can't imagine going back to smoking".

Ryan, Totally Wicked Warehouse Team

Ryan is one of our longest serving team members and a Supervisor in our HQ Warehouse. He had smoked for 12 years on and off. He also vaped but tended to start smoking again in times of stress or when he had a drink. Ryan admitted he never saw his smoking as much of a problem, as he was able to go for days or even weeks without a cigarette. However, when a close family member developed COPD due to a lifetime of smoking, Ryan made the decision that he needed to kick the habit. He made the switch to vaping through his own determination and now hasn't smoked for 15 months. "I'm proud of myself to be honest. Supporting my mum through her illness made me realise now was the time. I realised it could easily be me in a few years if I didn't quit once and for all."

Ste – Totally Wicked HQ Shop

Ste works in our HQ Store in Blackburn. If you're ever in the area, pop in and say hello - he loves a chat! Like many of our team, before joining Totally Wicked as a team member, he started out as a customer. He used to smoke 30-a-day and had tried, and failed, to quit using other methods. Ste started out using an Arc vape 8 years ago and hasn't smoked since.

"I was in my early 20's and couldn't run up a flight of stairs without getting out of breath. Since quitting I've joined a running club and now regularly run 5-6 miles, I didn't think that would ever be me. I didn't personally find it a struggle once I switched to vaping. It satisfied my cravings from day one and I never looked back"

Adam – Totally Wicked Production Team

Adam was a smoker for 18 years. Like most, he had tried to quit a few times before but didn't succeed. He took part in our 30-day challenge, where he signed up for face-to-face support to help quit smoking. As a long-term smoker, Adam admitted he found the first few weeks a struggle. "For the first 2-3 weeks I was using the vape but still smoking. I wasn't getting the nicotine hit I needed from the vape and still getting cravings." Adam found that the nicotine strength he'd started on wasn't satisfying his cravings. After increasing the nicotine strength of the e-liquid he was using slightly, he was able to make the switch completely to vaping. He hasn't smoked in over 16 months now and no longer craves a cigarette at all. "It doesn't bother me at all anymore, I can be around smokers and never crave one."

Liam Humberstone – Totally Wicked Technical Director

Our Technical Director, Liam, actually started out his career as a race car engineer. As a heavy smoker for 30 years, Totally Wicked introduced him to some of the first e-cigarettes to hit the UK market. He initially worked with us as a sub-contractor on e-cigarette designs. When we found he was also a smoker, we knew we could help. After successfully quitting smoking through vaping, he was convinced about the potential for e-cigarettes to transform other smokers' lives too. He's been passionate about helping smokers kick the habit ever since. As well as heading up all our new product development, Liam also oversees our Smoking Cessation department, who work tirelessly with local stop smoking services across the country to help improve their offering. 

National No Smoking Day- Ready to quit?

Quitting smoking isn't easy, but the right support can massively improve your chances of succeeding.

The hardest part can often be making the decision to quit and committing to set a quit date. You might not quit on your first attempt, and that's ok. Every cigarette you don't smoke is a healthier choice, and we're here for you whatever stage of your quitting journey.

Smokers who get the right support are 3 times as likely to quit successfully as those who try to quit unaided. Speak to your local stop smoking service, or one of our trained team members. Our phone lines, live webchat and retail stores are all manned by team members who are specially trained to help give you the best chance of quitting successfully.