Seventy-two-year-old Tony Cordeiro was a smoker for decades. "I started sometime in my early teens," he said. As an adult he tried to quit a few times but it never took hold.

"The longest I ever quit was for a year. One time I stopped but then we had a tragedy when one of the reporters committed suicide, and we all reached for our cigarettes whenever we thought about it."

Cold turkey, the patch and hypnotherapy were among the many methods Mr. Cordeiro tried. He said the patch had no effect he smoked while wearing it however hypnotherapy almost worked.

"I laid on a couch and the hypnotist spoke to me on cigarettes for about an hour," he said. "When she left the room I went straight for my cigarette but it tasted absolutely horrible. I tried a few times more during the day and following days and every time it still tasted horrible.

"I couldn't believe it so I kept trying to smoke and a few days later I was smoking again.

"I think it would have worked if I had taped her and played the tape to myself a few times. I know someone [who it worked for] because they listened to the tape every day."

Two years ago while on vacation at his sister's home in Kitchener, Ontario he saw a billboard with a number to call for laser treatment. "I had read about laser treatment so we pulled over and I wrote the number down," he said. "The following morning I was in there."

Mr. Cordeiro said the doctor who administered the treatment was honest and told him that while it worked for most people, others only made it as far as the bottom stair from his second storey office before they felt the need for a cigarette and returned straight away for a refund.

Mr. Cordeiro said he still decided to give it a try. "I thought: 'what have I got to lose?' I really wanted it to work," he said.

The treatment was painless and lasted under an hour. "He used the laser on the spots that correspond to the craving for cigarettes," Mr. Cordeiro said. "It was like acupuncture but with a laser."

He admits to smoking after the treatment, but only because he wanted to finish the loose packs he had around. He gave away a carton and when he finished his loose packs, he was able to stop.

"I haven't smoked for about three-and-a-half years now," he said.

And the benefits have been noticeable. "I was getting disgusted with smoking. I burnt so many holes in things. I burnt a hole in the seat of my new car. That made me really mad. And my wife was always complaining about the foul smell."

David Skinner said he was so self-conscious about the odour that it affected his social interactions.

"I'd have a cigarette and then someone in the office would come up to ask me something, I'd be on edge. I'd put my hand over my mouth to try and hide the smell," he said. "Very often I would see in the distance someone I needed to speak with, but I'd wait ten minutes so the smell was off me. And in that ten minutes they'd be gone."

Now 50, he started smoking when he was 20. "I started late and it was a silly thing to do but I was living in Spain and everyone was smoking everywhere you went," he said.

Like Mr. Cordeiro he tried many other techniques to stop but they never lasted long.

He decided to try laser treatment after he saw how well it worked for Mr. Cordeiro.

"He told us he had the treatment in Canada, that they went click click around the ear and that he hadn't needed a cigarette since," he said.

His wife Karen made the appointment.

The procedure was done by a general practitioner in an office at his home.

"He did two of us at a time," he said. "He would be doing the treatment on one person as he talked to both about the procedure and cigarettes and follow-up."

The follow-up, the doctor stressed, was really a set of tips on limiting exposure to the things that might trigger a person to smoke.

"They included things like drinking lots of water, putting five or six fabric softener sheets between our clothes, washing everything to get rid of the smoke smell, putting an elastic band on your wrist and snapping it every time you get an urge to smoke, even putting banners in your car to say 'I'm smoke free'," he said. "But I didn't do any of those things and it still worked for me."

Mr. Skinner's treatment lasted about 25 minutes. Apart from the touch of the laser wand on his skin, he didn't feel a thing.

After the session he and Karen picked up some beer. "I got out of the car and had half a cigarette then," he said. Back at the home of their Canadian friends, he said he had another half cigarette. "And that's been it for about two months now," he said.

According to Mr. Skinner and Mr. Cordeiro, their cigarette cravings have completely gone and they've had no withdrawal symptoms.

"My hand still goes to my top pocket to get the pack," said Mr. Cordeiro, "It's a habit I had for over 50 years, so instinctively that happens. It happens when I'm barbequing, or when I'm having a drink sometimes."

But the movement doesn't stir a desire for him to smoke again.

Mr. Skinner said on his previous attempts to quit, he was always short-tempered and couldn't bear to be in a smoking environment.

He said he also couldn't handle being around things associated with smoking for him, like having a drink.

"It's amazing, now I can stand next to someone having a cigarette and it doesn't bother me at all.

"Now I can still go home on a Friday evening and have some wine with the wife or go across to the pub and have a beer. When I quit previously, I just couldn't go socialising and not have a cigarette. The longest I had ever managed without one was two weeks, if that."

And he thinks it's the absence of the crabby attitude and feelings that have made the laser treatment a success for him.

"The biggest plus is that you don't have withdrawal symptoms where you bark and snap at everyone," he said.

And then there are the health benefits. Both men said they can breathe easier and therefore are better able to exercise.

"Karen will sign me up for the gym soon. I used to say I can't join because I don't breathe well, but now I can," said Mr. Skinner. "Now I can do my Saturday morning gardening straight through without having to stop every few minutes to take a breather."

Added Mr. Cordeiro: "I can go for a walk now. "I had a bit of COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) but my doctor says my lungs are looking clear, and I feel great."

Both men insist that willpower has been a factor in the treatment's success.

"You have to want to quit for this to work," they said. "It will not work if you actually don't want to stop."