The tax increase on tobacco last week prompted a record number of smokers to reach for the phone rather than their cigarettes.
Tobacco tax rose 10% from midnight last Wednesday, raising the price of a packet of 20 cigarettes by about $1.
Further 10% increases will go through on January 1 next year and January 1, 2012.
Loose tobacco was hit with an immediate 14% increase to bring it into line with cigarettes.
Quit Group senior communications adviser Chris Pitt said the tax increase was "the kind of trigger a lot of people needed" to quit smoking.
Quitline received a record 860 calls and 395 website visits on Thursday.
"We spoke to more people in one day than we ever have before," he said.
Three times as many registrations than usual took place between Thursday and Sunday, with 2500 people registering for the Quitline programme.
Traffic volumes were expected to level-out but the response had been great, he said.
The programme had a 21% success rate, as it took an average of six attempts to quit, compared with a 4% success rate for going "cold turkey".
"Although it's becoming more expensive to smoke, it's never been cheaper to quit," Mr Pitt said.
Mornington Pharmacy intern pharmacist Jason Burgess had noticed a "slight increase" in the number of people coming in for assistance with quitting.
Some people he had spoken to credited the tax increase with pushing them to give quitting another go.
High-strength patches and gum, which were Government-subsidised, were popular, he said.
Unichem Knox Pharmacy pharmacist and owner Trudy Scott-Walker said the pharmacy had been busy during the past month with customers wanting to quit smoking but the tax increase had not made a significant impact.
Other pharmacies contacted had also not noticed any change in the number of customers want to quit smoking. ellie.constantine@odt.co.nz
