Today (Wednesday) marks national No Smoking Day and to mark the occasion Comet reporter and seasoned smoker Ewan Foskett attempted to give up the evil weed for a week.

THE cliche of the chain smoking, hard drinking journalist may still be popular, but it’s not really true.

In fact I’m the only reporter in The Comet office who smokes, and one member of staff regulary drinks camomile tea.

So when No Smoking Day rolled round, the well known legal precedent of Murphy’s Law meant that I would be the one to try and break the habit.

Roll-ups are my poison of choice and I tend to smoke between five and 10 a day during the week, but I can double this figure at weekends.

I set myself the target of stopping for a week and naively thought that cutting out the fags would be a piece of cake.

Good god, how wrong I was!

The first day was alright, if a little stressful, and I was begrudgingly getting used to my temporary smoke-free life.

But by Friday my willpower was faltering and I made the mistake of heading to my local for a few end of week beers.

I cracked after two pints and smoked enough to make my abstinence seem pointless.

When I woke with a fuzzy head on Saturday, I thought I’d try and stick out the remaining five days but I might need some help.

Apparently I’m not alone in my alcohol induced weakness, according to a Hertfordshire Stop Smoking Service advisor.

Sarah Hope said: “That’s quite common because after a few drinks your willpower is compromised and it’s easy to give in to those cravings.

“You pretty much tried to do it cold turkey, which is admirable but not very effective. It’s much easier to do it with nicotine replacement products.”

I dug out a giant electronic ciggie that had been sent to The Comet and I have to say that the harsh nicotine enriched water vapour soothed my craving.

This little tube made sure I made it to the end of the week, however I have been advised that these devices are not regulated in the UK and may release dangerous levels of nicotine.

At this point I should say that I fully intend to continue smoking.

This may not be a popular decision but in my opinion smoking a cigarette is one of life’s simple pleasures. I’m well aware that smoking has a detrimental affect on your health, physical appearance and wallet but the same can be said for booze and fine food.

In my opinion moderation is key, but I must hasten to add I’m not in any way a medical expert.

But this week has shown that I am well and truly hooked to tobacco and I would advise anyone trying to quit not to go cold turkey.