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• Stressed, broke smokers struggle with habit  

For the Perrys and other smokers, the incentive to kick the habit has perhaps never been stronger. The economic downturn continues to wear on, and this spring smokers were hit with the largest federal tax increase ever on cigarettes.

But reason doesn't always rule out, says Dr. David Abrams, a clinical psychologist and executive director of the Schroeder Institute for Tobacco Research and Policy, which is part of the anti-smoking nonprofit American Legacy Foundation. "If anybody looked at the pros and cons and weighed the evidence, frankly, we shouldn’t have a single smoker in the country. But the brain's reward centers are very powerful, and they avoid logical reasoning. Seeking immediate pleasure is sometimes something you can’t stop yourself from doing."

But while experts do say they're seeing more interest in quitting, the support system is collapsing, as some states have exhausted funds for smoking-cessation programs that many smokers, especially lower-income folks, depend on when they decide to quit.

An estimated 45 million Americans smoke, although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found last year that the U.S. smoking rate had dipped below 20 percent for the first time on record.

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