Many ex-smokers found they could kick the habit after hearing from Damian O?Hara at the Allen Carr ?Easy Way to Stop Smoking Clinics?.

The seminars were advertised on May 11 and were sold out in two days.

Four people who were in the seminar at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess said they had not had a cigarette since.

One woman, who had been smoking for 24 years, said she ?had no desire at all (to smoke)? hours after the seminar had finished.

Marilyn Feldman said: ?The seminar was excellent. (Mr. O?Hara) explained that we did not have to give up anything.?

?I have killed my enemy,? Mrs. Feldman said.?I went in saying, ?Oh my God, how am I going to cope with this?? But he gave us the tools to look at it differently.?

?So now it?s not ?Oh God?, but ?thank God?,? Mrs. Feldman said.

?It is behind me now,? she said.

?Obviously I am going to think about it; I smoked for a long time.

?And the best part was that there were no patches or gum, because we are doing something that kills you, so why substitute death with something else?? she said.

Albert Brewster said that he had not had a cigarette since 11 a.m. on Thursday.

Mr. Brewster said he ?tried hypnosis, Zyban, patches, they did not work?.

?You could relate to (Mr. O?Hara). He was a three packs a day smoker.?

?He said if you pick up a cigarette it will lead to another. Then the monkey on your back will be on again,? Mr. Brewster said.

One ex-smoker, who did not want to be named, described the seminar as a kind of ?therapy?.

?He (Mr. O?Hara) dispelled the myths that cigarettes are good for stress or keeps the weight down.

?They do not do anything good for you. If they did they would put it on the box.

?It worked with the whole class. We all gave our cigarettes away at the end of the class,? she said.

One woman, who attended a seminar this week, was asked whether she felt like a cigarette and said: ?Yes and no.?

She said she had to drive her husband to the Airport afterwards because his mother was dying.

All of those asked said they highly recommended that smokers in Bermuda attend the next seminars available on the Island in August.