A growing number of Maryland smokers are seeking help to quit through the state health department's tobacco Quitline, which offers counseling, support services and coaching sessions over the phone.

The free, confidential service received 1,429 calls as of January 25, up from 900 calls last November, according to the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Ads for the service feature Baltimore native and actress Nicole Ari Parker, who lost her grandmother to smoking-related cancer.

The Maryland Tobacco Quitline (1-800-QUIT-NOW) provides coaches who work with callers over four telephone sessions to devise a plan to help them break the addiction. Coaches follow up with printed materials to help you stay on track and while supplies last, callers can get free nicotine replacement therapy such as the patch or gum, mailed to their homes. The Quitline, which launched in June 2006 and has had about 64,000 calls, is manned 8 a.m. to 3 a.m. seven days a week.

For more information, check out www.smokingstopshere.com

I wonder if the spike in calls is due to folks making New Year's resolutions to quit. Have you? How are you doing so far?