From January 1 to yesterday, Quitline received calls from 134 Northlanders who sought help to quit smoking.
In 2016, a total of 1213 Northlanders rang Quitline for advice
Census data in 2013 showed there were 19,986 smokers in Northland.
Ms Graham-Stewart, from Matauri Bay, said smoking seemed "cool" when she was younger but in hindsight it was not worth it.
"I didn't have the real urge to smoke but I tried a couple of ciggies before smoking became a regular thing without me realising it. I used to spend $100 a week on cigarettes," she said.
Based on that amount, she spent more than $5000 a year or smoked more than 100 cigarettes a week.
She stopped smoking twice previously during pregnancy only but said she started soon after having children.
The first two weeks after quitting was the hardest, she said, when she avoided going to smoking zones and coffee.
"I am very serious about quitting this time because it's the first time I've done it on my own volition and I've been telling my family to follow suit because I hate seeing them smoke."
Her grandfather was a heavy smoker and died of lung cancer last year and said her mother had been smoking "ever since she could remember".
Although her extended family was happy she quit smoking, Ms Graham-Stewart said getting them to kick the habit would be a massive challenge.
Quitline said smoking costs about $8300 an year or about $160 a week.
Chief executive Andrew Slater said the holiday season was a key moment for many of the 610,000 Kiwi smokers to try to kick the habit.
But he said smoking statistics in New Zealand were still too high.
The number one reason people tried to kick the habit was still to improve their health, but Mr Slater said the year-on-year increases in the cost of cigarettes were helping to lower smoking rates.