Cindy Drake was 12 years old when she lit her first cigarette, but almost two decades later, she is starting to notice the effects of addiction.

Key points: Two Hobart suburbs and Mount Druitt in NSW record the highest smoking rates in Australia

Two Hobart suburbs and Mount Druitt in NSW record the highest smoking rates in Australia Only 14 per cent of Australians are daily smokers, down from 40 per cent in the 1970s

Only 14 per cent of Australians are daily smokers, down from 40 per cent in the 1970s The data prompts calls for new quit campaigns across the country

"I'm more puffed out than I used to be in the last year, it makes me want to quit," she said.

"I smoke close to 20 cigarettes a day, I've tried giving up, but it didn't help.

"I'd easily spend up to $150 per week smoking … too much."

Ms Drake lives in the Hobart suburb of Bridgewater which — at 40 per cent — has the worst smoking rate in Australia, according to new research.

In Bridgewater, people are 3.5 times more likely to die from preventable smoking-related illness than the average Australian suburb.

Cindy Drake says the effects of long-term smoking are catching up with her. ( ABC News: Jessica Hayes )

Figures released on Friday by Victoria University think-tank the Mitchell Institute reveal smoking rates there, and in neighbouring suburb Gagebrook, are at levels not seen in Australia since the 1970s.

One of Ms Drake's children smokes, as well as her mother.

A table showing the national smoking rates around Australia according to a Mitchell Institute study ( ABC News )

She thinks the habit is all too common and broadly accepted in her community.

"It's very popular. Everyone I speak to smokes … I would say 90 per cent of my friends are smokers," she said.

"I don't really like smoking at all, I just do it out of boredom."

The survey placed another nearby suburb, Risdon Vale, in second spot, while Mount Druitt in New South Wales recorded the third-highest smoking rate in the nation.

While the national average smoking rate has dramatically dropped in the past four decades with 14 per cent of Australian adults smoking daily, some suburbs were struggling to kick the habit.

The Mitchell Institute's heath policy lead, Ben Harris, said parts of Australia were stuck in a "smokers' time warp", where little inroads had been made in certain areas.

"Overall, our success is lauded internationally, and we have some of the lowest smoking rates in the world," Mr Harris said.

"However, our national success story hides some troubling local data.

"We need to redouble our efforts to facilitate opportunities for people to quit in those communities."

At the other end of the scale, affluent suburbs such as Gordon, Killara and Pymble in New South Wales, Burnside and Wattle Park in South Australia and Claremont and Cottesloe in Western Australia had the lowest smoking rates.

Family influencing smoking uptake

Christine Bannister is trying to encourage her sons to quit but is battling peer pressure. ( ABC News: Jessica Hayes )

Mr Harris said local factors influenced smoking statistics.

"We know where we live, where we work, when we left school and who we know influences smoking," he said.

"We also know that the best way to stop children picking up the habit is to encourage the adults around them to quit smoking."

Bridgewater mother-of-three Christine Bannister said she was desperate to see her sons quit because she had seen the long-term health impacts in her own family.

She was raised in a family of smokers and most of her friends also smoke daily, so it has been difficult to get the message through.

"My partner has emphysema in the left lung and heart disease because he's been smoking since he was 14," she said.

"We try to teach our boys this is what happens over a period of time — if you keep smoking, you'll end up like him or worse.

"It's peer pressure. Their friends smoke."

Plea to spend tobacco tax on quit campaign

The tobacco industry is using social media to pitch its product to young people. ( ABC News: Jessica Hayes )

The Australian Council on Smoking and Health argued reform was needed to ensure suburbs like Bridgewater and Mount Druitt were not left behind.

Chief executive Maurice Swanson said strategies such as plain packaging laws and increased taxation on tobacco were effective, but more should be done.

"The key missing ingredients to Australia's approach to smoking are a national TV advertising campaign to encourage people to make quit attempts," he said.

"We haven't had a national campaign like this since 2013 and that's despite the Federal Government receiving, this year, $12 billion in tobacco tax revenue and a projected $17 billion in the coming financial year.

"We also need resources and priority to ensuring that smoking is addressed when [smokers] come into contact with the health services."

The council is also calling on the Federal Government to prohibit strategies used by tobacco companies to normalise smoking and wants stronger Commonwealth legislation.

"The tobacco industry continues to ruthlessly promote smoking in Australia and internationally by any means possible," he said.

"We are especially concerned that the tobacco industry is now using social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to promote its products to young people as an attractive and glamorous behaviour."