Yucel head cage smoking
Ibrahim Yucel, 42, padlocks his head into a helmet-like cage to quit smoking (YouTube)

A Turkish man has developed a revolutionary homemade method to quit smoking: a head cage.

Every morning, Ibrahim Yucel, 42, padlocks his head into a helmet-like cage he made out of 40 metres of copper wire to ensure that it is impossible to smoke even if his willpower betrays him.

He hands the lock keys to his wife or daughter and then heads off to work, wearing the bulky, medieval-style headgear.

Yucel, from the western Turkey province of Kutahya, told Hurriyet Daily News he had smoked two packets a day for more than 20 years.

He decided to give up the habit a few years ago as his father died of lung cancer.

But addiction proved too strong to fight alone, so after several failed attempt to give up Yucel decided to cage his head.

Yucel said he came up with the idea from watching motorbike riders wearing helmets.

In a YouTube video his wife says she was initially shocked and embarrassed by her husband's idea. However, the family had been persuaded by his determination and now backed his efforts.

In the video Yucel also shows how he is able to drink water with a straw and eat crackers slipped through the wire during the day.

Cancer