Originally published 2021-05-28.
Photo: DHA
The man in the wire “head cage” is İbrahim Yücel from Kütahya in western Turkey. In 2013, aged 42 and after 26 years of smoking about two packs a day, he built a lockable cage around his head and handed the key to his family so he could not light up. The picture went viral again in 2018 and 2021, often described as new or even mislabelled as showing a Russian man, but the story dates from the summer of 2013. Below is what is known about it, and what actually helps people stop smoking.
The story behind the photo
The English-language Hürriyet Daily News reported on 1 July 2013 that Yücel had started wearing the cage two days earlier. Fox News and other outlets picked the story up within a week. According to those reports, he had smoked since he was 16, and his decision to quit was driven by his father’s death from lung cancer some years earlier.
Yücel said the idea came from watching motorcyclists in their helmets. He shaped a round, birdcage-like frame from wire, reportedly about 40 metres (130 feet) of copper, fitted a lock and gave the keys to his wife and daughter. He would put it on in the morning before leaving for work. Later retellings add that he could still sip water through a straw and nibble crackers through the mesh, but needed the cage unlocked for proper meals; those details are less well documented than the core story.
He was said to be embarrassed at first, but went ahead with the support of his family after several failed attempts to quit.
Did it work?
Nobody knows. The fact-checking site Snopes, which rated the viral claim “mostly true”, found no follow-up report saying whether Yücel stayed off cigarettes. When the photo resurfaced on Reddit and in viral posts in 2018 and 2021, it was presented as a recent event, without any update on how things turned out.
It is also worth being clear about what the cage could and could not do. It blocked the act of putting a cigarette in his mouth while he wore it. It did nothing about nicotine cravings, the habits tied to smoking, or the hours when the cage was off. That is why most stop-smoking experts focus on dealing with withdrawal and triggers, rather than on physical barriers.
The photo’s second and third lives are a good example of how old human-interest stories recirculate. A striking image is stripped of its date and caption, reposted as if it happened yesterday, and sometimes given a new nationality along the way. A quick reverse image search, or a look for the earliest report, usually reveals the original context. In this case it leads straight back to a Turkish newspaper in July 2013, and to a real man with a very personal reason for wanting to stop.
Why quitting is so hard
Online, many readers recognised Yücel’s desperation. Commenters described quitting as one of the hardest things they had ever done, and several said they relapsed after years without a cigarette. That matches what is known about nicotine addiction.
Nicotine reaches the brain within seconds of inhaling and triggers the release of dopamine, reinforcing the habit. When it wears off, smokers can feel irritable, anxious, restless and hungry, and some report poor sleep or night sweats. Those symptoms usually peak in the first days and ease over a few weeks, but cravings linked to routines, such as coffee, stress or a drink with friends, can last much longer. Relapse is common and most people who succeed need several attempts.
The scale of the problem
According to the World Health Organization, about 1.2 billion people use tobacco worldwide, and tobacco kills more than 7 million people a year, including around 1.6 million non-smokers exposed to second-hand smoke. Lung cancer, the disease that took Yücel’s father, is one of the best-known consequences, alongside heart disease, stroke and chronic lung disease.
The WHO also notes that more than 60 percent of smokers who understand the dangers say they want to quit, yet only a minority of countries offer national cessation services with full or partial cost coverage.
What actually helps people stop
The WHO reports that combining counselling with medication can more than double the chance of quitting successfully. In practice, approaches that have good evidence behind them include:
- Behavioural support: counselling, group programmes and free telephone quitlines that help plan a quit date and handle triggers.
- Stop-smoking medicines: nicotine replacement in the form of patches, gum or lozenges, and prescription treatments. A doctor or pharmacist can advise which, if any, suit you.
- Changing routines: identifying the situations where you usually smoke and planning something else for those moments.
- Telling people around you: social support, something Yücel used in a very literal way, makes a measurable difference.
If you are trying to quit, talk to a doctor, pharmacist or local stop-smoking service. They can help you choose an approach that fits your health and habits.
What the head cage tells us
The photo keeps circulating because it is funny and strange, but it also captures something real: the lengths people will go to when they feel they cannot beat a habit by willpower alone. Yücel’s cage was a homemade form of commitment device, a way of making the unwanted choice physically harder, and his family were part of the plan. Modern quit methods use the same ideas, support from others and removing easy access, together with tools that tackle the cravings themselves. No cage required.
Sources: Snopes: Did a man lock his head in a cage to quit smoking?; Fox News: Caged in: Man's extreme measure to quit smoking (8 July 2013); WTKR: Man wears cage on head to quit smoking (8 July 2013); LADbible (May 2021); World Health Organization: Tobacco fact sheet.
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