BACKGROUND/AIMS: Smoking is common affecting millions of subjects worldwide and is linked to numerous medical disorders. We aimed to determine and to evaluate the appropriateness of smoking cessation counseling to adult active smokers. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study conducted between October 2014-May 2015 and statistical analysis of the data was performed in June 2015 in a university hospital. Adult patients under 65 years of age seen at the general internal medicine clinics were asked to fill in a questionnaire about smoking habits, doctors’ questioning about smoking status, and advice received about smoking cessation. RESULTS: A total of 512 patients (64.6% females) with a mean age of 39±14 years completed the questionnaire. Of them, 142 (27.7%) were active smokers. The mean age of the current smokers was 39±12 years and 52.1% were females. Fagerström test revealed that 33.8% of them were high-dependent smokers. Among the smokers, 135 (95.1%) reported having been asked about their smoking status and 72.5% had been advised to quit smoking. Any method to quit smoking was discussed with only 41 (28.9%) of smokers. The most common advice was to visit the smoking cessation clinic of the same hospital. The advice rate for smoking cessation did not change with regard to the dependence score. CONCLUSION: Although asking about smoking was a common practice in internal medicine clinics, advising about cessation and discussing methods for cessation in particular, were not parts of the doctor visit in many of the patient-doctor encounters. Smoking cessation counseling should be an indispensable part of the patient examination.