Cigarette vending machine operators have imported one million herbal cigarettes which they plan to sell in pubs when the smoking ban comes into force next week.
The "ban-busting" cigarettes, which will be legal to smoke in pubs because they do not contain tobacco, are likely to add to the headache of publicans faced with policing the ban.
The use of herbal cigarettes has already led to difficulties in securing prosecutions against customers accused of flouting the law in some US cities where similar smoking bans are in place.
The Irish Cigarette Machine Operators' Association (ICMOA) said the move was primarily aimed at providing smokers with an alternative, but added that it would also highlight the flaws surrounding the ban.
Mr Gerry Lawlor, ICMOA's spokesman, said operators were acting in compliance with the law and that herbal cigarettes were often used by smokers when trying to give up tobacco-related products.
"We were told by the anti-smoking lobby to sell something else. It's not economically viable to re-engineer vending machines, so we said we'd give herbal cigarettes a go," Mr Lawlor said.
Publicans yesterday said the introduction of herbal cigarettes would make enforcement of the smoking ban extremely difficult.
A spokesman for the Irish Hospitality Industry Alliance, which represents pub and restaurant owners, said: "The Minister for Health wants us to be policemen by enforcing the ban, so does he want us to be scientists as well by detecting if cigarettes contain tobacco or not?"
A Department of Health spokeswoman yesterday confirmed that herbal cigarettes would be exempt from the smoking ban. The Public Health (Tobacco) Act (2003), under which the ban is being introduced, defines tobacco products as "any product consisting in whole or in part of tobacco that is intended to be smoked".
Vendors will stock one million cigarettes in around 10,000 pubs from next week on a trial basis to assess demand for the products. Packs of 20 herbal cigarettes will retail at between €4.50 and €5, compared to between €6 and €6.25 for normal cigarettes.
"Initially we expect there will be a novelty factor and we should sell quite a few on the first weekend, but it will probably fall off. I don't anticipate making a living out of it," Mr Lawlor said.
Vendors will continue to sell standard tobacco products in pubs, but the ICMOA estimates sales will drop by up to 70 per cent once the ban comes into force.
It is bracing itself for layoffs in the sector which employs between 450 and 600 people.
