SMOKERS will have to hold a large piece of card over their face so they cannot look at the cigarette they are smoking, ministers said last night.
The ‘smoking mask’ will include a small mouth hole and a handle, though later models may be fitted with elasticated straps.
From next April, if smokers want to buy cigarettes they will have to uncover them during a day-long treasure hunt using a series of very difficult clues.
Under the new regulations the smokers will then have to store their cigarettes inside a large cereal box containing a cobra.
When they want to smoke they must position the cereal box on a table, strap on their smoking mask and then fumble around inside the box in the hope of finding a cigarette and not the cobra.
The mask will also carry a warning which reads: “Lighting a Cigarette While Wearing This Mask May Cause You to Set Fire to the Mask Instead of the Cigarette and Burn Your Face Off.”
A health department spokesman, said: “The best way to make cigarettes unattractive to children is to hide them in the woods as part of a day-long treasure hunt.”
