Prime Minister Hun Sen is the biggest puffer in Cambodia.
Cambodia is in the final stages of considering legislation to control tobacco advertising and sponsorship. It's been a long time coming - health campaigners have wanted regulations against the so-called noxious weed for more than a decade.
Presenter: Robert Carmichael in Phnom Penh
Speakers: Dr Yel Daravuth, tobacco control expert, WHO; Dr Mom Kong, executive director, Cambodian Movement for Health
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CARMICHAEL: Cambodia has one of the highest smoking rates in Asia, with almost one male in two above the age of 15 lighting up regularly. So it's no surprise that anti-smoking campaigners have hailed this impoverished nation's move towards a comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising over the next six months. Dr Mom Kong heads the Cambodian Movement for Health, a non governmental organisation that campaigns against the twin scourges of tobacco and alcohol.
He says the methods that tobacco firms use vary from impersonal billboard advertising to one-on-one pressurised marketing efforts that involve young women handing out free smokes in restaurants.
But there is one method that riles the soft spoken health campaigner even more than that.
KONG: I notice one factor that is very crucial for Cambodian teenagers and children in starting smoking is pop concerts. The tobacco industry invites young celebrities to propaganda about tobacco product [sic]. And in one concert you can see thousands of youth, including children and women, and just imagine that if at one concert only maybe 1 or 2 per cent of the audience start to smoke, how many children, teenagers in Cambodia, will become a smoker?
CARMICHAEL: The new subdecree to ban tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship specifically outlaws stunts such as that. The minister for health says the subdecree will soon head to the council of ministers for approval.
Also barred would be advertising of any description, which means the glamorous billboard posters around the country that tout smoking would have to go. The subdecree is the second part of the government's efforts to cut smoking. Two months ago another law came into effect that compels tobacco companies to place large written warnings of the dangers of smoking on each pack of cigarettes. It is the sort of step welcomed by Dr Yel Daravuth, the tobacco control expert at the World Health Organisation's office in Phnom Penh.
A former smoker, Dr Yel applauds the government's efforts to get Cambodia in line with the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which it ratified in 2005. He says banning advertising is a proven way to cut smoking rates.
DARAVUTH: We found that in a developing country, if the country has a total ban on advertising, tobacco promotion and sponsorship, the result is that within 10 years [...] they can get smoking rates to go down by 8 per cent, compared to a country that has no total ban, it's only 1 per cent.
CARMICHAEL: Dr Yel says the example of neighbouring Thailand shows that increasing taxes on cigarettes is another proven way to cut smoking rates and raise government revenue.
The government's aim over the next five years is to reduce the smoking prevalence by 5 per cent. Dr Yel says doing so should help cut poverty rates too.
DARAVUTH: We can find that smokers spend at least 9 per cent of their income every day on cigarettes - a huge amount of their money. It can be used for education, supporting children in study, the family, food - it's very important.
CARMICHAEL: Tobacco companies will have little choice but to comply. Earlier this month the minister of health, Dr Mam Bun Heng, warned that penalties for companies that flout the law will be severe, and said repeat offenders would eventually lose their business licence.
So, what does 'Big Tobacco' think? British American Tobacco, one of the world's biggest, has the lion's share of the Cambodian cigarette market and says it welcomes the ban - provided it is applied to all players.
But the company is still angling for an exemption of sorts. BAT's head of corporate affairs, Kun Lim, says the firm wants the government to permit point-of-sale advertising.
At this stage it is unclear whether that will be allowed. Dr Mom Kong reckons the Framework Convention does not permit point-of-sale advertising.
But the game is changing for tobacco firms, even in impoverished nations such as Cambodia. Almost a dozen government ministries have implemented smoke free rules, and 'no smoking' signs in shopping malls, coffee shops and restaurants are no longer unusual.
The final shape of the subdecree will become clear later this year once it is approved, but whatever shape it takes, campaigners expect smoking rates will go down.
And that could yet include the nation's most famous smoker.
Prime minister Hun Sen's battle against cigarettes is well known, and earlier this year he admitted he still hadn't managed to kick the habit - although he had cut down.
But he had good advice for young Cambodians considering taking up the habit - don't start smoking in the first place.
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