Cigar sales will continue unimpeded in public under new legislation, which bans only the giving away of promotional items.

Jeanne Atherden, the Health Minister, also stood by the move to ban sweetly-flavoured tobacco products, which she said had been shown by their nature to entice younger people to smoke.

Children have reported being given tobacco and smoking-themed items, according to the National Drug Commission, and the primary aim of the new laws is to protect under-18s.

“This all goes back to what we are trying to do — reduce the risk of young people getting hooked,” Ms Atherden said.

Ms Atherden said research had shown that tobacco’s addictive hold and capacity to inflict disease had been shown to be worse the younger a person acquired the habit.

In the wake of anger expressed by tobacco businesses, the minister pointed out that the coming changes in the Tobacco Control Bill 2015 had been hinted at last year.

“In the Throne Speech in November we laid out things that we were going to do,” Ms Atherden said, noting that the speech alluded to “candy flavourings” in cigarettes.

E-cigarettes and rolling papers were also brought up in November’s speech.

“In March, when I did the Budget debate, I once again talked about our intent to move forward with legislation with respect to tobacco products.”

Ms Atherden added: “The reason we have said it is not going to take effect until December was so that we could give people the opportunity to adjust themselves.

“As we have some further discussions, I like to think people will realise we are trying to be reasonable.”

The owner of Churchill’s tobacconist had questioned whether cigars could be sold at Dockyard to disembarking tourists, and cigar maker Grant Kennedy had questioned if his public cigar-rolling qualified as “promotion”.

Ms Atherden said neither operation would be affected by the changes.

Serious and life-threatening diseases like emphysema, cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease cause misery for victims and their families, and exact a heavy toll on an already high-cost healthcare system.

“Ultimately we want people not to have them,” she said.

“We’re not trying to scare people. We’re just trying to turn around, focus on young people, and do something to reduce the risk.”

David Kendell, the director of the Department of Health, added that the rules impending for Bermuda were not as extreme as some other countries.

Some jurisdictions want 50 per cent or even 85 per cent of packing covered by warnings, whereas Bermuda has opted for 30 per cent, he said — without some of the graphics called for in stricter legislation.

“These are not radical policy measures,” Mr Kendell said. “We are trying to stay in step with what the rest of the world is doing.”