Essentially cigar shops like Subiaco's Devlin's would no longer be allowed to display its products, and only hand over one of their cigars at the point of sale. Store owner Simon Devlin told Radio 6PR's Oliver Peterson he only found out about the proposed restrictions after he was called by Member for the South Metropolitan Region Aaron Stonehouse. "I received a phone call yesterday afternoon by a member of parliament - Aaron Stonehouse - to notify me that there was a bill before parliament which was going to take away our specialist retailers clause, which allows us to display premium, hand-rolled cigars in our humidor," he said. "When people come to purchase a cigar, they want to touch the cigar, they want to pick it up, they want to smell the cigar as well because cigars are all about palette, flavour and taste. "[Now] everything will be under shutters and in lock boxes. You won't actually be able to have a look at a cigar until you've actually purchased it.

"It'll destroy us. "It's discerning adults who enjoy an occasional cigar... it's a legal product. "I really, really hope that this is an unintended consequence of this legislation and that the Health Minister Roger Cook and the Premier... that they will have a look at this and say 'hey we don't want to destroy an iconic Perth business that has been around for 21 It looks like they're trying to destroy our small business. "There are other things in this bill which are about protecting minors, et cetera, but this little section 23, clause six is going to devastate us.

"I do not understand why a government would decide this is a good idea." The amendments are reminiscent of similar regulations previously proposed by the Liberal Government in 2009, which also suggested specialist retailers lose their defence against section 22. "I was absolutely amazed... they tried to do this in 2009 and obviously it's come back again," Mr Devlin said. "It looks like they're trying to destroy our small business." Liberal Democrat MP Aaron Stonehouse, who brought the amendments to Mr Devlin's attentions, told 6PR the amendments seemed to be another "stamp in the health lobby's 'war on fun'".

"When I found this, I was surprised that a lot of my parliamentary colleagues had no idea this was a part of the government's bill, and proposed changes to tobacco. "It doesn't just stop there. There are other parts of this bill that are going to see a lot of young people lose their jobs. But I think it's really nasty. "We talk about smoking, and I often talk about the nanny state and people's right to make their own choices, but here we have an instance where Simon Devlin is possibly going to lose his business, his livelihood. "The people he employs are going to lose their jobs. He's been around for 21 years. "The government is going to run him out of town through red tape and regulation.

"If you can't touch, and smell and feel the cigars, you have no idea what you're getting. That's a very expensive item. "You can't run a cigar business without having a humidor where the customer can see the product. "I really don't see the public health benefit in this and it's destroying a business. It's really, really sad stuff." The bill states the reasoning behind the amendment in its explanatory notes: "The Department of Health has noted that the specialist retailer exemption is increasingly being exploited as a loophole by retailers who may no longer derive 80 per cent or more of their current business from the sale of tobacco products," it reads.

"This clause amends the definition of specialist retailer to include an additional requirement for the business to derive 80 per cent of its average gross turnover from the sale of tobacco products in the most recently ended financial year." Health Minister Roger Cook told 6PR the amendments were in the interest of public health. "Laws which have allowed specialist tobacco retailers to keep on displaying tobacco products will be phased out over two years," he said. "Only a very small minority of tobacco retailers in WA are specialist tobacco retailers so this part of the amendment will not have widespread commercial impact. "The amendments to the tobacco act were originally proposed by the previous Liberal government as the appalling health impacts of tobacco use are well known in the community – as Health Minister I will not shy away from an opportunity to save lives and prevent chronic illness - so I am committed to implementing these strict tobacco laws."

Australian Council on Smoking and Health president Maurice Swanson told 6PR's Simon Etheridge he didn't believe the arguments against the amendments stood up. "In the earlier versions of the legislation a limited number of outlets were provided with an exemption so they could display tobacco products within their store," he said. "That exemption was not provided to the vast majority of retail outlets. I understand that the new reforms and the new changes are designed to remove those very generous exemptions. "Simply reducing display is reducing the opportunity for people to promote tobacco products. "The Health Department and the Health Minister are determined to further reduce the opportunity for the promotion of tobacco products, including cigars. From a health point of view... this is a positive change."

If people are going to continue to smoke cigars, they know where the limited of cigar shops are located and they'll still go there whether the products are displayed or not.