The remote Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan has decided to ban all tobacco products from Wednesday, a government notification says. Shops, hotels, restaurants and bars selling tobacco products have been ordered to dispose of existing stocks before 17 December. Those who violate the ban will be fined $210 and owners of shops and hotels will lose their business licenses.

Are you a tourist who desperately wants to go to Bhutan, but who can’t go a few days without a smoke? Don’t worry, you’re OK as long as you don’t sell your stash to the locals:

The tobacco ban will not apply to foreign tourists, diplomats or those working for NGOs. [However] Foreigners selling tobacco to locals will be severely punished. “If any foreigner is caught selling tobacco products to Bhutanese nationals, he will be charged with smuggling. Tobacco will be treated as contraband,” Karma Tshering of Bhutanese Customs told the BBC.

Now what puzzles me is why people at high altitudes are smoking at all? I mean, isn’t the air thin enough? Apparently, Sherpas in Nepal do so all the time, as they lead expedititions up the mountain. And I remember reading about cases where mountaineers would suck in oxygen from a tank, then inhale their cigarette (dangerous!), and then get more oxygen, etc. (like this: “Meanwhile, Finch had been staving off the effects of altitude with regular gasps of oxygen — between puffs on a cigarette!”). However, the best quote I found on the subject was:

“This is the fucking life, no ?” — Jean Afanassieff, first frenchman on Everest (on the summit of which he smoked a cigarette waiting for the others).