Coughing and spluttering resonated around Tweede Kamer coffeeshop in Amsterdam yesterday as customers got to grips with new Dutch smoking regulations that prohibit tobacco but not marijuana.

“They're having to smoke pure weed now and they're not used to it,” Frank, working behind the counter, said. “That's why there's all this coughing. It's going to be quite tricky.”

The Netherlands' unique approach to smoking was much in evidence yesterday as it became the latest European country after the likes of Britain and France to introduce a ban on lighting-up in public places.

Officials gave warning that offenders would face fines of between €300 (£240) and €2,400 (£1,900) if they were caught puffing on a cigarette in a bar, restaurant or café. But government lawyers said that the legislation only applied to tobacco.

Cannabis remained subject to the country's famously liberal drug laws, which allow users to possess five grams without fear of prosecution.

Jurists added that the 750 or so licensed Dutch coffeeshops could continue to stock and sell a maximum of 500 grams of cannabis, and their customers could continue to smoke it on the premises so long as it is not mixed with tobacco. “I'm going to be standing here watching them as they roll their joints now,” said Frank, who insisted that the new rules would be enforced at Tweede Kamer. “If they put any tobacco in at all, I'm going to tell them to go outside.

“The only problem is that I'm a tobacco smoker. So I'll have to go outside myself for a cigarette from time to time.” Not all coffeeshops were as laid-back as Tweede Kamer, however, as they reflected upon the impact of the ban on sales of pre-rolled joints, which cost €3.50 in most establishments, or hashish for up to €18 a gram.

Jason den Enting, the manager of Dampkring in Amsterdam, for example, was fuming. “It's the world upside down,” he said. “In other countries they look for the marijuana in the cigarette. Here they look for the cigarette in the marijuana.”

Amid fears that pure cannabis could prove too strong for users accustomed to mixing it with tobacco, other coffeeshops have been seeking alternatives. Some have bought vaporisers that enable the drug to be inhaled without smoking it. Others have been baking hash brownies and other delicacies containing their favourite plant.

But many have stopped customers from smoking altogether, which critics fear could signal the end of the coffeeshop industry.

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