More than US $1 billion of tobacco is burned each year in the Hashemite Kingdom, but that number is set to plunge following an official ban on shisha pipes and smoking in cafés and restaurants.

The government originally passed a law in 2008 but only recently affected the ban, and will have revoked licenses from around 6,000 establishments by the end of 2014.

A shisha fee at a typical Amman café stands at around $4 but pipes can be purchased for not much more than $10 – around half of Jordan’s seven million inhabitants are smokers, according to statistics online.

The law also sets out to halt smoking in hospitals, schools, cinemas, libraries, museums, government buildings and on public transport. Fines are currently set between $21 and $35 but violators could face up to a month in jail.

Smoking argileh (portion of shisha) is equivalent to smoking 15 to 19 cigarettes, Jordanian Ministry of Health told the Jordan Times.

Just last year, the Turkish government banned the use of the hookah, or water pipe, in all public places.