The first ever jailing of a licensee in connection with the smoking ban has been labelled a disgrace by a fellow rebel.
Nick Hogan was sentenced to six months in prison last week for failing to pay fines after being convicted of several offences of allowing people to light up at his pubs.
Blackpool licensee Hamish Howitt, who is still fighting his own smoke ban-related convictions, slammed the ruling made by a Bolton Crown Court judge.
He said: "I can not believe the decision that has been made and I am very worried about my friend Nick as he is very vulnerable right now.
"They have said that he has refused to pay his fines but it is just not true - he can't afford to pay them.
"He is not being a martyr and he did not want to go to jail."
Howitt, who is studying law, is currently working on an appeal for Hogan.
Meanwhile fellow licensees and anti-smoke ban campaigners have raised around £3,000 for Hogan, who used to run both the Swan Hotel and Barristers Bar in Bolton.
His wife Denise, who is licensee at the Swan with Two Necks in Chorley, Lancashire, is understood to be distraught at her husband's prison sentence.
Hogan was originally fined £3,000 and ordered to pay £7,236 in costs two years ago for four offences under the Health Act.
At the time he told The Publican: "I think the financial penalty is extortionate considering the offence. If I was a drug dealer doing small amounts of cocaine I would probably only get a slap on the wrists."