A four-year-old boy is in rehab in Taiwan after he became addicted to smoking his father's cigars.

The father, of Gaoxiong city, started taking his sons, aged nine and four, to a rehabilitation centre after catching them stealing his cigarettes and cigars.

"The answer was what I had expected, but the hardest to accept," he told China Times.

The boys admitted stealing and said they did it because they thought their father looked "cool" when he smoked.

The four-year-old admitted he even pleaded with his brother to borrow cigarettes from classmates when they failed to steal any from their father.

The father started taking his sons to a rehabilitation centre to overcome their nicotine addiction. However, the centre criticised him for failing to continue treatment alongside his children.

Dr Xue Guangjie said the father came to only two sessions and added: "The best way to remove a child's addiction is to set a good example."