PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a tobacco dispenser which dispenses a product only when an attendant is properly authorized.SOLUTION: A tobacco dispenser 10 for cigarettes and other similar products includes a mechanism for dispensing stock contained in the machine. Further, the tobacco dispenser 10 is provided with an input device, such as a radio frequency identifier (RFID) reader, non-volatile memory, and control logic. The dispenser 10 is typically installed in a back-of-bar environment, where a customer in a bar or the like may ask an attendant 101 to purchase a packet of cigarettes. In order to make such a sale of cigarettes, the attendant 101 swipes an RFID card 102 against the RFID reader of the tobacco dispenser 10. This allows the RFID reader to access a unique serial number 107 contained in the RFID card 102, and the RFID card 102 can then be verified against a set of authorizations maintained in the dispenser 10. The dispenser 10 will only dispense requested cigarettes if verified.