An automated method and system for detecting the presence of a smoking product utilizing a near infrared video-processing unit in real time. One or more near infrared (NIR) video capturing units can be configured to capture a video feed. The video feed can be processed by the video-processing unit in order to detect a smoking product (e.g., a lit cigarette) within a field of view of the video capturing unit. A near infrared video sequence can be read and analyzed for the presence of a “hot spot” of a predetermined size based on pixel color information. In some cases, the motion of the hot spot can be tracked in response to the detection of the hot spot. An alarm signal can also be triggered in some cases, if the pattern of motion is consistent with that of a cigarette being smoked.