Patent Application
20250143366
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The disclosure relates to smoking material capsules and more particularly pertains to a new smoking material capsule for smoking the smoking material with a smoking implement such as a hookah.
The prior art relates to smoking material capsules, especially those adapted for use with a hookah or similar smoking implement. The smoking material capsules of the prior art comprise either rigid cups meant to be placed in a hookah bowl or malleable members which wrap around a rim of the hookah bowl. But the prior art fails to combine the advantages of rigid members to support charcoal or other heating elements at a distance from the smoking material and those of malleable members which seal to the hookah bowl, thereby ensuring that air flows only adjacent to the smoking material during use.
The prior art also fails to provide structure which maintains the smoking material away from the charcoal during use to avoid combustion or pyrolysis of the smoking material. U.S. Pat. No. 9,433,241 discloses agitators for breaking up clumps of smoking material but does not describe structure which keeps the smoking material away from the plate upon which charcoal sits during use. A need for a new smoking material capsule combining advantages of the prior art and spacing smoking material away from heating elements is therefore presented.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a basket which defines a cavity which contains a smoking material. The basket has a size such that the basket is configured to insert into a bowl of the smoking implement. The basket is air permeable, and a rim of the basket defining an opening to the cavity. A skirt is coupled to a rim of the basket and extends outwardly from the basket. The skirt comprises a malleable material such that the skirt is configured to conform to an exterior surface of the bowl of the smoking implement when the basket is positioned in the bowl to form a hermetic seal between the basket and the bowl and secure the basket to the bowl. A plate coupled to the basket and covers the opening of the basket. The plate defines a plurality of holes in the plate such that the plate is air permeable and has an upper surface configured for supporting charcoal.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
A skirt 26 is coupled to and extends outwardly from the basket 12. The skirt 26 is positioned on the rim 16 of the basket 12. The skirt 26 comprises a malleable material such that the skirt 26 is configured to conform to an exterior surface 48 of the bowl 46 of the smoking implement 44 when the basket 12 is positioned in the bowl 46 to form a hermetic seal between the basket 12 and the bowl 46 and secure the basket 12 to the bowl 46. The malleable material may, for example, be a metal foil such as aluminum foil or tin foil.
A plate 28 is coupled to the basket 12 and the opening 18 of the basket 12. The plate 28 defines a plurality of holes 30 in the plate 28 such that the plate 28 is air permeable. The plate 28 has an upper surface 32 configured for supporting charcoal 50. The plate 28 is rigid such that the charcoal 50 does not deform the plate 28 when lying on the upper surface 32. The holes 30 of the plate 28 may be larger than the apertures 22 formed by the meshed wire 20 of the basket 12. A liner 34 is removably mounted between the basket 12 and the plate 28. The liner 34 covers the opening 18 of the basket 12 and is air impermeable. While mounted between the basket 12 and the plate 28, the liner 34 retains the smoking material 24 away from the plate 28. The cavity 14 of the basket 12 also has a size such that the smoking material 24 is positionable to be spaced from the plate 28. A pull tab 40 is coupled to and extends away from a perimeter edge 36 of the liner 34.
A plurality of connectors 42 is coupled to the basket 12, the skirt 26, and the plate 28. The plurality of connectors 42 couples the basket 12 to the skirt 26 and the plate 28 and clamps the liner 34 between the skirt 26 and the basket 12. Each connector 42 of the plurality of connectors 42 comprises a rivet but may comprise a nut-and-bolt assembly, another threaded fastener, a weldment, or the like. Notches 38 may extend into the perimeter edge 36 of the liner 34 to accommodate the connectors 42 when the liner 34 is mounted between the basket 12 and the plate 28. Such notches 38 enable the liner 34 to be more easily clamped by the connectors 42 because the areas of the plate 28 and the basket 12 surrounding the connectors 42 experience a greater clamping force than further areas. So, a liner 34 which extends around the connectors 42 will have a greater area exposed to the areas of the plate 28 and the basket 12 which experience the greater clamping force than a liner 34 which merely lies inwardly of the connectors 42.
In use, the basket 12 is inserted into the bowl 46 of the smoking implement 44, and the skirt 26 is wrapped around the bowl 46 to form a hermetic seal between the basket 12 and the bowl 46 and to secure the basket 12 to the bowl 46. The pull tab 40 is pulled to remove the liner 34 from between the plate 28 and the basket 12. After removing the liner 34, the charcoal 50 or another heat element is placed on the plate 28 and ignited. Heat from the charcoal 50 causes the smoking material 24 to smoke. The smoke may then be drawn into the smoking implement 44 by conventional means. For example, for a hookah or similar smoking implement 44, the smoke is drawn into the smoking implement 44 by a user inhaling through a mouthpiece of the smoking implement 44 which is in fluid communication with the bowl 46.
Before removing the liner 34, the liner 34 serves to prevent the smoking material 24 from sticking to the plate 28. If the smoking material 24 were to stick to the plate 28, the smoking material 24 would be positioned near the charcoal 50 during use. Additionally, if the plate 28 is constructed of a metal or other thermally conductive material, the smoking material 24 would be separated from the charcoal 50 only by a thermal conductor. The smoking material 24 would therefore be more prone to combustion or pyrolysis due to its proximity and the ease with which heat travels through the thermal conductor than if the smoking material 24 were positioned farther down in the basket 12. Combustion or pyrolysis may result in undesirable compounds being released from the smoking material 24 into the gases inhaled by the user. The liner 34 serves to prevent such results by spacing the smoking material 24 away from the plate 28 before use with the smoking implement 44.
It may be advantageous for the holes 30 in the plate 28 to be large enough for smoking material 24 to be able to move through the holes 30 to facilitate unrestricted air flow through the holes 30. In these situations, the liner 34 may also serve to prevent the smoking material 24 from moving through the holes 30 before being used with the smoking implement 44, which would be an undesirable consequence of the holes 30 having such a size.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
