The present invention relates generally to products comprised of leafy organic materials that may be smoked or inhaled upon heating, and, more particularly, to products comprised of leafy organic materials that create an authentic smoking experience when heated without being burned.
Humans have smoked tobacco, parts of plants belonging to the Cannabis genus (“cannabis”), herbs, and other leafy organic materials. In the past fifty years, people have come to recognize the harm that results from inhaling the smoke produced when organic plant material is burned or combusted.
The need for smoking alternatives and a desire for variety among consumers has resulted in development of a number of smoke-free products. Tobacco companies offer a variety of ways for people to consume the tobacco plant or to absorb nicotine (one of the simulants that occur naturally in the tobacco plant) as alternatives to smoking tobacco-filled cigarettes. Some of these alternatives include loose tobacco leaves placed between the cheek and gum, pieces of compressed powdered tobacco that dissolve in the mouth, nicotine chewing gum, and transdermal patches that release nicotine into the body through the skin.
While the aforementioned smoking alternatives enable a user to experience some of the side effects of smoking, they are unable to adequately recreate the feel and ceremonial aspect inherent in smoking cigarettes. In response to this deficiency, certain devices, such as vaporizers, have been developed that attempt to recreate the smoking experience by enabling users to orally inhale vapor or aerosol produced from heating wax or concentrated liquid containing some of the same chemicals present in tobacco, cannabis, herbs, or other leafy organic plant material, typically via a plastic tip attached to the device. Alternative designs attempt to recreate the smoking experience by warming loose leafy organic plant material to a temperature lower than the material's kindling point, but still high enough for the leafy organic plant material to release chemicals into the surrounding air to be inhaled by a user.
Despite all of the means for consuming leafy organic plant materials, many consumers remain dissatisfied with previous attempts to recreate the smoking experience. While devices that heat wax or concentrated liquids mimic a “draw” or “drag” from a cigarette, the flavors produced from these devices are unique and distinguishable from those produced by burning leafy organic plant materials. Devices that heat loose leafy organic material produce flavors that are more familiar to those produced when smoking the material. However, because of the design of these devices and the materials from which they are made, inhaling through these devices has been reported to not “feel” the same to the user as inhaling through the end of a cigarette.
Devices have been developed to heat tobacco cigarette-like sticks comprised of a wrapper, cut sheets of tobacco, and a filter similar to those found in tobacco cigarettes. Such devices enable users to inhale through a paper-wrapped filter to create a more authentic cigarette feel on the lips of the users. These sticks are cylindrical and work well with cut tobacco. Such sticks are a close substitute for tobacco cigarettes. However, the design of these sticks is not sufficient to substitute cut tobacco for leafy organic material ground prior to smoking. This deficiency results from the tendency of ground leafy organic material to fall out of cigarettes unless first packed or compressed, and also due to the design, structure, and feel of cigarettes intended to contain ground leafy organic material (commonly in the form of “joints” and/or “blunts”) being different than the design of tobacco cigarettes.
It would therefore be beneficial to provide a product that improves the experience of inhaling heated, ground, leafy organic material by recreating the feel and experience of smoking a cigarette containing ground leafy organic material.
The following presents a simplified summary in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the claimed subject matter. This summary is not an extensive overview, and is not intended to identify key/critical elements or to delineate the scope of the claimed subject matter. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.
According to one aspect of the present design, there is provided a product comprising compressed leafy organic material, paper, and a filter or crutch. The product is configured so that leafy organic material that has been compressed into a truncated cone shape and abuts a filter or a crutch at its narrow end. Paper surrounds or wraps both the compressed leafy organic material and the filter to hold them together. The paper aligns with the filter or crutch at the base or narrow end of the product and the broad end of the compressed leafy organic material.
According to a further aspect of the present design, there is provided a product, comprising compressed leafy organic material, paper, and a filter or crutch. The product is configured so that leafy organic material that has been compressed into a pyramid shape, truncated pyramid shape, cone shape, or any other shape that tapers to have at least one narrow end that abuts a filter or a crutch at its narrow end. Paper surrounds or wraps both the compressed leafy organic material and the filter to hold them together. The paper aligns with the filter or crutch at the base or narrow end of the product and the broad end of the compressed leafy organic material.
According to another aspect of the present design, there is provided a product, comprising compressed leafy organic material, a coating, and a filter or crutch. The product is configured so that leafy organic material that has been compressed into a pyramid shape, truncated pyramid shape, cone shape, truncated cone shape, or any other shape that tapers to have at least one narrow end that abuts a filter or a crutch at its narrow end. A coating may surround the compressed leafy organic material, the filter, or both.
According to another aspect of the present design, there is provided a product, comprising compressed leafy organic material, paper or coating, and a filter or crutch. The product is configured so that leafy organic material that has been compressed into a pyramid shape, truncated pyramid shape, cone shape, truncated cone shape, or any other shape that tapers to have at least one narrow end. One or more channels or grooves may be bored into or carved out of the compressed leafy organic material or created along the edges of the leafy organic material.
According to another aspect of the present design, there is provided a product, comprising compressed leafy organic material, paper or coating, and a filter or crutch. The product is configured so that leafy organic material that has been compressed into a pyramid shape, truncated pyramid shape, cone shape, truncated cone shape, or any other shape that tapers to have at least one narrow end that abuts a filter or crutch at its narrow end. The filter or crutch may contain RFID technology to track and communicate with the device to ensure quality control or to collect user habit information.
In one embodiment, there is provided an apparatus, comprising organic leafy material, a covering wrapped into a tapered cylinder around a filter, the covering configured to maintain the organic leafy material, a lower compression element configured to receive the covering wrapped into the covering around the filter and the organic leafy material, and an upper compression element configured to compress the organic leafy material in the within the covering positioned in the lower compression element using pressure.
An alternate embodiment includes an apparatus comprising organic leafy material, a filter positioned adjacent the organic leafy material, and a covering configured to maintain the organic leafy material and the filter, wherein the apparatus is physically altered to fit within a compression device.
To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, certain illustrative aspects are described herein in connection with the following description and the annexed drawings. These aspects are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of the claimed subject matter may be employed and the claimed subject matter is intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents. Other advantages and novel features may become apparent from the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the drawings.
In this document, the words “embodiment,” “variant,” and similar expressions are used to refer to particular apparatus, process, or article of manufacture, and not necessarily to the same apparatus, process, or article of manufacture. Thus, “one embodiment” (or a similar expression) used in one place or context can refer to a particular apparatus, process, or article of manufacture; the same or a similar expression in a different place can refer to a different apparatus, process, or article of manufacture. The expression “alternative embodiment” and similar phrases are used to indicate one of a number of different possible embodiments. The number of possible embodiments is not necessarily limited to two or any other quantity.
The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any embodiment or variant described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or variants. All of the embodiments and variants described in this description are exemplary embodiments and variants provided to enable persons skilled in the art to make or use the invention, and not to limit the scope of legal protection afforded the invention, which is defined by the claims and their equivalents.
The present design comprises paper wrapped to produce a truncated, open-ended cone that tapers inward at one end wherein a filter is placed inside a portion of the truncated, open-ended cone at the narrow end (or base), and the volume inside of the tapered, truncated cylinder beyond the crutch or filter is occupied by compressed leafy organic material. The compressed leafy organic material may be ground, cut, or in its whole form, and the compression rate of this leafy organic material may vary from 10% to 200%. As used herein, the term “crutch” is sometimes employed and is synonymous with the term “filter” or “tip” and none of these terms are intended to be limiting in any way.
Further, the present design provides a non-cylindrical, but instead conical, shaped end product which may in certain instances comprise a filter. The conical shaped element is technically a frustum, i.e. a truncated cone, with its narrower part going toward the user's mouth in one embodiment and its wider part, or base, positioned away from the user's mouth when smoking or vaping. According to the components illustrated herein, such a frustum or conical shape may prevent the device from separating from or pulling out of, or away from, the other components of a vaping device. Hence the conical shape of the present design is beneficial and novel, particularly when used with a device such as a vaping device.
While discussed herein primarily with respect to organic leafy materials, it is to be understood that the present product may be produced by compressing tobacco, herbs, cannabis, or other organic materials, including the non-leafy plant parts of these materials, such as flowers and/or buds from the cannabis plant, which are suitable for smoking or inhalation upon being heated.
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Compressed leafy organic material may include one or more grooves or channels. These grooves or channels may be used to improve the fit of the product within a smoking or inhalation device, to improve airflow around the product while it is being smoked or inhaled, or to create space for positioning a heating mechanism near the product. The conical or frustum shape also keeps the product from disengaging from an attached smoking or vaping device. In short, the groove provides beneficial attributes for fit within other devices or in the general use of the product.
The end product may alternatively be produced by first placing leafy organic material into a lower plug or buck 404, compressing the material using a top plug or buck 401, and then wrapping, coating, or encasing the compressed leafy organic material in paper or a suitable alternative in the desired conical or frustum shape.
While the use of lower buck 404 and top buck 401 provide one method of creating the product, the product may be created through any means in which pressure is applied to ground leafy organic material to compress the material into a desired shape. An entity or device may compress leafy organic material into a truncated cone, a non-truncated cone shape, a pyramid shape, a truncated pyramid shape, or any other acceptable shape, including a shape that tapers to have at least one narrow end.
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This particular device is designed to include a heat stake, or heating element, that is positioned inside of a channel through the central axis of the product and may heat the product, without combustion, from inside the channel. While the product may include a channel through its central axis that accommodates a central heating element, the product may alternatively be produced for different devices. Such different devices may include alternatives to a central heating element, such as heat stakes or other devices designed to heat the product from its exterior. The product may be produced with or without a central channel, as well as with or without other grooves or channels to accommodate the type and placement of various heating elements. The same is true for the other embodiments including heat stakes shown below in that they may be provided with or without a central channel and in certain cases including products or devices heating from the exterior.
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Thus according to the present design and as illustrated herein, a cone can be provided including a filter and packed with product such as a leafy organic material, with the cone including in some cases a heat stake and/or a groove, and the resultant packed cone so formed may be provided within a pipe for smoking or vaping. The resultant shape of the device placed in, for example, a vaporizer, is conical, and a conical shape is unique and provides advantages over previously available forms. The conical or frustum shape of the nug, including the conical paper cone and/or filter, results in a product used or usable in a device including a conical or frustum shaped receptacle wherein the product cannot be easily dislodged from the device.
Thus, according to one aspect of the present design, there is provided a product comprising compressed leafy organic material, paper, and a filter or crutch. The product is configured so that leafy organic material that has been compressed into a truncated cone shape or frustum shape and abuts a filter or a crutch at its narrow end. Paper surrounds or wraps both the compressed leafy organic material and the filter to hold them together. The paper aligns with the filter or crutch at the base or narrow end of the product and the broad end of the compressed leafy organic material.
According to a further aspect of the present design, there is provided a product, comprising compressed leafy organic material, paper, and a filter or crutch. The product is configured so that leafy organic material that has been compressed into a pyramid shape, truncated pyramid shape, cone shape, or any other shape that tapers to have at least one narrow end that abuts a filter or a crutch at its narrow end. Paper surrounds or wraps both the compressed leafy organic material and the filter to hold them together. The paper aligns with the filter or crutch at the base or narrow end of the product and the broad end of the compressed leafy organic material.
According to another aspect of the present design, there is provided a product, comprising compressed leafy organic material, a coating, and a filter or crutch. The product is configured so that leafy organic material that has been compressed into a pyramid shape, truncated pyramid shape, cone shape, truncated cone shape, or any other shape that tapers to have at least one narrow end that abuts a filter or a crutch at its narrow end. A coating may surround the compressed leafy organic material, the filter, or both.
According to another aspect of the present design, there is provided a product, comprising compressed leafy organic material, paper or coating, and a filter or crutch. The product is configured so that leafy organic material that has been compressed into a pyramid shape, truncated pyramid shape, cone shape, truncated cone shape, or any other shape that tapers to have at least one narrow end. One or more channels or grooves may be bored into or carved out of the compressed leafy organic material or created along the edges of the leafy organic material.
According to another aspect of the present design, there is provided a product, comprising compressed leafy organic material, paper or coating, and a filter or crutch. The product is configured so that leafy organic material that has been compressed into a pyramid shape, truncated pyramid shape, cone shape, truncated cone shape, or any other shape that tapers to have at least one narrow end that abuts a filter or crutch at its narrow end. The filter or crutch may contain RFID technology to track and communicate with the device to ensure quality control or to collect user habit information.
In one embodiment, there is provided an apparatus, comprising organic leafy material, a covering wrapped into a tapered cylinder around a filter, the covering configured to maintain the organic leafy material, a lower compression element configured to receive the covering wrapped into the covering around the filter and the organic leafy material, and an upper compression element configured to compress the organic leafy material in the within the covering positioned in the lower compression element using pressure.
An alternate embodiment includes an apparatus comprising organic leafy material, a filter positioned adjacent the organic leafy material, and a covering configured to maintain the organic leafy material and the filter, wherein the apparatus is physically altered to fit within a compression device.
What has been described above includes examples of one or more embodiments. It is, of course, not possible to describe every conceivable combination of components or methodologies for purposes of describing the aforementioned embodiments, but one of ordinary skill in the art may recognize that many further combinations and permutations of various embodiments are possible. Accordingly, the described embodiments are intended to embrace all such alterations, modifications and variations that fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Furthermore, to the extent that the term “includes” is used in either the detailed description or the claims, such term is intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term “comprising” as “comprising” is interpreted when employed as a transitional word in a claim.
The present application claims priority based on U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/618,564, filed Jan. 17, 2018, inventors David Richmond, et al., entitled “Product for Heating and Inhalation of Organic Leafy Materials,” and U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/622,789, filed Jan. 26, 2018, inventors David Richmond, et al., entitled “Conical Shaped Device Used in Heating and Inhalation of Organic Leafy Materials,” the entirety of both of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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62622789 | Jan 2018 | US | |
62618564 | Jan 2018 | US |