Patent Application
20240008528
Today's universal dilemma, Covid-19, has altered the global perception of hygiene. Rather than hygiene being an option, it has now become a necessity. The public is now more aware of the necessary preventive measures required to keep themselves and their loved ones safe and exempt from sickness. The Hookah Bio-Capsule or HBC addresses this universal concern when it comes to hookah smoking. In summary, the prefilled, HBC guarantees sanitation due to its low cost, one time use and promotes environmental wellbeing and restoration due to its bio-degradable composition.
FIELD OF INVENTION (TECHNICAL FIELD) The HBC is a low cost, one-time use, bio-degradable invention that relates to hookahs, specifically to a new and enhanced smoking experience taking into consideration environmental, hygienic, and manufacturing aspects.
BACKGROUND Ensuing the Europeans' arrival to the American continent, tobacco has been largely grown, harvested, and used as a trade item. Burning tobacco and displaying its smoke, upon exhalation, was regarded as a peace gesture and considered, by some primitive societies, a holy gift from God.
Early events suggest that smoking tobacco is a gratifying occasion and was worth all the glorification it received. Today, tobacco is receiving a conceptually similar attitude by its wide exhibition in every region of the world in all its forms: cigarettes, pipes, cigars, and water-pipe smoking. They all revolve around the nature of tobacco they comprise and differ from each other by the treatment and manipulation of the latter.
Nevertheless, the consequences of the worldwide sensation are renowned: health-wise and environment-wise.
An original, rather, tolerable materialization must address the pertinent concerns.
Traditional tobacco bowls are usually made of compartments composed of clay, marble, metal, silicone, or glass. The bowl is loaded with tobacco and then covered by a sheet of aluminum foil. Lit coals are then positioned on top of the bowl which heats the tobacco up and produces smoke when a certain temperature is reached.
Traditional tobacco containers which are made of clay involve a certain kind of oil which helps in the maintenance of the cohesion of the clay particles upon oven heating. This oven heating consumes much energy and the oil negatively affects the tobacco flavor.
Other forms of tobacco bowls, being of glass, marble, and solid base, including clay, retain heat from the tobacco burning process. Hence, rapidly increasing the temperature and charring the tobacco which creates a harsh and burnt taste.
Since these bowls require much energy and are costly to manufacture, they must be reused several times, thereby placing the user at greater risk for virus contamination. When these bowls are disposed, there is limited practical recycling capability. In addition, traditional tobacco bowls require a prolonged period of time to prepare. During assembly, which is sometimes underwent by the individual responsible for hookah preparations, tobacco is prone to contamination either from the surrounding environment, the overall preparation process, or the individual handling its preparation.
Therefore, traditional tobacco bowls are energy inefficient, costly to manufacture, create an un-satisfying smoking experience lack hygienic safety, and contribute to environmental waste.
After exhaustive studies and lengthy experimentations, the pre-filled, one time use HBC's distinctive combination of different substances allows the manufacturing process to be fast and easy, requires no oil and consumes less energy, thereby allowing for low cost mass production. Once the mixture is poured into the mold, the drying process begins simultaneously and does not need any source of heat including the conventional oven-drying step that is ordinarily used in the manufacturing of traditional tobacco bowls.
The HBC's accurate combination of components makes the transfer of heat stemming from tobacco burning extremely low which allows the capsule to be neutral to the touch and therefore easier to handle. Hence, the materials used have insulating properties which cause the slowed, delayed, and gradual burning of tobacco which improves the air flow allowing the tobacco to breathe.
Additionally, the capsule's natural blend makes biodegradability possible, that is to say, the capsule can be dispersed, introduced into white soil, and used as minerals to nourish the latter. To tackle today's global concerns that are related to covid-19, accompanied with the fear of similar phenomena and the fact that most people are warry and careful, the HBC is a pre-filled, one-time-use, sterile and bio-degradable capsule. It is void of bacteria and germs that might put smokers at risk of infection.
The fast manufacturing of the HBC is made possible due to the usage of materials capable of releasing moisture (water) quickly which, in turn, evaporates leaving the mix perfectly dry after 5 minutes. The overall duration of the capsule manufacturing is 15 minutes, that being for mixing, molding, and drying. Therefore, it is rapidly produced which paves the way for mass production and, due to simultaneous drying and absence of stimulated heat sources, less energy consumption.
The capsule's design allows the latter to be used on all types of hookahs having bowl-stems, including disposable and traditional hookahs. They do not require different porcelain sizes to fit on all hookahs and are securely anchored to the stem.
The blend obtained from various ingredients is easy to manipulate so it requires less mechanical and manual efforts. In order to guarantee low thermal conductivity, many types of insulators were understudied, including cellulose, polyurethane, polystyrene, mica, perlite, and aerogels. The insulating material that is the easiest to manipulate but has low thermal conductivity was chosen knowing that the thermal conductivity value obtained was calculated taking into consideration the thickness of the material that ought to be used and the maximum temperature it will be exposed to. This insulating material provides low heat transference so the outer surface of the capsule remains neutral to the touch, and although this material has good insulating properties, the core temperature doesn't rise to a damaging temperature and is maintained at 200 degrees Celsius (which doesn't char the tobacco) while maintaining the tobacco moisture and promoting better air flow which prolongs the flavor longer. The material also promotes the uniform transfer of heat across the capsule.
After consumption one time, the capsule can be dispersed manually and introduced to white soil where it functions as mineral salts nourishing plants and promoting their growth. Thus, the name “Bio-Capsule” as in biodegradable capsule. Since its main constituents, including calcium sulfate, are dissolvable and biodegradable. Throughout the manufacturing process, prior and during pre-filling and packaging, the disinfected and sterilized space ensures a germ-free product and, being a one-time use capsule, it promises cleanliness and asepsis. This succeeds at addressing concerns regarding covid-19 and its viral mimics. The clean seal also guarantees no remnants that might cause irritation or the release of harmful substances upon exposure to heat or combustion.
The above-mentioned characteristics can be better seen with a reference to a low cost, single use and biodegradable non-restrictive preferred solution set out in the following diagrams, where:
Referring to
Referring to
The capsule's anatomy, as shown in
