The present invention relates to an accessory device for hookahs, namely a hookah head.
Traditional hookah devices generally include a thin dish of perforated metal, a wire mesh layer, or a layer of aluminum foil for supporting charcoal. This layer sits atop a hookah bowl (also known as a hookah head). A Hookah head or bowl receives a quantity of shredded or crushed herbal matter, such as herbs or tobacco, which may additionally contain flavored ingredients. The hookah head is mounted on a pipe that leads to a body containing a quantity of liquid for smoke filtration, and a including an internal pipe, a base for containing water, and a hose with a mouthpiece. The hose is typically attached to the body such that it has an airtight connection with air above the water in the base.
Typically, a user will first partially fill the base with water and then place the internal pipe into the water such that the body creates an airtight seal with the base. The head or bowl is then filled with tobacco and placed over the internal pipe such that an airtight seal is created between the internal pipe and the bowl. Next the user places the foil layer over the bowl, places one or more lit charcoals on the foil layer and these charcoals serve to heat the herbal matter underneath the foil layer. The plurality of perforations or a wire mesh comprising the foil layer serve as air holes that direct the heat from the burning coal into the herbal matter in the bowl while keeping the actual charcoal particles away from the bowl and the herbal matter.
When the user inhales via the hose, ambient air is pulled through the charcoals and into the hookah head via the air holes in the foil layer. The drawn air is heated by the charcoals and burns the herbal matter (and any of the present, optional flavoring ingredients), thereby producing (flavored) smoke. The produced smoke is further drawn from the bowl through the internal pipe, through the water contained in the base (where the smoke gains moisture and is cooled down), through the hose and into the user's mouth.
Traditional bowls, sometimes referred to as “Egyptian” hookah bowls, are most notably characterized by having several small holes in the bottom of the bowl that the tobacco is packed on top of. They are most commonly made of clay, although other materials may be used.
One common method of enhancing or flavoring a smoke is by dividing a fruit into two and boring a hole through the center of one of the halves. An amount of herbal smoking payload is placed at the top of one of the halves, around the central hole. The fruit is then placed on top of the bawl, or is used instead of the bawl, with the foil layer deployed directly over the fruit.
One drawback of using a fruit, is that a user must have a quantity of the fruit since the flavoring benefits of a real fruits dissipate quickly, requiring reloading of fruit and resetting of the hookah device. A user must also have tools on hand for cutting, drilling/perforating, and be willing to clean up the resulting mess. This may be quite an undertaking for an ordinary smoke and is therefore usually reserved for special occasions.
Another problem with traditional bowls is that the added flavorings take up space in the bowl, thereby reducing the amount of tobacco that can be filled per use.
Still another problem with traditional heads is that relatively newer users might add too much or too little flavorings, resulting in inconsistent flavoring of the tobacco.
The foregoing drawbacks demonstrate a need for a hookah head that offers traditional loading chamber for the herbal matter being smoked, but which may also produce consistent and long-lasting flow or flavoring.
The present invention discloses a hookah head formed by a body having a sidewall. The sidewall has a bottom end and a top end. The top end forms an upper surface, which preferably is made of a metal material. An air channel runs from the upper surface to the bottom end of the body. The air channel has a top opening corresponding to the upper surface and a bottom opening that corresponds to the bottom end of the body. The interior wall shaped substantially as a cylinder defines the air channel. The body of the hookah head between the sidewall and the interior wall defines a cavity that is preferably filled with a quantity of liquid. The bottom end of the air channel is configured to be fitted on top of an air channel of the hookah body, with the bottom opening of the air channel of the hookah head then having air communication with the grommet of the hookah device, which leads directly to the hookah pipe that is in communication with the hookah bottle.
It is preferable that the side wall and the interior wall are made from a silicone, polyurethane or resin composition that is impregnated with a sent or a combination of scents. It is further preferable that the sidewall's malleability mimics the consistency of the fruit peel of the fruit that is being impersonated.
It is also preferable that the upper surface further comprises a first rim and a second rim. The upper surface forms a band around the upper opening of the air channel, with the first rim defining the upper opening of the air channel. The second rim, which may be a protrusion of the sidewall above the upper surface, then foul's the circumference around the upper surface, and is oriented to be in a parallel and spaced apart position along the upper surface relative to the first rim. The second rim may additionally contain a second rim extension that can be removable, and which may be used to increase the holding capacity of the upper surface between the first and second rims to hold a quantity of herbal material.
The upper end of the air channel may additionally contain a concave opening formed by a mesh surface which is utilized to prevent the smoking payload or the herbal material from falling into the air channel.
Stated differently, the hookah bowl assembly comprises a hemispherical-shaped bowl head and a bowl dish. The bowl head comprises a vertical central channel having an inlet and an outlet, and an upper surface. The upper surface comprises a generally concave-shaped central cavity, a generally convex-shaped central rim surrounding the central cavity and having an outer perimeter, a generally concave toroidal-shaped upper lateral cavity surrounding the central rim, and an outer upper rim surrounding the upper lateral cavity. The bowl dish comprises an outer base and a circular bowl dish stem. The circular outer base comprises an outer wall, an inner wall, and a floor between the outer wall and the inner wall. The inner wall defines a central aperture. The circular bowl dish stem comprises a central concave-shaped mesh screen, a circular lateral base having an outer edge, and a descending outer wall depending on the outer edge. The outer wall of the dish stem is coupled to the outer perimeter of the central rim. The mesh screen of the dish stem is communication with the central cavity of the upper surface. The central aperture is in air communication with the central cavity, and the central cavity is in air communication with the central channel, the result of which is that the central aperture, central cavity and central channel form an air channel through the bowl head and said bowl dish.
In one embodiment, the bowl head comprises a silicone composition. In one embodiment, the bowl dish comprises a metal or a metal alloy composition. In one embodiment, the bowl head and the bowl dish are integrally formed. In one embodiment, the hookah bowl assembly further comprises an extension rim having a lower end. The lower end of the extension rim is detachably coupled to the outer upper rim of the bowl head. In one embodiment, the bowl head further comprises a tubular inner wall forming the central channel, and a generally toroidal-shaped lower cavity defined by the space beneath the upper surface and between the outer wall and the inner wall.
The inner cavity of the bowl head may be refillable. For example, by inserting a needle through the side wall. In one embodiment, the scent comprises a combination of scents. In one embodiment, the bowl head has an outer wall shaped and textured so as to resemble a fruit. In one embodiment, the outlet of the central channel is configured to detachably couple to a bowl grommet of the hookah device. In one embodiment, the central channel is conical.
The ring forming the second rim may be formed from one or more sections linked together.
The accompanying figures illustrate several embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. One of ordinary skill in the art readily recognizes that the particular embodiments illustrated in the figures are merely exemplary and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention.
The preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. Identical elements in the various figures are identified with the same reference numerals.
Reference will now be made in, detail to embodiment of the present invention. Such embodiments are provided by way of explanation of the present invention, which is not intended to be limited thereto. In fact, those of ordinary skill in the art may appreciate upon reading the present specification and viewing the present drawings that various modifications and variations can be made thereto.
Reference will be made in detail to the embodiments of the disclosure, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The presentation of reference numerals within parentheses indicates that the mentioned reference numeral appears in a figure other than the figure(s) under discussion.
As will be described below in connection with the drawings, the invention provides a hookah bowl assembly 10 capable of carrying or holding a smoking payload or herbal matter or flavoring/scenting tobacco to be smoked.
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In one embodiment, bowl body (12) comprises silicone and bowl dish (14a) comprises a metal or an alloy. By using silicone, bowl body (12) as provided is insulated, shatterproof and will last longer as compared to bowl body that is constructed of clay, for instance.
Methods of impregnating or scenting silicone are known in the art. Reference herein to “scent” would be understood by a person having ordinary skill in the art as imparting both scent and flavor/taste. In one embodiment, the entirety or a substantial entirety of bowl body (12) is impregnated with a scent, such as grapefruit or other citrus or non-citrus fruit scents, or a combination of such scents, during or following the manufacturing process. Such other fruit scents may include, but are but not limited to, strawberry, blueberry, grape, raspberry, orange, watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew or other known melon types, lemon, lime, mango, apple, green apple, kiwi, pear, pineapple, peach, apricot, cherry, plum banana, pomegranate, guava, papaya, carrot, and non-fruit flavors, such as, but not limited to, mint, cinnamon, vanilla, chocolate, and licorice, or a combination of any of the foregoing fruits, non-fruits or fruits and non-fruits. As referred to herein, a “combination of scents” refers to a combination of any two or more of the foregoing fruit flavors (e.g., raspberry lime), non-fruit flavors (e.g., cinnamon vanilla) or fruit and non-fruit flavors (e.g., orange mint).
As described above, during operation of a conventional hookah device, ambient air is pulled through the charcoals and into hookah bowl (12). In connection with the above-described embodiments of the invention, as heated air enters hookah bowl assembly (10), some of the aforementioned impregnated scent emanates from bowl body (12) and mixes with the newly formed smoke. In one embodiment, scent impregnated within inner wall (24) is drawn into central channel (28), at least partially from the suction force from the user, and mixes with smoke as the smoke is drawn through central channel (28).
In one embodiment, a conventional hookah bowl is substituted with a grapefruit-shaped and colored bowl, or shaped (and colored) like another citrus fruit whose flavoring is desired in the smoke. As described above, the outer wall (13) is impregnated with the scent corresponding to the fruit-shape adopted for the bowl construction. In one embodiment, the external texture of outer wall (26) of bowl (12) is constructed to resemble the external surface of the fruit whose flavoring is desired in the smoke. Such external structure may include a rough, uneven surface texture such as the appearance and feel of creasing or cracking. Alternatively, the texture may be smooth.
In one embodiment, bowl dish (14) is integrated with bowl body (12) so as to be non-separable. In the foregoing context of bowl body (12) and bowl dish (14), such “non-separable”configuration may also be referred to as being “integrally formed.” In one embodiment, the underside of bowl dish (14) is fused, such as with heat, during the manufacturing process, to the upper surface (36) of bowl body (12). In another embodiment, bowl dish (14) is removably integrated with bowl body (12).
Although this invention has been described with a certain degree of particularity, it is to be understood that the present disclosure has been made only by way of illustration and that numerous changes in the details of construction and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention. While various inventive aspects, concepts and features of the inventions may be described and illustrated herein as embodied in combination in the exemplary embodiments, these various aspects, concepts and features may be used in many alternative embodiments, either individually or in various combinations and sub-combinations thereof. Unless expressly excluded herein all such combinations and sub-combinations are intended to be within the scope of the present inventions. Still further, while various alternative embodiments as to the various aspects, concepts and features of the inventions—such as alternative materials, structures, configurations, methods, devices and components, alternatives as to form, fit and function, and so on—may be described herein, such descriptions are not intended to be a complete or exhaustive list of available alternative embodiments, whether presently known or later developed. Those skilled in the art may readily adopt one or lore of the inventive aspects, concepts or features into additional embodiments and uses within the scope of the present inventions even if such embodiments are not expressly disclosed herein. Additionally, even though some features, concepts or aspects of the inventions may be described herein as being a preferred arrangement or method, such description is not intended to suggest that such feature is required or necessary unless expressly so stated. Still further, exemplary or representative values and ranges may be included to assist in understanding the present disclosure, however, such values and ranges are not to be construed in a limiting sense and are intended to be critical values or ranges only if so expressly stated. Parameters identified as “approximate” or “about” a specified value are intended to include both the specified value and values within 10% of the specified value, unless expressly stated otherwise. Further, it is to be understood that the drawings accompanying the present disclosure may, but need not, he to scale, and therefore may be understood as teaching various ratios and proportions evident in the drawings. Moreover, while various aspects, features and concepts may be expressly identified herein as being inventive or forming part of an invention, such identification is not intended to be exclusive, but rather there may be inventive aspects, concepts and features that are fully described herein without being expressly identified as such or as part of a specific invention, the inventions instead being set forth in the appended claims, as currently written or as amended or added in the future. Descriptions of exemplary methods or processes are not limited to inclusion of all steps as being required in all cases, nor is the order that the steps are presented to be construed as required or necessary unless expressly so stated.
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