Patent Application
20220000172
This invention relates to social smoking. In particular, this invention relates to sanitarily sharing cigarettes or the like using independent, interlocking smoking tips and crowns.
In social circles, it is not uncommon for various individuals to share a cigarette, cigar, or joint, etc. However, traditional sharing requires the next individual to place his/her mouth on the same end (foot) that the previous person just placed their mouth on. Of course, this exposes the following person to potential diseases or contaminants left on the “cigarette” from the previous person. To avoid this, conventional approaches are to “cut” the virgin cigarette into individual pieces to be shared, or have the cigarette held into a cigarette holder, wherein the cigarette is then removed (causing mangling and damage to the cigarette) and then inserted into the next holder (further causing damage), and so forth. Of course, these approaches are less than ideal and more trouble than they are worth, hence social smoking still heavily relies on the traditional unsafe approach.
Given the concern for potential disease transmission, what is needed is a device or method wherein subsequent participants can avoid contact with the previous person's “mouth” piece while still enjoying the shared cigarette or the like. Embodiments of such a device are detailed below.
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 purpose is to present some concepts in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.
In one aspect of the disclosed embodiments, a social smoking device allowing shared smoking without a shared mouthpiece is provided, comprising: a hollow crown piece having a tip side and smoking material side, with at least one of a magnetic and metal crown coupler attached to the tip side; and a hollow tip piece having a mouth side and a crown side, with at least one of a metal and magnetic tip coupler attached to the crown side, wherein the crown and tip pieces are configured to removably join together via contact of the respective couplers to form a single hollow piece, the tip piece's mouth side is configured for contact with a user's mouth and the crown piece's smoking material side is configured for fitment of smoking material.
1. In another aspect of the disclosed embodiments, the above device is provided, wherein the couplers are annular shaped and disposed about a circumference of tip side and crown side of the pieces; and/or wherein the couplers are segmented arcs and disposed about a circumference of tip side and crown side of the pieces; and/or wherein the couplers are dot-shaped and disposed about a circumference of tip side and crown side of the pieces; and/or further comprising a filtering element disposed in and connecting the crown piece and the tip piece to each other; and/or wherein the tip piece's mouth side has a flattened profile; and/or further comprising creases disposed circumferentially about at least one of the crown piece and tip piece; and/or wherein the smoking material is a tobacco product in a shape of a cigarette; and/or wherein the smoking material a marijuana product in a shape of a cigarette; and/or further comprising a plurality of tip pieces; and/or a plurality of crown pieces; and/or wherein at least one of the crown piece and tip piece is made from glass, silicone, wood, metal, rubber, plastic, Pyrex, PVC, ceramic, or a precious metal; and/or wherein at least one of the crown piece and tip piece are substantially cylindrical; and/or wherein the tip piece is approximately 12 mm in diameter and approximately 30 mm in length.
In yet another aspect of the disclosed embodiments, a method for social smoking is provided, comprising: inserting a smoking material into a first end of a hollow crown piece, wherein an opposite end of the crown has at least one of a magnetic and metal crown coupler attached thereto; joining the opposite side of the crown piece to a first side of a hollow tip piece having at least one of a metal and magnetic tip coupler, wherein an opposite side of the tip piece is a mouth side; lighting the smoking material and inhaling; disjoining the crown piece from the tip piece and forwarding it to an other smoker; and joining the crown piece to a tip piece of the other smoker; and inhaling though the tip piece by the other smoker.
While various aspects and embodiments have been disclosed herein, other aspects and embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The various aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are for purposes of illustration and are not intended to be limiting, with the true scope being indicated by the following claims.
Tip 120 functions similar to a cigarette holder mouthpiece (as in the conventional arts as seen in Raw or Roor products, for example), where mouth side 127 is for placement of the user's mouth. The size of the inside hollow of side 127 of the tip 120 can be any size suitable for smoking and may be oblong, rectangular or other-shaped, according to design preference. While the crown 110 and tip 120 appear in this Fig. as matching cylindrical devices, it is understood that this is not a requirement, as these elements need only provide a passage for both fitment of the “cigarette” and movement of the resulting vapors. However, for simplicity sake and aesthetic purposes, the crown and tip are shown in this Fig. as similarly shaped. It should also be noted that optional creases 118 in the crown 110 and optional creases 128 in the tip 120 are illustrated here, as these creases are sometimes found in commercial non-exemplary tips. Their purpose may be for filtering, aesthetics, easy gripping or for other uses, but are shown here as optional elements.
Using, for example, a conventional non-exemplary tip, it can be modified so a coupling element 125 is mounted to side 123 of tip 120. Similarly, a conventional non-exemplary tip can be modified to operate as an exemplary crown via the mounting of coupling element 115 to side 117 of crown 110. Therefore, the respective coupling elements 115, 125 can be coupled together to cause both crown 110 and tip 120 to form a single smoking piece.
In an exemplary embodiment, tip's coupling element 125 can be a magnetic element or the like, which is complemented with the crown's coupling element 115, which can be a metal element or the like. As is easily understood, by placing the “connecting” sides together, the crown 110 will connect and stay affixed to the tip 120, due to the magnetic forces between the coupling element. Alternatively, in other embodiments, the tip's coupling element 125 can be a metal element or the like and the crown's tip side 117 can contain the magnetic element or the like. Alternatively, in other embodiments, the polar opposite magnet type may be used for the respective connecting elements. That is, one side (tip or crown) may have a N-pole magnet, while the other side (crown or tip) may have a S-pole magnet. The coupling force of the magnet (magnet-to-metal, or magnet-to-magnet) can be gauged to be sufficient to allow the crown 110 and tip 120 to be joined together and stay together under normal handling, and also allow a user to disconnect the tip 120 from the crown 110 without requiring extraordinary force.
The magnet(s) or metal element can be affixed or held in place by adhesive, pressure or heat impressed, etc. and etc. into the respective sides. It is understood that the coupling elements in this or other embodiments should not significantly interfere with the passage of vapors through the exemplary device, or make it unduly difficult to inhale through the exemplary device. Therefore, their size, shape and arrangement about the respective tip and crown should be taken into consideration.
Also, it is possible to have a non-annular coupling element. For example,
For the embodiments described herein, the bodies for the exemplary crown and tip may be manufactured from any desirable material, non-limiting examples being glass, silicone, wood, metal, rubber, plastic, Pyrex, PVC, ceramic, precious metals as well as composites of such. Also, the crown's material may be different than the tip's material. Further, the shapes shown for the exemplary embodiments are not the “only” shapes possible, as demonstrated by
With respect to commonly used sizes, the non-exemplary tips are commonly available (Raw brand, for example), some of which can have a diameter of approximately 12 mm and lengths of approximately 30 mm. Of course, other dimensions are possible, according to design preference. For example, the diameter of the hollow in the crown and tip may be varied to accommodate cigars or conversely “slim” cigarettes, and so forth. Therefore, changes and modifications to the sizes or shapes of the crown and tip are understood to be within the knowledge of one of ordinary skill in the art and within the spirit and scope of this disclosure.
As can be appreciated, the separability of the crown from the tip enables the crown (containing the smoking material—lit or unlit) to be passed to other persons, and joining the crowned smoking material to the other person's tips for their smoking enjoyment. Therefore, a smoking material can be shared with multiple persons without actual mouth contact on the smoking material. Further, the crown can be used to “hold” the smoking material, without physical contact of the “cigarette.”
The various aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are for purposes of illustration and are not intended to be limiting, with the true scope being indicated by the following claims.
