Smoking: I just don’t get it. Even if you feel it makes you look ‘cool’ and wildly attractive to the opposite sex and calms you down and…you’re just plain wrong, ok?
In Europe, lots of countries are banning smoking in public places, which has to be a good thing. The ankle-deep leaf litter of discarded butts outside these buildings is not. Even when ash cans are provided, they don’t seem to get used very effectively.
So I suggest that, rather than forcing people to stand outside in the rain, smokers should be compelled to use today’s invention. It’s a smoking mask. A cigarette is loaded into a tightly fitting breathing mask and lit by contact with a car-type integrated lighter.
Some of the incoming airstream, when inhaling, is drawn through the cigarette. On exhalation, a battery of activated carbon and particle filters stops the usual exhaust problems and removes the danger to others of passive smoking. If we employed a small cyclone separator at the outlet, this would also enable the wearer to perform the usual coughing that is all part of looking cool and grown-up.
This mask could be used as an active aid to help people give up the habit by eg displaying the number of cigarettes consumed or the ongoing cost. It could also contain a prefilter to remove increasing amounts of the toxins and addictive elements over time.
