Electronic cigarettes as early as 1991

[dc2k08]

As part of legal settlements in the United States, the tobacco industry was forced to disclose millions of previously confidential internal documents, most of which are now publicly available on the internet. The most comprehensive and easy to use documents site is the University of California San Francisco Legacy tobacco Documents Library: Legacy Tobacco Documents Library

Searching through these today, i came across a 1991 patent which is now owned by Philip Morris though originally I think it was filed by a separate entity. It is very similar to the electronic cigarette we know today but was never developed.

The 1991 patent lists a tubular device that takes a type of tobacco flavoured pellet which might or might not contain nicotine that "can also include an aerosol-forming material such as glycerine or water so that the smoker has the perception of inhaling and exhaling "smoke" as in a conventional cigarette." The device is remarkably similar looking to the electronic cigarettes we have today. Some reasons as to why it was never developed are given as the pellets being to complicated to make en masse but it is probably fair to say that we could have had an electronic cigarette very similar to the model we use now as early as 1991.

Another patent from 1996 which i have mentioned previously lists a device, about the size of a pager that allows the nicotine from ordinary tobacco to be vaporized once it was placed within. it was supposed to be a kind of cessation device as it was to only offer users the hit of the nicotine in vapor form with none of the flavors of the tobacco.

As you probably know, this was never developed either. Instead Philip Morris spent $200 million developing a device that prevented the "side-stream" smoke from the end of a lit cigarette from materialising. you can see the video of that one here.

 

[Rockbassray]

ROFL!!! true classic.. anyone ever light a cigarette that was put out earlier.. i bet each puff tasted like that ICK!. IT is burning the Tobacco then basically putting out.. has to be even worse then normal smoking. to be inhaling the end of a burnt cigarette each time

 

[SmokinGamer]

Besides the crappy editing, that looks so gross.

 

[Jaaxx]

A few years back I got to try an "alternate cigarette" device from one of the major tobacco companies (can't remember which). It was basically a real cigarette with a little ceramic plug on the "lit" end. The plug had a small carbon rod which burned at a low temperature vaporizing the tobacco ingredients without actually burning it.

I remember it being a little disconcerting. No smoke from the cig, and it never got smaller. And the smoke from the filter end was not even warm. Kinda sounds familiar now that I think about it

 

[dc2k08]

I think they still sell those, eclipse or something like that.

 

[NerdyCinderella]

Kool informational find dc2k08. And kool new avatar.

 

[dc2k08]

thanks NC

crazy to think that we could have had pretty much the exact same e-cigarette we have now 17 years ago if philip morris had wanted us to. that's why i would love to know what they make of the ones now and if they'll ever put that model into production.

 

[trog100]

thanks NC

crazy to think that we could have had pretty much the exact same e-cigarette we have now 17 years ago if philip morris had wanted us to. that's why i would love to know what they make of the ones now and if they'll ever put that model into production.

i seriously doubt that to be honest from a guy who had a portable phone the size and weight of a house brick back then.... ni-cads ruled the roost and no way would they have powered an e cig without wires and a belt carried power pack..

the rest yes.. the batteries no..

trog

 

[dc2k08]

the patent does actually list the use of a rechargeable battery including a capacitor. the design of the "carts" or "pellets" and the vaned graphite heating system was supposed to allow 8-10 regular drags off the charge. They also toyed with the idea of different eternal power sources. they figured the amount of energy needed for each puff was 10 joules. I don't understand a lot about electronics so it mostly goes over my head and it is a mammoth read, but if you want to go through it, the link is there in the OP.

it's a different system that gives the same results. perhaps manufacturers could pair modern lithium technology with their heating system which was based on another patent (i think) and come up with more efficient e-cig. i don't know.

 

[aaa]

Capacitor combined with battery?

It sounds like my ultracap mod idea was invented in 1991. But even todays' capacitors are not small enough to accomplish that

 

[lordmage]

i remember that one in the vid never used it but looked to bulky to use while driving. there where other attempts at a "safe" smoke i remember one in which all you did was told a match near it cause it never truely was a fire smoke it was similair to a warm smoking but there where more expensive then smokes and they quickly died

 

[Ferrel1134]

Wow a thread from 2008

 

[rekonball]

Even older than you think. New Invention of 1963: The Smokeless Non-Tobacco Cigarette | Electronic Cigarette Reviews and Blog

 

[sherid]

thanks NC

crazy to think that we could have had pretty much the exact same e-cigarette we have now 17 years ago if philip morris had wanted us to. that's why i would love to know what they make of the ones now and if they'll ever put that model into production.

Again, it was not the evil BT that prevented the development of an electronic or safe cigarette. They put millions into the research and development. It was the heavy hand of government regulations and the anti smokers who forced them to end the projects since they were not allowed to say it was a safer product. Without being able to say that, there was little to convince the public to use them.
" Although the cigarette industry has spent much of the past 50 years denying a link between smoking and disease, the industry has also dedicated a significant amount of time and money to develop a "safe" cigarette. A safe cigarette that can both satisfy smokers' demands for taste and nicotine delivery and placate public health concerns is the Holy Grail of the tobacco industry. The company that comes up with it first likely could dominate the entire industry by selling the newfangled smoke at a significant premium and grabbing market share from its competitors.

As early as the 1950s, cigarette manufacturers began looking into the prospects for "healthy" smokes.

Indeed, in the 1950s, Philip Morris researchers already saw the potential of a "healthy" cigarette and had even begun to suggest that the company could capitalize on health concerns by admitting that cigarettes were harmful. "Evidence is building up that heavy smoking contributes to lung cancer," wrote a Philip Morris scientist in July 1958. He then suggested that the company have the "intestinal fortitude to jump to the other side of the fence," and that the company would have a "wealth of ammunition" to attack competitors who did not have safer cigarettes.
Smoke screens

But several factors have stood in the way of the development of a safer smoke. Taking the toxins out of cigarette smoke has turned out to be a technological challenge. The biggest problem has been maintaining the taste and smoking sensations that smokers crave—so far, no company has overcome those obstacles. And industry lawyers have balked at the suggestions that cigarette makers embark on research to make safe cigarettes out of fears of the tricky legal problem such research would create for the entire industry. Patrick Sheehy, the former chief executive of British American Tobacco, wrote in 1986 that safe cigarette research would be tacit admission that cigarettes are dangerous. "In attempting to develop a 'safe' cigarette you are, by implication, in danger of being interpreted as accepting the current product is unsafe, and this is not a position that I think we should take," he wrote.
NOVA | "Safer" Cigarettes: A History