WO2020254856A2

WO2020254856A2 - A novel tobacco-free hookah smoking system

Info

Publication number: WO2020254856A2
Application number: PCT/IB2019/055056
Authority: WO
Inventors: Basil SHOMALY
Original assignee: Shomaly Basil
Priority date: 2019-06-17
Filing date: 2019-06-17
Publication date: 2020-12-24

Description

A NOVEL TOBACCO-FREE HOOKAH SMOKING SYSTEM

Background and description of the invention

A, Background of the invention

Tobacco use in smoking continues to be the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the world.

Tobacco smoke is a very complex mixture in which more than 6000 constituents have been identified.

Within this complex mixture, there are about 100 constituents that have been associated with smoking-related diseases in smokers.

The list of these constituents has been disclosed by the FDA of the USA under the title: Harmful & Potentially Harmful Constituents (HPHCs).

Such constituents are classified as follows:

A-About 70 constituents are considered carcinogens

B-About 25 constituents are considered respiratory toxicants.

C-About 10 constituents are considered cardiovascular toxicants

D-About 10 are considered reproductive or developmental toxicants

E-About 4 constituents are considered addictive including nicotine.

F-A number of these constituents carry one or more types of such toxicity or carcinogenic or reproducing and developing toxicity.

When tobacco is smoked in a hookah, the smoker is subjected to a number of potentially unhealthy components that are inherent to tobacco-based products.

Smoking in Hookah or Shisha is done as follows:

The hookah has a bowl-shaped head that is connected to a tubular stem that is extended into a jar or special bottle that is to be filled with water to connected to an inhaling tube (mouthpiece), and the other opening is used as a smoke check valve.

Tobacco flavored material is usually placed inside the head, which is then covered with a perforated aluminum foil. Smoldered charcoals are usually placed over the perforated Aluminum to allow for vaporizing the liquid ingredients of the flavored tobacco material, and when the smoke starts coming from the head of the Hookah and passing through the tube to the water inside the bottle it will be then inhaled by the smoker.

Usually, the smoldered charcoal that heats up the flavoring mix has a temperature between 180-200 degree C and thus most of the harmful liquid constituents of tobacco that have a boiling point below 180-200 degree C will vaporize and go out with the smoke to the mouth of the smokers.

Examples of such harmful liquid constituents are:

When the smoke containing such harmful vapors passes through water in the Hookah bottle, it partially cleared of some of those constituents that can dissolve in water, but the major health risk is still there in the smoke. It is quite obvious that smoking of cigarettes is different to smoking tobacco-rich hookah. The difference is directly related to the temperature involved during the smoking process of each.

The tobacco of cigarettes is subjected to a temperature ranging from 400 to 900 degree C. At such high temperature most of the hydrocarbon

compounds and other chemicals consisting of tobacco are burnt into ashes and black carbon. But not its constituents that have a boiling point below 400-900 degrees C, as they all vaporize and go into the smoke that goes into the smoker's mouth. For instance, nicotine has a boiling point of 247 degrees C and that is why it vaporizes into the smoke that goes directly to the mouth of the smoker and then to his bloodstream.

The temperature involved in the tobacco-rich Hookah is 180-200 degrees C which is not high enough to cause pyrolysis, and thus the tobacco

constituents are not burnt into ashes or black carbon, but instead, they are dried-up by losing up some of them that can vaporize at a temperature of 180-200 degrees C or below. There is a good chance that some of the Nicotine will vaporize in the tobacco-rich hookah system as it has a boiling point of 247 degrees C, which is still near to the highest temperature involved in the hookah smoking system which is 200 degrees C. It is a well- known fact that evaporation takes place at any temperature, but the higher the temperature the more evaporation takes place.

The demand for the use of tobacco-rich products, such as cigarettes, has been going down in recent years due to the increased awareness of the health risks associated with the smoking of tobacco. For instance, electronic hookah and cigarettes have proved to be a good alternative for nicotine delivery, and that they could be a viable way for tobacco consumers to quit the tobacco smoking habit. Several innovations for the Tobacco-free Hookah Smoking System have been disclosed, and they are described below. These innovations all use flavoring material, glycerin, and or propylene glycol, but they are using different types of tobacco substitutes. 1-https://patents.google.com/patent/EP3351121A1/en (this is related to a tobacco- free hookah smoking using a product in the form of a gel)

2-https://patents.google.com/patent/US7836896 (this is related to a tobacco- free hookah smoking system based on shredded cellulosic)

3-https://patents.google.com/patent/US7836896 (this is related to a tobacco- free hookah smoking system based on tea leaves)

4-https://patents.justia.com/patent/20030200976 (this is related to a tobacco- free hookah smoking system based on bran and soybean)

5-https://patents.google.com/patent/US20110048438 (this is related to a tobacco-free smoking system based on tea leaves)

6-https://patents.google.com/patent/WO2012060784 (this is related to a tobacco-free system based on vegetal) 7-https://patents.google.com/patent/US20160255875 the preliminary

preparation of the main organic material, at least one type of fruits (both as tobacco substitutes) is used as the main organic filling material and the mix of propylene glycol and food glycerin.

8-https://patents.google.com/patent/WO2016046208A1/en (this is related to the tobacco-free system based on apatite stones)

9-https://patents.google.com/patent/US20140069446A1/en (this is related to a tobacco-free system based on porous material such as Hydroton® synthetic clay, or Growstones® glass (or like substance).

B. Description of the Invention This invention is using Expanded Perlite as a substitute to tobacco in the flavored smoking mix intended for smoking with hookah. It is an inorganic substance that is organically certified, non-toxic, tasteless, odorless, and quite sterile. It is thermally stable (it softens at a temperature above 850 degree C) with high resistance against microbial attack.

During its expansion process, it is heated to a temperature above 870 degrees C and thus it is quite cleared from any toxic material that it might have before it was subjected to this high temperature. After expansion Perlite becomes very light with a bulk density of 0.03-0.15g/cm3 and a high oil absorption.

Under a microscope, Expanded Perlite is revealed as being covered on its surface with countless tiny cells and with such a characteristic it is proving to be highly suitable substance to be used as a substitute to tobacco in a hookah smoking system, as it has a high liquid absorption with almost double its weight. It also has a special physical property that allows the main flavored liquid smoking mix of the tobacco-free Hookah, to be absorbed only in the exterior surfaces of its particles and these liquids are prevented from entering inside them. This phenomenon is quite well known in the horticulture, forestry and agriculture practices.

Maintaining all the liquid of the smoking mix only on the exterior surface of Expanded Perlite would tends to use much less heat to vaporize this liquid. Even in this case applying the same quantity of heat (coming from

smoldered charcoal) used in the traditional hookah smoking system does not work for the benefit of this tobacco-free smoking system, as it will not then assist in getting a smooth and comfortable smoking. In addition the high liquid absorption of Expanded Perlite assists in controlling the quantity of the smoking liquid mix to be adsorbed on its surfaces to give a smooth and comfortable smoking.

Perlite is a non-renewable resource. It is a very cheap product and its world reserves are estimated at 700 million tons. It comes in granules of different size: 1-Fine Expanded Perlite: 0-2mm, 2-Medium Expanded Perlite: 1-3mm and 3- Horticultural Expanded Perlite: 2-5 mm. The most convenient Expanded Perlite for the purpose of this type of tobacco-free smoking system is the Horticultural type.

Expanded Vermiculite is almost similar to the structure of Expanded Perlite, but it has two setbacks, it is usually contaminated with toxic Asbestos, and the liquid mix of hookah smoking system does not go to the surface of its particles, but is accumulated inside them and that mix can't be easily available to give smooth smoking.

Expanded Perlite as a tobacco substitute is quite different in features and specifications of any other tobacco substitute disclosed.

This embodiment includes a mix of a sweetener based on sugars(based on carbohydrates) or sugar alcohol or natural zero calorie sweetener or modified sugars or artificial sweeteners, along with the one or two FDA approved humectants namely, vegetable glycerin (VG) and propylene glycol PG) with the flavoring agents.

The percentages by weight of the ingredients of this type of tobacco-free flavoring material shall be as follows:

Expanded Perlite: 10-90%

Flavoring agent: 5-25%

Propylene glycol: 0-50%

Vegetable Glycerin: 0-50%

Sweetener as solid: 0-25%

Water: 0-12%

Nicotine: 0-0.5%

This smoking mix is intended to be smoked alone in the hookah as it is or to be mixed with a traditional tobacco-rich flavoring material in a percentage that is left to the smokers to decide depending on their general

physiological mood. Here it is very important to note that this type of flavoring material may contain sugar or the like and sugar decomposes at 186 degrees C which is within the temperature range of smoking Hookah (180-200 deg. C), then the sugar will be decomposed while smoking the hookah to black carbon and water. The black carbon will be quite seen along with the remnants of any of the above types of the flavored smoking mix that contains sugar after smoking the hookah.

Both PG and VG are responsible for the production of vapor. But PG produces less vapor than VG. Also with the flavoring material that contains Nicotine, PG carries Nicotine a lot more efficiently than VG and it can give a better throat hit than VG.

On the production of such flavoring smoking system containing either PG or VG separately or a mix of them, the preferable choice of the Hookah users will be taken into consideration. This is whether they are after a cloudy vapor or want a soft or hard throat hit or a high or medium or low nicotine content.

The choice of the most appropriate flavoring agents for this tobacco-free hookah is very important to suit the physical characteristics of this tobacco substitute which is tasteless and odorless. The same flavoring agents used in tobacco-rich smoking system are not necessarily suitable for this type of smoking system.

It is a worthwhile mentioning that as a product due diligence and in order to investigate the viability of my invention, I have conducted several experiments on the smoking juices that are available in the market and are not intended for smoking with hookah, by mixing such juices separately with the substance used in this invention as a tobacco substitute, for the intention of using the resulting mix for smoking in tobacco-free hookah system. The resulting mixes gave me results as remarkable as smoking the mix of this subject invention in hookah. The experiments were conducted on several types of juices with and without some amendments on their ingredients.

Claims

CLAIMS 1- A novel tobacco substitute that is organically certified, tasteless, odorless, non-toxic and naturally sterile with very special features that make it a perfect tobacco substitute in a hookah smoking system.

2- A Tobacco substitute according to claim 1 that is quite

different in features and specifications of any other tobacco substitute that has been known in the market.

3- A Tobacco substitute according to claims 1&2 that when it is used to produce a form of flavored smoking system

intended for smoking with hookah it makes the smoking of Hookah less health risky, very smooth and more comfortable to the smoker than the traditional tobacco-rich hookah smoking.

4- A Tobacco substitute according to any claims 1, 2, or 3 is used to produce a form of flavored smoking system to be smoked in hookah without including nicotine in it, which is specially designed for non-addictive smokers or for smokers who are planning to quit smoking.

5- A Tobacco substitute according to claim 4 that is used to produce a form of flavored smoking system intended for smoking with hookah, by adding nicotine to it, designed for addictive smokers who want to maintain the pleasure and physiological mood they have when smoking traditional tobacco-rich hookah.

6- A Tobacco substitute according to any claims 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 when it is used to produce a form of flavored smoking system intended for smoking with hookah is specially designed to permit mixing it with any flavored tobacco-rich smoking types. Such mixing will be made by the retailor or the hookah smoker in any percentage that is convenient for the smoker to maintain the pleasure and physiological mood he/she is getting from smoking the traditional tobacco-rich hookah.

7- A Tobacco substitute according to any claims 1, 2, 3, 4 , 5 & 6 when it is used to produce a form of flavored smoking system intended for smoking with hookah so that when mixing it with other types of tobacco-rich hookah flavored smoking systems, it provides to the traditional hookah smoker the opportunity to smoke a hookah that is less health-risk than the traditional hookah and that it will generate less Harmful and Potentially Harmful Constituents included in the already used traditional smoking mix., as the content of tobacco in this new smoking form contains less tobacco.

8- A Tobacco substitute according to any claims 1, 2, 3, 4 , 5 , 6 &7 when is used to produce a form flavored smoking system intended for hookah smoking, and when mixing it with other types of traditional hookah flavored smoking systems provides the advantage to the hookah smoker of smoking a cheaper hookah flavored material. The tobacco- free smoking system is not subject to high taxes, and this results in a less cost to the smoker on mixing both types of smoking systems.

9- A Tobacco substitute according to any claims 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 &8, when made in a flavored smoking form for hookah smoking will enjoy the unique features of having less consumption of smoldered charcoal that will be required for vaporizing its liquid contents. It is consuming about 50% less than the charcoal used in the traditional hookah for vaporizing these liquid contents. Though this means that the cost of using charcoal will be almost halved, still the health risk coming from the production of poisonous Carbon Monoxide coming from the smoldered charcoal will be also halved. So this smoking embodiment can reduce two types of health risks, the one that is coming from tobacco and the one that is coming from the smoldered charcoal and this works well with the FDA endeavors to achieve that.

10- Referring to any of the smoking forms mentioned in the above claims 1-9, a new and different smoking form is also intended to be generated through the DIY (Do-It- Yourself) marketing system by selling a system of 2

components. In this case, the tobacco substitute used in this invention will be marketed separately in different weights, as the first component, and its fluid mix (juice), will be marketed as the second component, in different flavors, with or without nicotine and in different volumes. The instructions of how to mix both components will be indicated on each container.

11- An embodiment according to any of the above claims 1-10 that enjoys special features which is that the claimed substance used as a tobacco substitute does not necessitate it, on production, to be soaked with fluids coming from the flavoring material or VG or PG or the sugar solution used in the mix, and thus it will only take its need of such fluids to give a smoking form that looks almost dry with no drippings at all of such fluids which usually tends with traditional hookah smoking, to leak into the water contained in the hookah bottle, and thus contaminating it.

12- A method of production of the embodiment according to any of the above claims 1-11 (except 9) that all materials in liquid form are mixed first together in a liquid mixer. The mix is then pumped by a special dosing pump with a sprinkling nozzle that doses uniformly the liquid mix on the tobacco substitute substance that is moving on a conveyor. Then the final product is collected and packed as per market requirement.

13- A tobacco substitute, as a claimed substance has the

advantage of being conveniently converted to a type of tobacco-free hookah smoking system by mixing it with any type of flavored smoking juice available in the market, in a certain way and certain percentages with or without special amendments on these juices with the intention of using the resulting mix as a tobacco-free flavored smoking mix to be smoked in hookah.