Introduction

Today's universal dilemma, covid-19, has altered the global perception of hygiene. Rather than it being an option, pre-Covid, it has become a necessity. The public has become more aware of the necessary preventive measures in order to keep themselves and their loved ones safe and exempt from sickness. The Hookah Bio-Capsule or HBC addresses this universal concern when it comes to hookah smoking. Not only does the capsule guarantee sanitation, but it also guarantees environmental wellbeing and restoration.

Field of Invention (Technical Field)

HBC (Hookah Bio-Capsule) is an invention that relates to hookahs, specifically to an enhanced, rather new, smoking experience taking into consideration environmental, hygienic, and manufacturing aspects.

Background

Ensuing the Europeans' arrival to the American continent, tobacco has been largely grown, harvested, and used as a trade item. Burning tobacco and displaying its smoke, upon exhalation, was regarded as a peace gesture and considered, by some primitive societies, a holy gift from God.

Early events suggest that smoking tobacco is a gratifying occasion and was worth all the glorification it received. Today, tobacco is receiving a conceptually similar attitude by its wide exhibition in every region of the world in all its forms: cigarettes, pipes, cigars, and water-pipe smoking. They all revolve around the nature of tobacco they comprise and differ from each other by the treatment and manipulation of the latter.

Nevertheless, the consequences of the worldwide sensation are renowned: health-wise and environment-wise.

An original, rather, tolerable materialization must address the pertinent concerns. Description of Related Material

Traditional tobacco bowls are usually made of compartments composed of clay, marble, metal, silicone, or glass. The bowl is loaded with tobacco and then covered by a sheet of aluminum foil. Lit coals are then positioned on top of the bowl which heats the tobacco up and produces smoke when a certain temperature is reached. Traditional tobacco containers which are made of clay involve a certain kind of oil which helps in the maintenance of the cohesion of the clay particles upon oven heating. This oil affects the flavor noticeably. HBC's constituents do not involve any kind of oil of any sort since it does not require a heat source in order to dry.

Other forms of tobacco bowls, being of glass, marble, and solid base, including clay, retain heat and fail to release the produced temperature resulting from the tobacco burning process.

In addition to being costly to manufacture, traditional tobacco bowls require a prolonged period of time to prepare. During assembly, which is sometimes underwent by the individual responsible for hookah preparations, tobacco is prone to contamination either from the surrounding environment, the overall preparation process, or the individual handling its preparation.

Therefore, traditional tobacco bowls do not address neither continuation of a satisfying smoking experience nor hygienic concerns in addition to energy consumption during manufacture.

Brief Summary of the Invention

After exhaustive studies and lengthy experimentations, the capsule's distinctive combination of different substances allows the manufacturing process to be fast, easy, requires less energy, and allows for mass production. Once the mixture is poured into the mold, the drying process begins simultaneously and does not need any source of heat including the conventional ovendrying step that is ordinarily used in the manufacturing of traditional tobacco bowls.

The HBC's accurate combination of components makes the transfer of heat stemming from tobacco burning extremely low which allows the capsule to be neutral to the touch and therefore easier to handle. Hence, the materials used have insulating properties which cause the slowed, delayed, and gradual burning of tobacco.

Additionally, the capsule's natural blend makes biodegradability possible, that is to say, the capsule can be dispersed, introduced into white soil, and used as minerals to nourish the latter. To tackle today's global concerns that are related to covid-19, accompanied with the fear of similar phenomena and the fact that most people are warry and careful, HBCs are one-time-use sterile capsules. They are void of bacteria and germs that might put smokers at risk of infection.

Detailed Description of the Invention

The fast manufacturing of the capsule is made possible due to the usage of materials capable of releasing moisture (water) quickly which, in turn, evaporates leaving the mix perfectly dry after 5 minutes. The overall duration of the capsule manufacturing is 15 minutes, that being for mixing, molding, and drying. Therefore, it is rapidly produced which paves the way for mass production and, due to simultaneous drying and absence of stimulated heat sources, less energy consumption.

The capsule's design allows the latter to be used on all types of hookahs having bowl-stems, including disposable and traditional hookahs. They do not require different porcelain sizes to fit on all hookahs and are securely anchored to the stem.

The blend obtained from various ingredients is easy to manipulate so it requires less mechanical and manual efforts. In order to guarantee low thermal conductivity, many types of insulators were understudied, including cellulose, polyurethane, polystyrene, mica, perlite, and aerogels. The insulating material that is the easiest to manipulate but has low thermal conductivity was chosen knowing that the thermal conductivity value obtained was calculated taking into consideration the thickness of the material that ought to be used and the maximum temperature it will be exposed to. This insulating material provides low heat transference so the outer surface of the capsule remains neutral to the touch, and although this material has good insulating properties, the core temperature doesn't rise to a damaging temperature and is maintained at 200 degrees Celsius (doesn't damage tobacco) but, on the contrary, maintains the moisture of tobacco and its flavor for a prolonged period of time. It also does not inhibit the uniform transfer of heat across the capsule.

After consumption, the capsule can be dispersed manually and introduced to white soil where it functions as mineral salts nourishing plants and promoting their growth. Thus, the name "Bio-Capsule" as in biodegradable capsule. Since its main constituents, including calcium sulfate, are dissolvable and biodegradable. Throughout the manufacturing process, prior and during packaging, the disinfected and sterilized space ensures a germ-free product and, being a one-time use capsule, it promises cleanliness and asepsis. This succeeds at addressing concerns regarding covid-19 and its viral mimics. The clean seal also guarantees no remnants that might cause irritation or the release of harmful substances upon exposure to heat or combustion.

Brief Description of Drawings

The above-mentioned characteristics can be better seen with a reference to a non-restrictive preferred solution set out in the following diagrams, where:

Fig. 1 shows an overhead perspective view of the bio-capsule which is the object of the invention.

Fig. 2 shows an underside perspective view of the present invention.

Fig. 3 shows a side perspective view of the anterior region of the capsule of fig. 1 with diametrical details and internal structure. This part shows the protruding concavity at the center of the capsule, the compartment by which the tobacco is ought to be placed, and the thickness of the insulating bio-degradable material.

Fig. 4 shows the hookah tray on which the bio-capsule, which is the object of the invention, will be placed on.

Fig. 5 is a cutaway perspective view of the bio-capsule and its constituents.

Fig. 6 is a side perspective view showing the usage of the bio-capsule.

Detailed Description of the Embodiments

Referring to Fig. 1, an embodiment of the hookah bio-capsule is schematically illustrated. The capsule includes a tobacco compartment, an upward protrusion (3) comprising a heat inlet and outlet (1). The tobacco compartment that extends from the top of the capsule (7) to the bottom (8) is the cavity of the hookah bio-capsule which is made up of insulating material (5), of certain thickness, that is resistant to heat but maintains the moisture of the tobacco (14). The thickness varies from the protrusion (3) to its neck (2) to the capsule's edge (6) and to its bottom (9).

Referring to Fig. 4, after the tobacco (14) is inserted in the bio-capsule along its length (5) and is covered by the perforated sheet (16) of aluminum foil (15), the lit coal (17) is placed on top and the insulating material (5) constituting the capsule starts heating up and the combustion of the tobacco (14) takes place according to Fig. 5. As the temperature produced by the coal (17) increases, the external surface of the insulating material (5) remains the neutral to the touch, and the tobacco (14) takes a significantly longer time until it completely loses its moisture and becomes unconsumable (a minimum of two hours after starting consumption). Therefore, an enhanced smoking experience.

The capsule's anatomy, as shown in Fig. 3, indicates that the capsule is a container that has an interior (4) bearing an opening (1) atop a protrusion (3). The interior contains the tobacco (14) while the interior of the protrusion (10) supports and elevates the capsule on top of the hookah tray (13) that comprises the stem inlet (11) and its opening (12) which is positioned directly under the capsule's heat inlet.