The problem with being a smoker (apart from that whole early death thing) is that it is getting harder and harder to do. Gone are the days of firing up a fine Havana in a crowded restaurant, or sucking on a cigarette with your morning coffee. Smokers are forced to smoke outside, adding pneumonia and hypothermia to the list of risky diseases.
You probably won't convince anyone to let you use it on a plane, but you may be able to get away with smoke-free smoking using the surprisingly stylish WISPR vaporizer from Iolite. The WISPR, designed by San Francisco designer Chris Luomanen of Thing Tank, is about as cool as it's possible to be for a lung-tarring gadget.
It works like this: You open up the box and load it with the leaves of your choice (tobacco is recommended in most jurisdictions). Close it and hit the switch to light the thing. Wait for it to heat up and then get smoking.
The vaporizer doesn't actually burn the weed inside. Instead, it heats it to 374 degrees, "creating a vapor that can be inhaled." The act of not-burning apparently decreases inhaled toxins.
The body of the WISPR is a giant heat-sink, which means it disperses heat before it can burn your hands. The unit contains a built-in butane heater, and when you're done you just fold the mouthpiece down as if it were a router antenna.
There are a few things to watch. The WISPR will get warm in use, but not uncomfortably so. A smoking session will last for around 15 minutes, and if using tobacco, you should use pipe tobacco, not rolling tobacco. This makes me think that it was really designed for some other more potent substance.
The WISPR isn't cheap. It'll cost you €200, or $270. In Spain, that's a good few months worth of cigarettes. In the UK, where tax has made tobacco prices higher, that's the rough equivalent of one pack of Marlboros*
WISPR product page [Iolite. Thanks, Pamela!]
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