Abstract:
A tool for forming a smoker&#39;s pipe from a firm fruit or vegetable such as an apple or a potato has cooperating elements with which a user readily creates a bowl for retaining ignited smoking material, without the need for a screen, and a passage communicating with the bowl to allow drawing of cooled, flavored smoke through the selected fruit or vegetable.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     This invention relates to a tool and a method for making a smoker&#39;s pipe from a firm fruit or vegetable, e.g., an apple or a potato, to provide a user a beneficial experience. More particularly, it relates to an inexpensive tool that can be easily carried in the user&#39;s pocket or purse and employed manually to quickly and easily create from a suitable fruit or vegetable a pipe to enjoy a cool and flavored smoke.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE RELATED ART  
       [0002]     Millions of smokers enjoy smoking a pipe. Smoker&#39;s pipes are made all over the world, from innumerable materials, the most popular being clay and wood. In the United States it has long been traditional, and in many places still is a common practice, to make a pipe from a piece of hollowed-out corn cob.  
         [0003]     Persons inclined to experiment, yet not particularly gifted with the skill to precisely carve a relatively hard material like a dry corn cob, may consider making a pipe from a more readily workable basic stock. Fruits such as apples and pears, which lack a large central seed, structurally are highly suitable candidates. Likewise, there are many qualified vegetables as well, e.g., potatoes, yams, beets and the like. Another quality that such basic items have is that their flesh is moist yet firm. Some also contain aromatic constituents which may flavor smoke pleasantly as it passes from the burning material to the smoker&#39;s mouth.  
         [0004]     There is clearly a need for a simple and inexpensive tool and a method that will enable pipe smokers to enjoy such an experience. The present invention meets this need. It should, of course, be clearly understood that the invention disclosed herein is not intended to enable the smoking of controlled substances or to violate any laws in any manner.  
       SUMMARY OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0005]     Accordingly, it is a principal object of this invention to provide a tool for making a smoker&#39;s pipe from a firm fruit or vegetable. The tool, in a preferred embodiment, comprises an elongate blade element having a thin cross-section, a front end shaped for non-tearing penetration into the fruit or vegetable, and at least one elongate edge to enable non-tearing cutting-out of portions of the fruit or vegetable following the penetration. The tool also comprises a cylindrical pin element for forming a small bore passage in the fruit or vegetable.  
         [0006]     In another preferred embodiment, particularly suitable for a smoker who prefers a relatively large bowl to contain the material being smoked, the tool further comprises a separate wider scooping element for scooping out a bowl-shaped portion of the fruit or vegetable.  
         [0007]     It is another principal object of this invention to provide a method of forming a smoker&#39;s pipe from a firm fruit or vegetable. The method comprises the steps of: scooping out of the fruit or vegetable, at a first location thereon, a small bowl shaped and sized to retain a material that the smoker will ignite to smoke it; forming in the fruit or vegetable, at a second location thereon, an elongate blind hole to convey smoke from the ignited material to an open external end of the bore; and forming an elongate small-diameter passage from the bottom of the bowl, through the fruit or vegetable and into the bore, to convey smoke from the bowl to the bore.  
         [0008]     These and other related and further aspects of this invention are best understood with reference to the following detailed description and drawing. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0009]     The following description focuses on how the invention, in its various embodiments, may be used with an apple. Its use, however, is not limited only to an apple, and persons of ordinary skill and manual dexterity should have no trouble in applying the tool and the method of using it to any other suitable fruit or vegetable that does not have a large seed in its middle and has a firm flesh.  
         [0010]     As best understood with reference to  FIG. 1 , the user should choose an apple  100  of a size that will allow it to be held comfortably in his or her hand while it is to be smoked. For convenience, it may initially be held firmly on a steady support surface such as a tabletop or even one of the seated user&#39;s knees (not shown for simplicity). The front or tip end  202  of a blade element  200  (described below in greater detail) is then forcibly penetrated into an upper portion of the apple in a direction indicated by arrow “P 1 ” and then turned around that direction as indicated by curved arrow “T 1 ” to effect a substantially cylindrical cut without irregularly tearing up either the skin or the flesh of the apple. Obviously, the penetration and cutting will be easy if the blade edge is sharp. However, to avoid injury to either the user, or to his or her clothing if the tool is carried in a pocket, it is best to make the edge thin without making it sharp enough to inflict unintentional cuts or scratches. A blade element having a somewhat rounded tip and made of a metal such as stainless steel, with an edge thickness preferably not more that about 1/32 nd  of an inch should be quite satisfactory. With a little manipulation of the blade element the flesh of the apple can be broken at the bottom of the cylindrical cut and a piece  102  removed as indicated by the sequential arrows “R 1 ”. With a little experience, the user should be able to thus create a bowl  104  of suitable shape and size to contain and retain the desired quantity of smoking material, e.g., pipe tobacco.  
         [0011]      FIG. 5  shows other details in a larger perspective view of blade element  200 , particularly a pair of elongate edges  204   a ,  204   b  on opposite sides. These, as best seen in  FIG. 2 , serve as cutting edges to form a cylindrical blind bore  106  by forcible insertion of the tip end  202 , preferably in the axial plane of the apple on the opposite side relative to the bowl  104 , along a direction indicated by arrow “P 2 ”, followed by a turning about that direction as indicated by arrow “T 2 ”. With a little manipulation, the user can thus break out and extract a cylindrical piece  108  of the apple as indicated by sequential arrows “R 2 ”.  
         [0012]     As best seen in  FIG. 7 , in cross-sectional view at transverse section VII-VII in  FIG. 5 , the shape and size of blade element  200  are selected to facilitate the formation of a correspondingly sized cylindrical blind bore  106 . Bore  106  is preferably made of a diameter in the range of about 0.3-0.5 inch although this is not critical and may be freely selected by the user. Blade element  200  if made of a metal can be modified with only a little effort to adjust the separation of edges  204   a ,  204   b  to determine the diameter of bore  106 . It may, alternatively, be made of any other stiff and durable plastics material, e.g., nylon, or even a composite.  
         [0013]     At the proximate end of blade element  200  may be affixed a retention element  206  to facilitate movable joining thereat to other elements as described below. The specific structure of this portion of blade element  200  is not critical, and even a simple aperture at the proximate end of blade element  202  may suffice to serve this function.  
         [0014]     As best seen in  FIG. 6 , in the longitudinal cross-sectional view at section VI-VI in  FIG. 5 , the tip end  202  may be curved in slightly to facilitate the break-out of portion  108  of the apple to create blind bore  106 . This inward curve should also help in extraction and removal of portion  102  during creation of bowl  104  in the apple.  
         [0015]     As best seen in  FIG. 3 , an elongate pin element  300 , preferably securely connected movably to blade element  200 , is now employed to form a relatively small diameter hole  110  extending from the bottom of bowl  104  toward and into cylindrical bore  106  near its blind end. This establishes communication between bowl  104  and bore  106 . Pin element  300  may conveniently be made of a length of wire preferably about ⅛ th  inch in diameter with a looped end and a length of about 3 inches. Alternatively, for connection with blade element  200 , pin element  300  may be provided with a retention element  302 .  
         [0016]     Once the apple pipe has been made as described above, the user should inspect it to ensure that bowl  104  cleanly communicates with bore  106  via hole  108 . If there is excess juice released in bowl  104  it may tend to collect in the bottom and block opening  110  at the upper end of hole  108 . This may be remedied by inserting a folded piece of paper tissue into bowl  104  to suck away and remove the excess juice. Opening  110 , being small, preferably about ⅛ inch across, eliminates the need to provide a screen or other means to ensure that the smoking material does not fall into hole  108 . Also, if inspection reveals that there is inadequate flow of air (and thus eventually of smoke) because hole  108  does not cleanly communicate with bore  106 , the user may reinsert pin element  300  via opening  110  in a slightly different direction than was chosen for original hole  108  until the problem is corrected. Inspection involves looking down both bore  106  and the new hole  108  individually.  
         [0017]     Once the apple pipe has been prepared and inspected, a quantity of smoking material  400  may be pressed into bowl  104  and ignited, with suction applied to the open end  112  of bore  108  to promote combustion and extract smoke. As may be expected, flow of the smoke through the apple will cool the smoke, remove some of the tar from it, and entrain in the smoke some of the volatile constituents contained in the apple itself, i.e., add apple flavor to the smoke. It should be possible to smoke the apple pipe for a reasonable period, and it may even be feasible to smoke it more than once over a day. When the smoking is over, unless the apple is very small, the user may even be able to eat some of the apple on opposite sides of the smoke passage.  
         [0018]     If a user wishes to create a relatively large bowl  104 , in another embodiment there is provided a scooping element  900 , best seen in  FIGS. 9, 11  and  12 , which has a thin elongate body  902  similar to that of pin element  300  and a slightly curved scoop end  904  a little wider than end  202  of blade element  200 . The desired relatively large bowl can be scooped out of the apple with scoop end  904  exactly as described above with regard to blade element end  202 , i.e., by penetration and turning to cut out and extract portion  102 .  
         [0019]     The blade, pin and scoop elements, or just the first two of them, may be kept together for cooperative use on a regular key ring. However, if the user prefers, they may be held movably relative to each other within a cover  1000  by a rivet or screw  1002 . See  FIGS. 10 and 11 . Portions  1004  and  1006  of cover  1000  will cover the blade, pin and scoop elements when they are not in use. Each of these elements can be easily rotated out of cover  1000  about rivet or screw  1002  as and when needed. A D-ring  1008  may be provided to permit retention of cover  1000  to a user&#39;s key ring or belt for convenience in carrying the tool.  
         [0020]     Use of a firm vegetable like a potato, instead of an apple, to make a pipe as described above should be a very similar experience except for any flavor the smoke may pick up during use of the resulting pipe. Provided the penetration and edge portions of the blade and pin elements are thin or sharp enough the method of using the tool should be virtually the same.  
         [0021]     All obvious variations and modifications of the invention as disclosed herein are intended to be comprehended within the invention which is limited solely by the claims appended below.