Caddy for smoking accessories
A caddy for smoking accessories having compartments for a lighter, an ashtray, and a snuffer. The ashtray and the snuffer can form sealing engagements to help prevent air, odours, and liquids from entering into, or escaping from, the ashtray and the snuffer. The snuffer can have a snuffer base for holding cigarettes, cigarillos, or cigars. The caddy also comprises a carrier attachment for carrying additional cigarettes, cigarillos, or cigars. Different embodiments of the caddy can hold lighters of different shapes.
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This invention relates to caddies for smoking accessories.
BACKGROUNDCigarette litter is a growing concern. Many smokers improperly dispose of cigarette butts by discarding them on streets or sidewalks. Cigarette litter is unsightly and is an environmental problem as cigarette filters are made from non-biodegradable materials. Also, improperly disposed cigarette butts that remain smoldering are often the cause of accidental fires, which result in the loss of property and lives.
Smokers are also increasingly encouraged to stop smoking. However, cigarette packages normally carry multiple cigarettes, typically 20 to 25 cigarettes, which provides a smoker with access to a large number of cigarettes. Also, even if a smoker wishes to only partially smoke a cigarette and save the remaining portion, the cigarette loses its freshness after it is smoked and tastes different. Therefore, a smoker is likely to smoke an entire cigarette, even if they only desire to smoke a portion of it.
There is a need for a convenient apparatus which encourages smokers to properly dispose of cigarette litter, allows smokers to carry fewer cigarettes, and allows smokers to save partially smoked cigarettes.
SUMMARY OF INVENTIONThe inventors disclose a caddy for smoking accessories. In one embodiment, the caddy comprises a caddy body having a lighter compartment, an ashtray compartment, and a snuffer compartment, an ashtray slidably insertable into the ashtray compartment, and a snuffer slidably insertable into the snuffer compartment. The caddy can be made from plastic, metal, or other suitable materials. The ashtray and the snuffer may have seals for forming sealing engagements with the caddy body to help prevent air, odours, and liquids from entering into and escaping from the ashtray and the snuffer when they are inserted into the caddy.
The snuffer may also include a snuffer base slidably insertable into the snuffer compartment. The snuffer base comprises an opening through which cigarettes, cigarillos, and cigars can be inserted. The snuffer base is shaped to fit snugly around the circumference of a cigarette, cigarillos, or cigar to help prevent odours and air from escaping from the snuffer compartment.
The lighter compartment may be adapted in shape to hold lighters having different shapes.
The caddy may optionally comprise a carrier attachment for carrying additional cigarettes, cigarillos, cigars, or other smoking products. The carrier attachment can be attached to the caddy with a caddy clip.
Further aspects of the invention and features of specific embodiments of the invention are described below.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGSIn drawings which are intended to illustrate embodiments of the invention and which are not intended to limit the scope of the invention:
Throughout the following description, specific details are set forth in order to provide a more thorough understanding of the invention. However, the invention may be practised without these particulars. In other instances, well known elements have not been shown or described in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the invention. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative, rather than a restrictive, sense.
The inventors disclose a caddy for smoking accessories. The caddy is a compact, convenient, practical, and discreet device for carrying smoking accessories, unsmoked or partially smoked cigarettes, and cigarette butts. The caddy can be made from plastic or metal or any other suitable material. Preferably, the material is lightweight and flame and heat resistant.
The caddy encourages caddy users to properly dispose of cigarette butts and ashes because the caddy contains a convenient ashtray to hold cigarette butts and ashes. The ashtray feature is particularly useful when there are no convenient garbage disposal units or ashtrays near a caddy user. In such a situation, the caddy user can safely retain the cigarette butts and ashes in the ashtray so that burning butts and ashes are not accidentally discarded.
The caddy is also useful to assist smokers to stop smoking or reduce the number of cigarettes that are smoked. The caddy user can store a partially smoked cigarette in the caddy and re-smoke the cigarette at a later time. The caddy helps keeps the cigarette fresh and minimizes the release of odours from the partially smoked cigarette.
Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3, in a first embodiment, caddy 10 comprises a body 12 having a lighter compartment 14 for holding a lighter 24, a snuffer compartment 16 for holding a snuffer 20, and an ashtray compartment 18 for holding an ashtray 22. In one embodiment, caddy body 12 is elliptical shaped in cross-section. Caddy body 12, as illustrated in
Ashtray 22 is insertable into ashtray compartment 18 of caddy body 12 and ashtray 22 is held in place by friction fit. In one embodiment, ashtray compartment 18 of caddy body 12 is essentially the same cross-sectional shape as ashtray 22. Cap portion 27 of ashtray 22 contains a notch 36 which facilitates extraction of ashtray 22 from caddy body 12 when ashtray 22 is inserted. To use ashtray 22, a caddy user extracts ashtray 22 from caddy 12 to expose ashtray opening 28. Cigarette ashes and butts are deposited into ashtray 22 through opening 28, and ashtray 22 can be re-inserted into caddy body 12 to store the ashes and butts. Once ashtray 22 is full, the caddy user can extract ashtray 22 fully from caddy body 12 and discard the ashes and butts through opening 28.
In an alternative embodiment, ashtray 22 can be sealed once it is fully inserted into ashtray compartment 18 to help prevent odours from escaping therefrom. Ashtray 22 can be sealed in various ways. For example,
As discussed above, snuffer 20 also comprises a snuffer base 50 as shown in
In an alternative embodiment, snuffer 20A can comprise a tube as shown in
As shown in
In other embodiments, the cross sectional area of snuffer 20 and snuffer compartment 16 can be increased to accommodate cigarillos or cigars which have a larger circumference than cigarettes. Moreover, the length of caddy 10 can also be increased to accommodate cigarettes, cigarillos, cigars, or other smoking products having lengths that are longer than standard cigarettes.
Lighter compartment 14 of caddy body 12 may be adapted in shape to hold lighters 24 having different shapes. As shown in the embodiment in
In an alternative embodiment, as shown in
Caddy 10 may also optionally comprise a carrier attachment 58 for carrying additional cigarettes, cigarillos, cigars, or other smoking products. As illustrated in
Caddy 10 and carrier attachment 58 can be carried in a case, such as a leather carrying case which is designed to hold caddy 10 by itself or caddy 10 and carrier attachment 58 together. The carrying case optionally contains a belt clip.
As will be apparent to those skilled in the art in the light of the foregoing disclosure, many alterations and modifications are possible in the practice of this invention without departing from the spirit or scope thereof. Accordingly, the scope of the invention is to be construed in accordance with the substance defined by the following claims.
Claims
1. A caddy for smoking accessories comprising:
- a caddy body having a lighter compartment, an ashtray compartment, and a snuffer compartment;
- an ashtray slidably insertable into the ashtray compartment; and
- a snuffer slidably insertable into the snuffer compartment;
- wherein, the ashtray forms a sealing engagement with the caddy body when the ashtray is inserted into the ashtray compartment.
2. A caddy according to claim 1, wherein the ashtray comprises a seal which forms a sealing engagement with the caddy body when the ashtray is inserted into the ashtray compartment.
3. A caddy according to claim 1, wherein the snuffer comprises a snuffer chamber portion and a snuffer base slidably insertable into the snuffer compartment.
4. A caddy according to claim 3, wherein the snuffer base and the snuffer chamber portion define a chamber for holding a smoking product.
5. A caddy according to claim 3, wherein the snuffer base comprises a cup portion which surrounds the smoking product.
6. A caddy according to claim 1, wherein the snuffer comprises a tube.
7. A caddy according to claim 6, wherein the snuffer forms a sealing engagement with the caddy body when the snuffer is inserted into the snuffer compartment.
8. A caddy according to claim 1, wherein the lighter compartment comprises projections for holding a lighter in the caddy.
9. A caddy according to claim 8, wherein the shape of the projections is adjustable to accommodate lighters of different shapes.
10. A caddy according to claim 1, wherein the shape of the lighter compartment conforms to the shape of a lighter and the lighter is held in the lighter compartment by friction fit.
11. A caddy according to claim 1 comprising a carrier attachment.
12. A caddy according to claim 11, wherein the carrier attachment comprises a carrier chamber and a lid having a seal which forms a sealing engagement with the carrier chamber.
13. A caddy according to claim 11, wherein the carrier attachment is attached to the caddy body with a clip.
14. A caddy according to claim 1, wherein the ashtray compartment is disposed between the snuffer compartment and the lighter compartment.
15. A caddy according to claim 14, wherein the caddy body comprises curved openings for the lighter compartment and snuffer compartment defined by chamber walls, wherein the upper edges of said walls curve inwardly and upwardly from an outer portion of said body towards the ashtray compartment.
16. A caddy for smoking accessories comprising:
- a caddy body having a lighter compartment, an ashtray compartment, and a snuffer compartment;
- an ashtray slidably insertable into the ashtray compartment; and
- a snuffer slidably insertable into the snuffer compartment;
- wherein, the ashtray comprises a first seal which forms a sealing engagement with the caddy body when the ashtray is inserted into the ashtray compartment; and the snuffer forms a sealing engagement with the caddy body when the snuffer is inserted into the snuffer compartment.
17. A caddy according to claim 16, wherein the caddy is made of metal.
18. A caddy according to claim 17, wherein the snuffer is held in the snuffer compartment by a magnet located on said body.
19. A caddy according to claim 16, wherein the shape of the lighter compartment conforms to the shape of a lighter and the lighter is held in the lighter compartment by friction fit.
20. A caddy for smoking accessories comprising:
- a caddy body having a lighter compartment, an ashtray compartment, and a snuffer compartment;
- an ashtray slidably insertable into the ashtray compartment; and
- a snuffer slidably insertable into the snuffer compartment;
- wherein, the ashtray forms a sealing engagement with the caddy body when the ashtray is inserted into the ashtray compartment; and the snuffer comprises a snuffer chamber portion and a snuffer base slidably insertable into the snuffer compartment.
21. A caddy according to claim 20, wherein the ashtray comprises a seal which forms a sealing engagement with the caddy body when the ashtray is inserted into the ashtray compartment.
22. A caddy according to claim 20, wherein the snuffer base and the snuffer chamber portion define a chamber for holding a smoking product.
23. A caddy according to claim 22, wherein the snuffer base comprises a cup portion which surrounds the smoking product.
24. A caddy according to claim 20, wherein the lighter compartment comprises tabs for holding a lighter in the caddy.
25. A caddy according to claim 24, wherein the shape of the tabs is adjustable to accommodate lighters of different shapes.
26. A caddy for smoking accessories comprising:
- a caddy body having a lighter compartment, a snuffer compartment, and an ashtray compartment disposed between the lighter compartment and the snuffer compartment;
- an ashtray slidably insertable into the ashtray compartment; and
- a snuffer slidably insertable into the snuffer compartment;
- wherein, the caddy body comprises curved openings for the lighter compartment and snuffer compartment defined by chamber walls, wherein the upper edges of said walls curve inwardly and upwardly from an outer portion of said body towards the ashtray compartment;
- and wherein, the ashtray comprises a first seal which forms a sealing engagement with the caddy body when the ashtray is inserted into the ashtray compartment;
- and wherein, the snuffer comprises a tube which forms a sealing engagement with the caddy body when the snuffer is inserted into the snuffer compartment;
- and wherein, the shape of the lighter compartment conforms to the shape of a lighter and the lighter is held in the lighter compartment by friction fit.
27. A caddy for smoking accessories comprising:
- a caddy body having a lighter compartment, a snuffer compartment, and an ashtray compartment disposed between the lighter compartment and the snuffer compartment;
- an ashtray slidably insertable into the ashtray compartment; and
- a snuffer slidably insertable into the snuffer compartment;
- wherein, the caddy body comprises curved openings for the lighter compartment and snuffer compartment defined by chamber walls, wherein the upper edges of said walls curve inwardly and upwardly from an outer portion of said body towards the ashtray compartment;
- and wherein, the ashtray forms a sealing engagement with the caddy body when the ashtray is inserted into the ashtray compartment;
- and wherein, the snuffer comprises a snuffer chamber portion and a snuffer base slidably insertable into the snuffer compartment;
- and wherein, the lighter compartment comprises tabs for holding a lighter in the caddy and the shape of the tabs is adjustable to accommodate lighters of different shapes.
28. A caddy for smoking accessories comprising:
- a body having a lighter compartment, an ashtray compartment, and a snuffer compartment;
- an ashtray slidably insertable into said ashtray compartment; and
- a snuffer slidably insertable into said snuffer compartment;
- wherein, said ashtray compartment is disposed between said lighter compartment and said snuffer compartment.
29. A caddy according to claim 28, wherein said body is elliptical shaped in cross-section.
30. A caddy according to claim 29, wherein said body has a first curved end wall and a second curved end wall, and wherein
- (i) said lighter compartment comprises a first upper edge, wherein said first upper edge curves inwardly and upwardly from said first end wall to an upper portion of said ashtray compartment; and
- (ii) said snuffer compartment comprises a second upper edge, wherein said second upper edge curves inwardly and upwardly from said second end wall to an upper portion of said ashtray compartment.
Type: Application
Filed: Apr 26, 2004
Publication Date: Oct 27, 2005
Applicant: (Delta)
Inventors: John Bears (Delta), Sherry Dolejsi (Delta), Edward Dolejsi (Delta)
Application Number: 10/831,225