22 Jun 2004 | Colin D. Devroe said...

In my opinion, smoking is a horrible habit. Perhaps, having a strike-anywhere cigarette that breaks each time you want to light it, could help a lot of smokers that would like to quit.

22 Jun 2004 | Jeff Adams said...

I think this is a great idea. Although I wonder what the health hazards the strike anywhere material would present.

Wait a minute, these are cigarettes we are talking about.

22 Jun 2004 | Brad Hurley said...

But think of how many people have met each other because one of them needed a light!

Seems like just another way to avoid human contact, which would be a shame; there are so few opportunities left for anyone, not just smokers.

22 Jun 2004 | Will said...

There were similarly designed cigarettes described in the sci-fi novel "Otherland" by Tad Williams. I believe these were constructed by having a pull-tab that protruded from the end of the cigarette. Pulling the tab out quickly would make the spark and light the cancer stick.

22 Jun 2004 | Don Schenck said...

Jason, you need to go to half baked and post this idea.

Cigarettes ... yuck.

22 Jun 2004 | JF said...

Wow, I've already gotten a couple emails asking me if I smoke. No, I don't. Thanks for your concern about my health though ;)

22 Jun 2004 | matthew said...

i'm just glad we're not talking about david sedaris - man am i sick of that guy.

22 Jun 2004 | Will said...

Oops...I forgot to mention that the futuristic cigarettes didn't cause cancer. Tackle that, and you will be a billionaire.

22 Jun 2004 | but that's just me said...

I agree with Brad. Even though I don't smoke and don't particularly enjoy being around those who do, unfortunately one of the only forms of chivalry left these days is when a gentleman offers to light a lady's cigarette. Speaking for all of my fellow females who do smoke, we have to take everything we can get.

22 Jun 2004 | Chris said...

"Oops...I forgot to mention that the futuristic cigarettes didn't cause cancer. Tackle that, and you will be a billionaire."

They would have to taste good (to smokers), provide the nicotine high or a reasonable facsimile, and not cause cancer. It must be harder than it seems though - I assume people have been working on it for years.

22 Jun 2004 | Darrel said...

What cigarrette design innovation we really need is biodegradable butts.

I don't care if a person smokes or not, but I have absolutely no respect for those that flick their butts in the street while driving or on the street corner. I'm all for banning smoking completely just to get rid of these damn butts everywhere.

Someone invent a biodegradable butt that dissapears in rain, have legislation mandate it, and then make a few bucks!

22 Jun 2004 | Andrew said...

Or they could just put strike-anywhere matches in the box with the cigarettes.

What's that about not over-engineering the problem? :-)

I can't imagine it would cost more to produce a match for each cigarette than it would to make a self-lighting cigarette. And think of the R&D savings!

22 Jun 2004 | waylman said...

Speaking of "almost great ideas," don't we use a number of them every day? Just look at the power industry: fossil fuels spewing polutants; nuclear power and its inherint dangers; hydro-power and its eco-system destroying dams; ... You get the idea. (No, I am not an enviromental zealot - just the first thing that came to mind).

So in that manner, yes, your idea is an "almost great idea." It would be great except for those dangeroues side effects that most seem to ignore. Of course, I suppose the cigarette in general would fit in that category now wouldn't it? Ah well.

22 Jun 2004 | Scott said...

As quite a shy person myself, I have always been a little perturbed at smokers for having such an easy means of conversing with total strangers.

Maybe by taking away the social aspect of smoking (an easy intro to someone you don't know by asking for a light), smokers will become more solitary, not enjoy smoking as much, and quit.

Hey this is a great idea!

22 Jun 2004 | Benjy said...

I'm pretty sure half the people who smoke, especially those who "only smoke when drinking" use the whole "Do you have a light?" thing as their primary pick-up line...

With you cigarettes, they'd be relegated to Match.com

Oh, there's another idea!!!! Match.com should advertise by printing their logo on matches and/or matchbooks and distribute them in bars and clubs.

22 Jun 2004 | LNJ said...

Since Benjy brought up matches/match books, I feel I will share. There is a bar in Madison WI that has the best matchbooks EVER!

Inside the cover is the good part. It reads,
Your Name:_________
Your #:____________

Always amused me. I wish I had a book left of those matches just for the sake of humour.

As for strike anywhere cigarettes... I think it would be cooler to teach people wizardery so they could just point to the tip of the cig, flame aprears, smoke enjoyed. That would be freakin' cool.

22 Jun 2004 | Don Schenck said...

Self-destructive butts: Cigars have 'em! *smile*

Cigars rule compared to cigarettes. Cigars can -- often are -- enjoyed alone. They're relaxing.

Cigars are Jack Nicholson; cigarettes are Carrot Top.

22 Jun 2004 | Helpar said...

What about, instead of strike-anywhere, you have joke cigarettes that never extinguish, like those fun birthday candles everyone loves?

22 Jun 2004 | Brandon said...

>> but that could be solved by supplying a hard tube
>> in the package that you insert the cig into prior to striking it

But, won't "Hey, you gotta light?" just turn into "Hey, you gotta tube?"?

22 Jun 2004 | Eamon said...

I only smoke when I travel. It's the best icebreaker ever invented.

22 Jun 2004 | Eamon said...

Anyway, more on topic, here's a Philip Morris memo from 1961 that discusses the idea. Apparently, there were already several U.S. patents on the concept, one as early as 1929.

22 Jun 2004 | Brad Hurley said...

It's the best icebreaker ever invented.

Actually, I think the dog is the best icebreaker ever invented.

Okay, I've never smoked anything in my life so I can't really say how smokers fare in comparison, but when I had a dog I met way more people than I ever did before or since. Some of my best friends today are people I met while walking my dog.

I've noticed that babies are a great icebreaker too, but that's a little different. I suppose a person would either have to smoke or have a dog first so they can meet the person they're going to have babies with.

23 Jun 2004 | strike_anywhere said...

this idea was used in an episode of the twilight zone (though it was just a tiny bit and not the focus of the story at all) -- the pack had a rough surface along one edge -- like a box of matches

23 Jun 2004 | but that's just me said...

Correction: Babies are a good ice breaker for MEN. Women seem to be drawn to single men with babies, while men seem to be repelled by single women with babies.

I totally agree with the biodegradable butts idea (although somehow that term sounds like a novelty rap song). Is there anything more disgusting than finding cigarette butts in the most inappropriate places...like, say, floating in a public toilet or water fountain? Not disposing of your butts properly just shows total disregard for your fellow human. Eck.

23 Jun 2004 | Jason Mevius said...

This reminds me of a former coworker. He always bitched about wanting an edible coffee cup. Instead of throwing away the cheap styrofoam cup, he wanted to eat the cup when he was done with the coffee.

23 Jun 2004 | Don Schenck said...

I always thought the best icebreaker was a smile and a "Hi; my name's Don ...".

Of course, that wouldn't work for Jason ... since his name's not Don.

23 Jun 2004 | Brad Hurley said...

Instead of throwing away the cheap styrofoam cup, he wanted to eat the cup when he was done with the coffee.

I like going to Ethiopian restaurants because you get to eat your plate as well. The food is served on a thin bread that you peel off and use to grab the food (no forks or knives are provided).

23 Jun 2004 | brian said...

i think the edible cup would be great, as well as a self-lighting cigarette, the pulltab idea seems like it would be best, cuz you could put something that ignites when oxygen is in contact, etc.
as for the buttless cigarettes. try unfiltered. those are the real cowboy killers. tell people they are wuses/posers/whatever if they smoke filtered, and that a true smoker smokes the unfiltered.

as per the cup that one consumes, you could make it out of doughnut material, or bran muffin, or something along those lines. dunkin donuts would capitalize on this, and those who leave their cups idle on their desk would be laughed at when the coffee finally seeps through the whole thing..... anyway, just my 3 cents.

23 Jun 2004 | erica said...

you ended up with the best-ever google ads on this post. candy cigarettes!

23 Jun 2004 | B said...

Make it a strike anywhere joint and then we're talkin.

24 Jun 2004 | follow the post said...

bah. bah.

24 Jun 2004 | ben said...

the hard tube sounds better, since it'd be kind of dangerous to have E-Z Light cigarettes in your pockets just lighting themselves with a scratch or two.

but still, that requires a device to light the cigarette. you guys will end up losing that somewhere, too, and still be asking for a light. just quit smoking.

24 Jun 2004 | Don Schenck said...

How about multiple GeoCaches with matches in them? That'd make smoking a challenge!

24 Jun 2004 | ~bc said...

I don't care if a person smokes or not, but I have absolutely no respect for those that flick their butts in the street while driving or on the street corner.

A-flippin'-men. One of my biggest pet peeves. I swear, it makes me so angry. The world is not your wastebasket.

Grrr...

And why would you carry cigarettes, w/o a way of lighting them? Something that boggles me. Of course, it makes me happy, because I'm allergic to cigarette smoke. So it saves me from your dirty habit that "doesn't hurt anyone but yourself."

24 Jun 2004 | Wait... said...

A better idea: Use the nicotine patch instead of smoking.

You don't have to worry about a lighter, and you don't have to hear all of the judgemental criticisms of others who don't understand how difficult it is to stop smoking.

25 Jun 2004 | DaveMo said...

I saw this very idea illustrated in an OLD issue of Popular Science from about the 1950s or 1960s, I think. They had this section of ideas sent in by readers. And I saw a related idea of an aluminum ashtray that cliped to a match book. Theres an "Almost Great Idea"... it's great until that last butt you crushed in it ignights the matches attached to it in your pocket! YEEOW!

Or, now that I think of it, perhaps I saw the Strike-anywhere cigarette idea in an old Mad magazine cartoon by Al Jaffe. I can't remember.

I'm all for the dissolving filter idea though. It's the second most obnoxious habit of almost all smokers I've known - just tossing their used cigarette butts anywhere on the ground.

26 Jun 2004 | Jeremiah Sherrill said...

Okay Now this is getting really annoying, speaking on behalf of all smokers everywhere, I am sick and tired of hearing all of you non smokers whine and cry about something that does not effect you. The cigarettes are killing us not you. So unless I come over and put out my cigarette on your forehead I don't want to hear about it. Until you all can come up with an efficient way to quit smoking that works... SHUT UP.

and by the way I do want to quit but my job means to much to me, to be worrying about quiting and dealing with nic fits while I am trying to help out my clients.

I can't even go out to dinner and light up anymore thanks to you militant freaks.

26 Jun 2004 | micheal said...

http://www.smokingpermitted.com/secondhand.html - read this

28 Jun 2004 | So true said...

Amen, Jeremiah. Glad someone finally said it.

28 Jun 2004 | SteveZ said...

This also appeared on black and white TV on Rod Sterling's Twilight Zone. An enemy soldier was captured. The captors gave him a cigarette. He grabbed it and ran across the room and tried to strike the end of it but wound up destroying the cigarette. The captors then realized that the captee knew only strikable cigarettes. It was a cool idea and clever analysis -- or so it seemed when I was ten years old.