Alter : Personal Smoke Filter
Smoking is harmful to the health of a smoker as well as others who passively inhale the smoke. It is vital to quit smoking, but can a smoker also take responsibility and prevent others from inhaling their secondhand smoke unconsciously.
'Alter' is a smoking device that lets smokers and non-smokers co-exist by filtering secondhand smoke which otherwise might cause discomfort to individuals around while also creating urgency to quit and providing a way for the same through its app and attachments.
Secondhand Smoke
Tobacco smoke contains more than 7,000 chemicals, including hundreds that are toxic and about 70 that can cause cancer. People who breathe in secondhand smoke regularly are more likely to get the same diseases as smokers, including lung cancer and heart disease. Pregnant women exposed to passive smoke are more prone to premature birth and their baby is more at risk of low birthweight and cot death. Secondhand Smoke is especially harmful for children as they have less well-developed airways, lungs and immune systems.
Discourage or Coexist?
The initial intention was to demotivate individuals from smoking, but the effectiveness of the ideas were questionable since the efficiency can vary individual to individual. Therefore concluding ideation with the realisation that it took more than a tangible product to effectively help quit smoking but building a filter can prevent passive smoking and let smokers and non-smokers coexist. Through experimentation, I developed a device that contains the cigarette as well as the secondhand smoke and filters it through a combination of filters and an exhaust fan, packed into a single enclosure.
Evolution of ideas!
Coexist while Discouraging.
One of the major challenges with the direction of coexistence was to not encourage smoking in any way. It only seemed valid to simultaneously create an urgency to quit while also providing a way to do the same.
Alter
'Alter' is a smoking device that lets smokers and non-smokers co-exist by filtering secondhand smoke which otherwise might cause discomfort to individuals around while also creating urgency to quit and providing a way for the same through its app and attachments.
Load it!
Removing the cap that attaches to the body of the device using magnets to access the slot where the cigarette can be inserted before consumption and removed after the same.
Light it!
Pressing the button on the device turns on the plasma lighter which light up the cigarette as well as wakes up the device. As a push-button, the lighter turns off immediately when the button is released.
Inhale and Exhale
Once the cigarette is lit, simply inhale and exhale the smoke directly into the device. The device contains and filters the smoke from the cigarette as well as the exhaled smoke before expelling it out.
No Airborne Smoke!
The smoke is broken down and filtered through a pre-filter, a HEPA filter, and a charcoal filter before the exhaust fan expels it out through the vents leaving no airborne smoke. The entire filter can be replaced after a certain amount of use.
Gradual Steps to Quit
Providing the user with other significantly safer smoking options in the form of a heated tobacco product module and a vape module to reduce the health hazard and gradually prompt them to quit smoking.
Cohesive Experience
In conjunction with the device, the app collects and provides usage data to the user. This cohesive experience lets the user take control over their habit and strengthens the purpose of the device.
'Alter' App
Amongst other things, the app’s primary purpose is to let the user monitor their tobacco consumption and its subsequent damage to their health to create a sense of caution or urgency and persuade them into quitting.
Previous Iteration
Thank you.
