USB E-Lighter: Cool Design that Lights Your Fire

Cool fire without flames
New USB-powered devices just keep on coming but most are just gimmicks with borderline practicality. Not so the E-Lighter, designed by Tao Ma to not only look good, but to light your smokes quickly and reliably using only the electrical power of your PC or laptop computer.

"Butane?... We don' need no stinkin' butane!"

The E-Lighter utilizes a resistance wire that glows red-hot when electricity passes through it. Remember those push-in cigarette lighters once found in most cars & trucks? Same principle - and no butane gas to suddenly run out when the craving strikes. Tao Ma states his reasons for designing the E-Lighter thusly: "You are working late in front of computers. You are watching suspenseful and breathtaking movies. You are receiving disheartening emails. Right at these moments you want to grab a cigarette to lift your mood but happen to have no lighter with you. Can you imagine how dismaying this is? Hence I designed this e-lighter for you." Gee... thanks Tao! And I don't even smoke!

Choose "Felicity", "Rich" or "Longevity"

Displaying a sexy, curvaceous profile resembling a miniature genie's bottle, the E-Lighter comes in black or white and features an on-board LED that glows through a mandala-like transparent insert in your choice of "Felicity", "Rich" or "Longevity". A flip-top lid that exposes the element when you're ready to light up. Other than the micro-hinged lid, there are no moving parts, no flints to wear down and no fuel reservoir to refill. Products like the E-Lighter might just get folks to stop snickering at "yet another silly USB gadget". (via Coroflot)


Steve Levenstein
Japanese Innovations Writer
InventorSpot.com