Smoke ring

Last updated
Smoke ring from a smoke chamber Smoke ring.jpg
Smoke ring from a smoke chamber
Vortex ring from Mount Etna Etna Smoke Ring.jpg
Vortex ring from Mount Etna
Smoke rings are also emitted by various types of weapons. US Special Forces soldier fires a Carl Gustav rocket during a training exercise conducted in Basrah Iraq.jpg
Smoke rings are also emitted by various types of weapons.

A smoke ring is a visible vortex ring formed by smoke in a clear atmosphere.

Contents

Smokers may blow smoke rings from the mouth, intentionally or accidentally. Smoke rings may also be formed by sudden bursts of fire (such as lighting and immediately putting out a cigarette lighter), by shaking a smoke source (such as an incense stick) up and down, by firing certain types of artillery, or by the use of special devices, such as vortex ring guns and vortex ring toys. The head of a mushroom cloud is a large smoke ring.

A smoke ring is commonly formed when a puff of smoke is suddenly injected into clear air, especially through a narrow opening. The outer parts of the puff are slowed by the still air (or by edges of the opening) relative to the central part, imparting it the characteristic poloidal flow pattern.

The smoke makes the ring visible, but does not significantly affect the flow. The same phenomenon occurs with any fluid, producing vortex rings which are invisible but otherwise entirely similar to smoke rings.

Rare visible vortex rings produced by volcanoes have been incorrectly called "smoke rings", despite being formed by the condensation of erupting steam, rather than by combustion. [1]

Smoking and breathing

Man blowing smoke rings Human smoke rings.jpg
Man blowing smoke rings

A smoker may produce rings by taking smoke into their mouth and expelling it with a tongue flick, by closing the jaw, tapping the cheek, or producing a sudden burst of air with the lungs and throat. The smoker may also use any of those methods to blow into a cloud of smoke outside their mouth.

A trick often performed in conjunction with mouth-blown smoke rings is the French inhale.[ according to whom? ]

It is also possible to produce a vapour ring by using the same techniques on a cold day by exhaling.[ citation needed ]

The most famous such steam rings were those produced during the mid-20th century by Douglas Leigh's billboard on the Hotel Claridge in New York City's Times Square, advertising Camel cigarettes. An automated steam chamber behind the billboard produced puffs of steam every four seconds, giving the appearance of smoke rings leaving the smoker's open mouth and drifting away. Inspired by a World War II-era prohibition on lighted advertising, the Camel smoker remained a Times Square landmark long afterwards. [2]

Some users of electronic cigarettes modify their devices to inhale large amounts of vapour at once, to exhale "clouds" in patterns like smoke rings. [3]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cigar</span> Rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco leaves made to be burned and smoked

A cigar is a tobacco product made to be smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of shapes and sizes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct components: the filler, the binder leaf which holds the filler together, and a wrapper leaf, for appearance and flavor, which is often the highest quality leaf used. Often there will be a cigar band printed with the cigar manufacturer's logo. Modern cigars can come with two or more, highlighting special qualities such as age and origin of the tobaccos used.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cigarette</span> Small roll of cut tobacco designed to be smoked

A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhaled via the opposite end. Cigarette smoking is the most common method of tobacco consumption. The term cigarette, as commonly used, refers to a tobacco cigarette, but the word is sometimes used to refer to other substances, such as a cannabis cigarette or an herbal cigarette. A cigarette is distinguished from a cigar by its usually smaller size, use of processed leaf, and paper wrapping, which is typically white.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Etna</span> Active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, Italy

Mount Etna, or simply Etna, is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, Italy, in the Metropolitan City of Catania, between the cities of Messina and Catania. It is located above the convergent plate margin between the African Plate and the Eurasian Plate. It is one of the tallest active volcanoes in Europe, and the tallest peak in Italy south of the Alps with a current height of 3,357 m (11,014 ft), though this varies with summit eruptions. Over a six-month period in 2021, Etna erupted so much volcanic material that its height increased by approximately 100 ft (30 m), and the southeastern crater is now the tallest part of the volcano.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mushroom cloud</span> Cloud of debris and smoke from a large explosion

A mushroom cloud is a distinctive mushroom-shaped flammagenitus cloud of debris, smoke, and usually condensed water vapor resulting from a large explosion. The effect is most commonly associated with a nuclear explosion, but any sufficiently energetic detonation or deflagration will produce the same effect. They can be caused by powerful conventional weapons, like thermobaric weapons such as the ATBIP and GBU-43/B MOAB. Some volcanic eruptions and impact events can produce natural mushroom clouds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smoking fetishism</span> Fetishism

Smoking fetishism is a sexual fetish based on the pulmonary consumption (smoking) of tobacco, most often via cigarettes, cigars, cannabis and also pipes, vapes, and hookahs to some extent. As a fetish, its mechanisms regard sexual arousal from the observation or imagination of a person smoking, sometimes including oneself.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Exhalation</span> Flow of the respiratory current out of an organism

Exhalation is the flow of the breath out of an organism. In animals, it is the movement of air from the lungs out of the airways, to the external environment during breathing. This happens due to elastic properties of the lungs, as well as the internal intercostal muscles which lower the rib cage and decrease thoracic volume. As the thoracic diaphragm relaxes during exhalation it causes the tissue it has depressed to rise superiorly and put pressure on the lungs to expel the air. During forced exhalation, as when blowing out a candle, expiratory muscles including the abdominal muscles and internal intercostal muscles generate abdominal and thoracic pressure, which forces air out of the lungs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vortex ring</span> Torus-shaped vortex in a fluid

A vortex ring, also called a toroidal vortex, is a torus-shaped vortex in a fluid; that is, a region where the fluid mostly spins around an imaginary axis line that forms a closed loop. The dominant flow in a vortex ring is said to be toroidal, more precisely poloidal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vaporizer (inhalation device)</span> Device to vaporize substances for inhalation

A vaporizer or vaporiser, colloquially known as a vape, is a device used to vaporize substances for inhalation. Plant substances can be used, commonly cannabis, tobacco, or other herbs or blends of essential oil. However, they are most commonly filled with a combination propylene glycol, glycerin, and drugs such as nicotine or tetrahydrocannabinol as a liquid solution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kretek</span> Type of Indonesian cigarette including cloves

Kretek are unfiltered cigarettes of Indonesian origin, made with a blend of tobacco, cloves, and other flavors. The word "kretek" itself is an onomatopoetic term for the crackling sound of burning cloves.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metered-dose inhaler</span> Device that helps deliver a specific amount of medication to the lungs

A metered-dose inhaler (MDI) is a device that delivers a specific amount of medication to the lungs in the form of a short burst of aerosolized medicine that is usually self-administered by the patient via inhalation. It is the most commonly used delivery system for treating asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and other respiratory diseases. The medication in a metered dose inhaler is most commonly a bronchodilator, corticosteroid or a combination of both for treating asthma and COPD. Other medications less commonly used but also administered by MDI are mast cell stabilizers, such as cromoglicate or nedocromil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Health effects of tobacco</span> Circumstances, mechanisms, and factors of tobacco consumption on human health

Tobacco products, especially when smoked or used orally, have negative effects on human health. Researchers have addressed concerns about these effects for a long time. They have focused primarily on cigarette smoking.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sip-and-puff</span> Method to send signals to a device using air pressure

Sip-and-puff or sip 'n' puff (SNP) is assistive technology used to send signals to a device using air pressure by "sipping" (inhaling) or "puffing" (exhaling) on a straw, tube or "wand." It is primarily used by people who do not have the use of their hands. It is commonly used to control a motorized wheelchair by quadriplegics with very high injury to their spinal cord or people with ALS.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smoking</span> Practice of inhaling a burnt substance for psychoactive effects

Smoking is a practice in which a substance is combusted and the resulting smoke is typically inhaled to be tasted and absorbed into the bloodstream of a person. Most commonly, the substance used is the dried leaves of the tobacco plant, which have been rolled with a small rectangle of paper into an elongated cylinder called a cigarette. Other forms of smoking include the use of a smoking pipe or a bong.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ventilated cigarette</span> Cigarette that delivers a lower concentration of chemicals than regular cigarettes

Ventilated cigarettes are considered to have a milder flavor than regular cigarettes. These cigarette brands may be listed as having lower levels of tar ("low-tar"), nicotine, or other chemicals as "inhaled" by a "smoking machine". However, the scientific evidence is that switching from regular to light or low-tar cigarettes does not reduce the health risks of smoking or lower the smoker's exposure to the nicotine, tar, and carcinogens present in cigarette smoke.

Dragonite International Limited, formerly known as Ruyan Group (Holdings) Limited, and initially, Golden Dragon Group (Holdings), is a health care and pharmaceutical company. In 2013, Imperial Tobacco purchased Dragonite's electronic cigarette division.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Animals and tobacco smoke</span> Exposure of animals to tobacco smoke

Animals are exposed to tobacco smoke and other cigarette by-products through their use as experimental subjects and through contact with smokers, as in the case of pets in houses where smoking takes place.

The vortex theory of the atom was a 19th-century attempt by William Thomson to explain why the atoms recently discovered by chemists came in only relatively few varieties but in very great numbers of each kind. Based on the idea of stable, knotted vortices in the ether or aether, it contributed an important mathematical legacy.

The use of electronic cigarettes (vaping) carries health risks. The risk depends on the fluid and varies according to design and user behavior. In the United Kingdom, vaping is considered by some to be around 95% less harmful than tobacco after a controversial landmark review by Public Health England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cloud-chasing</span> Blowing vapor with an electronic cigarette

Cloud-chasing is the activity of blowing large clouds of vapor using an electronic cigarette. Using the devices for "cloud-chasing" began in the West Coast of the US. The exact origins of the activity are unclear, but most competitive e-cigarette users say that it started around 2012. Competitive vaping is increasing in popularity internationally, spreading from the US and Canada to Indonesia. Cloud-chasing is a recreational activity and a hobby.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Composition of electronic cigarette aerosol</span>

The chemical composition of the electronic cigarette aerosol varies across and within manufacturers. Limited data exists regarding their chemistry. However, researchers at Johns Hopkins University analyzed the vape clouds of popular brands such as Juul and Vuse, and found "nearly 2,000 chemicals, the vast majority of which are unidentified."

References

  1. "Vortex rings made of water vapour rise from Italy's Mount Etna volcano". ABC News. 8 April 2024. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  2. "Blowing Smoke Rings…. | The Old Motor".
  3. Jilian Mincer (1 May 2015). "As youth vaping rises, teens cite the allure of tricks". Reuters.