This electronic cigarette comprises: a heating element able to vaporize a substrate during a smoking period; means for measuring an approximation of a characteristic of the voltage across the terminals of the heating element during this smoking period, said approximation being measured across the terminals of a circuit no component of which exhibits intrinsic characteristics not disturbed by the inhalations; means of estimating an approximation of said characteristic of the voltage across the terminals of the heating element in the absence of inhalation during said smoking period; means of calculating an intensity representative of the intensity of the inhalations during said smoking period on the basis of an integration of the difference between said approximations during said smoking period; and means of estimating the said quantity of substrate vaporized by the heating element at least on the basis of said intensity.

This disclosure relates to a heat sensitive electrical safety device with a manually resettable device and an automatically resettable fuse. The manually settable fuse prolongs the serviceable life of the automatically resettable fuse.

A vaporizer may include a battery portion, a cartomizer connectable with the battery portion, and a sleeve fitable over the cartomizer. The sleeve and an outer shell of the battery portion may have the same or complimentary colors or patterns. The battery portion may further include a plurality of illuminable indicators, which may illuminate to indicate, for instance, remaining voltage of a battery housed within the battery portion.

A controllable thermal warming device for delivering heat to an object by radio frequency signal. The controllable thermal warming device may include a thermal ink heating element comprising a substrate and a conductive ink fixedly disposed on the substrate, a power source operatively coupled to the conductive ink, the power source adapted to deliver a voltage to the conductive ink to cause the conductive ink to radiate heat, a controller operatively coupled to the power source and the conductive ink, the controller adapted to control the voltage delivered to the conductive ink and to detect an operating characteristic of the conductive ink and adjust the voltage in response to the operating characteristic, and means for controlling the controller by radio frequency. The controllable thermal warming device may also include a sensor to provide the operating characteristic to the controller.

A flavored vapor generator (100, 200, 300, 400) used for an electronic smoking apparatus (10) comprises a housing; a liquid retention material (155, 255) which is filled, soaked or immersed with a flavored liquid and received inside the housing; an electric heater (150, 350, 450) for heating the liquid retention material (155, 255) to generate flavored vapor; and a sensor (156, 356, 456) for monitoring soaking or wetness conditions of the liquid retention material (155, 255) and providing signals for determining whether the flavored liquid in the liquid retention material (155, 255) is exhausted or almost exhausted.

This electronic cigarette comprises: a heating element able to vapourize a substrate during a smoking period; means for measuring an approximation of a characteristic of the voltage across the terminals of the heating element during this smoking period, said approximation being measured across the terminals of a circuit no component of which exhibits intrinsic characteristics not disturbed by the inhalations; means of estimating an approximation of said characteristic of the voltage across the terminals of the heating element in the absence of inhalation during said smoking period; means of calculating an intensity representative of the intensity of the inhalations during said smoking period on the basis of an integration of the difference between said approximations during said smoking period; andmeans of estimating the said quantity of substrate vapourized by the heating element at least on the basis of said intensity.

A flavored vapor generator (100, 200, 300, 400) used for an electronic smoking apparatus (10) comprises a housing; a liquid retention material (155, 255) which is filled, soaked or immersed with a flavored liquid and received inside the housing; an electric heater (150, 350, 450) for heating the liquid retention material (155, 255) to generate flavored vapor; and a sensor (156, 356, 456) for monitoring soaking or wetness conditions of the liquid retention material (155, 255) and providing signals for determining whether the flavored liquid in the liquid retention material (155, 255) is exhausted or almost exhausted.

A control system includes a controller that is configured to determine a differential current of a heater based on a difference between a power conductor current of the heater and a neutral conductor current of the heater, determine whether the differential current of the heater is greater than a threshold differential current, and selectively perform a corrective action in response to the differential current being greater than the threshold differential current.