The device in the photo is the real deal. A bizarre as it appears it is not AI generated, photo shopped or a social media hoax. It's a modern day Hookah. If you came of age in the 1970's you would know what a water pipe or Hookah is. But I digress.
The Robot Smoker was a novelty ashtray sold by Sears, Roebuck & Company around 1957. It has a modern-sounding name but wasn't at all robotic; just playing on the technological advancements of and more likely a play on the 'Space Age' aesthetic of the time.
You placed a lit cigarette into the holder of the weighted base and a long, flexible tube allowed you to have a smoke at a distance without getting up from your chair, interrupt your television viewing, putting down your book or paper or getting out of bed. The only thing even close to robotic was the Automatic Butt Ejector; a spring-loaded feature that flipped the spent filter our so you didn't have to touch it. Priced at $2.97 (roughly $30 nowadays). An extra dollar got you an upgrade for a two person model to accommodate whomever you were sleeping with.
Sears sold all sorta stuff throughout its long merchandising lifetime including novelties and gadgets. Unlike a useful Craftsman wrench this device never became a household staple. Within a couple of decades the health impacts of tobacco use became better-known and elaborate smoking apparatus fell out of favor.
A couple of my pals are firefighters with the local department and they would likely be horrified by this. The ad explicitly suggests its use while lounging in a chair or in bed. Vintage collectors will tell you that if you coughed or sneezed into the tube you could launch a lit cig across the room. Sounds like a peril that might very-well void the homeowners insurance you purchased from Sears as well.
Fast Fact: Elektro the Moto-Man was a giant seven foot tall robot that demonstrated its ability to smoke cigarettes at the 1939 World's Fair ostensibly to demonstrate its air-intake system. Maybe that's the inspiration for the name? Alas, all is lost to history.
My smoking history was short-lived. Good thing.
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