SmokeGENIE – a Smoke Machine in Your Pocket Baby they shrinked the smoke machine

A new Kickstarter campaign known as SmokeGENIE from Hong Kong promises to deliver a tiny portable battery-operated smoke machine that can smoke or atmospheric haze to a scene that is thicker than the smoke produced by standard smoke machines.

Existing solutions

Existing smoke-creating techniques are not really ideal. Portable “smoke bombs” (and smoke cakes) are harmful, smells, and not exactly safe to use. Smoke machines can get pretty expensive and are usually fairly large and require AC power.

Finding a way to create smoke without any of these two methods has been the challenge a team called Practical Magic and Innovations (or PMI) based in Hong Kong took upon themselves several years ago.

The SmokeGENIE with its remote

SmokeGENIE – the portable safe solution

According to PMI the SmokeGENIE which is a small unit (about 18 cm long) which is powered by two 18650 batteries is capable of outputting smoke from 40-300 min depending on the amount of smoke (mind you this will require several refills of the 9ml tank which should be good for about 15 min each time).

The hang time of the smoke or haze is about 10-15 min with ventilation or up to 45 min without ventilation and PMI claims this translates into roughly twice the staying power of normal smoke or haze.

The smoke is created by heating a special glycerin-based formula that is said to be safe for humans and clothing (unlike some existing methods of smoke creation), they even show a model drinking the Glycerin-smoke in their video.

The unit comes with a remote control so you can place it out of sight and in the frame (behind a person or an object) and control it from a distance.

The smoke “sticks” to a model’s hair

Pricing and availability

The SmokeGENIE is said to be ready for delivery for the first supporters in January 2022 for a starting price of around $360 on Kickstarter.

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Iddo Genuth
Iddo Genuth is the founder and chief editor of LensVid.com. He has been a technology reporter working for international publications since the late 1990's and covering photography since 2009. Iddo is also a co-founder of a production company specializing in commercial food and product visual content.

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