Lighter for heating up a smokeless cigarette

A lighter for heating-up a smokeless cigarette, wherein the cigarette comprises a cigarette body including a heating pipe made of a heat-conducting material surrounded by an outer sheath made of a thermally-insulting material, wherein a mouthpiece is attachable to an end of the cigarette body such that a stimulant disposed between the mouthpiece and the end of the heating pipe facing towards the mouthpiece is in contact with the mouthpiece, the stimulant being heatable up to a temperature sufficient to vaporize the stimulant by heating the end of the heating pipe facing away from the mouthpiece,

• wherein the lighter comprises:
• a fuel reservoir disposed in a housing,
• a burner nozzle in communication with the fuel reservoir via a valve, the valve being openable by an actuator provided on the housing,
• an igniting device disposed adjacent to the burner nozzle for igniting a flame,
• a receptacle defined in the interior of the housing, the receptacle being adjacent to the burner nozzle and the igniting device and being accessible through a hole defined in the housing, wherein the receptacle is configured such that the end of the cigarette body facing away from the mouthpiece is insertable into the receptacle so that the corresponding end of the heating pipe, which faces towards the burner nozzle, is heatable by the flame for vaporizing the stimulant and the cigarette body is removable from the receptacle after the stimulant begins to vaporize, and
• a thermal sensor configured to sense the temperature of the end portion of the inserted cigarette that faces towards the burner nozzle and configured to close the valve when a threshold temperature is exceeded.

A lighter for heating-up a smokeless cigarette, comprising:

• a fuel reservoir disposed in a housing,
• a fuel nozzle in communication with the fuel reservoir via a valve, the valve being openable by an actuator provided on the housing,
• an igniting device disposed adjacent to the burner nozzle and configured to ignite a flame when the valve is opened,
• a receptacle defined in the interior of the housing, the receptacle being adjacent to the fuel nozzle and the igniting device and being accessible through a hole defined in the housing, wherein the receptacle is configured to receive an end portion of the smokeless cigarette, and
• a thermal sensor configured to sense the temperature of the end portion of an inserted smokeless cigarette and configured to close the valve, thereby extinguishing the flame, when thermal sensor senses that a threshold temperature has been exceeded.

A method for heating-up an end portion of a smokeless cigarette, comprising:

• inserting the end portion of the smokeless cigarette into a receptacle defined in a lighter,
• igniting a flame inside the lighter so as to heat-up the end portion of a heating pipe disposed in the smokeless cigarette,
• sensing the temperature of the end portion of the smokeless cigarette while the flame is heating-up the end portion of the smokeless cigarette, and
• extinguishing the flame when the sensed temperature exceeds a predetermined threshold temperature.