Smokers attempting to kick the habit will soon be able to see exactly how they're doing with a lighter that keeps track of their daily cigarette breaks.
Quitbit, a lighter that syncs up with a cellphone app, shows how many times a smoker lights up per day and how long its been since their last fix. The device, which should start shipping in December, was invented by two Brown University grads who wanted to figure out a new way to kick the habit.
"If you're trying to quit gradually, this can help keep you on pace," said Ata Ghofrani, Quitbit's CEO. "Optionally, you can connect it to your cellphone and set up a reduction plan and it will show you where you are with your daily goals."
The Boston-based company has raised more than $150,000 from several investors, including Delta Dental of Rhode Island, and venture capital funds Betaspring and Haxlr8r. It was also able to raise more than $55,000 through a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign, Ghofrani said.
A Quitbit can be preordered for $99, and when it hits retail, Ghofrani expects the product to go for $149. So far, the company has close to 600 preorders, Ghofrani said.
Quitbit is going to take the money and put it into production. An industrial design already has been put together, and a free version of the Quitbit app is already available, Ghofrani said.
Users can put "hard limits" on the lighter, Ghofrani said. It can be set up to work once an hour, and if the smoker tries to light up beforehand, Quitbit won't provide the spark.
Ghofrani and Kuji Nakano, the company's chief technical officer, came up with the idea while having a cigarette. They began brainstorming about ways to cut back, and the concept of a customizable lighter stuck.
"I had the idea of setting a limit on a half-pack or quarter-pack, but I wasn't really sure how the process worked," Ghofrani said. "We started tracking our process on our phones, but none of it was seamless, so we started to think of other ways to do it. We came up with a lighter."
Quitbit's founders ran a small, five-person trial to determine how it works. Everyone involved was able to cut their smoking 30 percent over a month, Ghofrani said.
Ghofrani was able to quit smoking using the device, but Nakano still puffs.
"That's because we wanted to keep one person smoking until we actually sell it," Ghofrani said. "When you do research about smoking every day, you really don't want one."
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