Here's a question for those of you that stil work with cigarettes. Do you use a metal TT or plastic? If you use a plastic TT, how do you keep it from being damaged by a lit sigarette?

I always use a plastic TT, no matter what I am vanishing (apart from my elephant )

I do, however, have a separate TT that I use for vanishing cigs or matches. You'll find the bottom of the plastic TT gets burnt and blackened. I wouldn't like to put a fresh silk in that TT!

Some may recommend putting a piece of tin foil in the bottom of the plastic TT to extinguish it as it is pushed in. I don't feel this is necessary. You'll get a good few hundred performances with a normal one, and when it does eventually burn through, it's only a few $$/££ to get a new one.

For cigarette through coat/shirt tail, I use a plastic TT. Flick most of the ash off and extinguish the cigarette immediately as you press it into the TT. The TT is discolored but it has not burned through (yet). TT’s are inexpensive so I don’t worry about damaging one.

For a in the hands vanish of a lit cigarette I don’t use a TT. I use a gimmick made for that trick made in about 1940 made of metal. The cigarette can be reproduced still lit.

I can also vanish a lit cigarette bare handed using no gimmick at all. This is accomplished by using a bit of slight of hand. It is a vanish, reappear, vanish reappear type of routine.

The late Nicabiro bother used explained a one handed cig vanish using a TT. Just do it as you apparently throw the cig upward. During this gesture, remove the TT with the fingers of the same hand, place cig in and push the thumb home.

When done smartly, looks really good!

Another unique idea is to place a very little bit of flash paper por flash cotton into the TT when doing the cig vanish. Not only does it add for effect, but it serves a purpose as well. The flash causes the match of cig to go out immediately as the vapors and air expand outward.

Just make sure if your doing this added effect that you have the TT held right in your hand so as not to sing yourself.

it looks great in performance and helps also to extinguish the match or cig. Give it a try. just remember that it does not take much flash paper or cotton for this to work.

Kyle

A product from France is called Flash Cigarettes (Imagine Createurs Dárticles) is very nice.
They look like real cigarettes but they ARE made of flash paper & cotton. They vanishes in a flash. Very easy to do and it looks like realmagic.

You can buy them here:
http://www.mephisto-magic.com/default.asp?lang=en

or

http://www.magie-climax.com/index.asp?ac......p;id=227

Cool kjell. Wonder how I missed it all these years?

I did a lot of cigarette manipulation, but stopped doing it a few years ago so I could quit smoking.

As for a TT cigarette vanish, I used a latex TT. As someone pointed out already, a plastic one will yeild a black spot - I never liked the feel or look of metal tips, they seemed heavier. Latex cost more than the plastic and are easier to find than the metal.

The latex ones don't leave a visiable burn mark and will hold up for a long time even being burned. Don't put your silks into the latex TT. You'll need to wash it frequently, otherwise it will make your thumb black. I did it many times a night during walk-around, and would wash it when I washed my hands after using the bathroom. Make sure you dry the inside or again, it'll leave your black on your thumb.

One last note, mine seemed to wear out faster by building up black ash than by actual burn. The cigarette goes out fast with no oxgyen, so the tip itself doesn't actually burn ... it more or less leaves black ash inside it. After it builds up for a while, it's useless to clean so just throw it out and buy another.

I use a SOLID, hard plastic TT for any lit cig vanishes. If you want to use a Vernet type TT, you can simply place a very small circle of tin foil into it. This will do wonders at helping to keep the end of the TT from melting or charring, and when the foil gets caked on with cig ashes, simply pull the old foil out, and put in a fresh piece. Using tin foil also makes cleaning the inside of the TT easier.

Here's a 'unique' way of adding a little suspense to a lit cig vanish: Place a dampened cotton ball into the TT, and when you put the lit cig into your fist, you get this audible 'sizzle' as the cig touches the wet cotton (really sounds as if the cig is really touching your skin.)

Hope this helps,
- - Troy

I beg to differ Magiquehands but Cigarette touching your skin does not let out a sizzle but rather the audience will hear a rather loud ooooouch.
Placing a damp cotton and the sound may lead people to think that there is some sort of device that helps extinguish the cigarette.

The idea of the cigarette 'sizzling' the skin, is from a THEATRICAL viewpoint. Of course the skin wouldn't sizzle in this way, for those of you that think by 'purist' concepts.

In film, any time that skin touches hot surfaces (stoves, irons, etc...) there is the audible 'sizzle' and smoke. Numerous people have come to accept that skin will 'sizzle' when burned with a hot object, therefore I am simply using this 'acceptance' and theatrical concept to portray the illusion as they would believe it to happen.

IF you perform the cig vanish with the 'sizzle' effect, CORRECTLY... the audience believes it is touching your skin, as happends during countless times for me.

- - Troy

I've thought about this, and I think the effect would be stronger without the wet cotton. It would indeed give the impression you were burning your flesh, so if that's what your going for use the cotton ... but ...

... I find the real strength of the effect to be the actual disappearence. When I did it, I would just kind stand there, not doing anything. Casually put my hand in the pocket. They would just stand there with this dumb look on their face, waiting for me to bring it back.

Eventually, after I played it up ... I'd be like - I'm not bringing it back! It's gone man - it has vanished, it's left the building ... forever.

This is very powerful with laymen for some reason - I have literally had people as long as 3 years later come back to me, and ask what I did with the cigarette. For some reason, it's something they don't forget. It bugs them forever, haunting them in their sleep. It's so powerful, that people have told me they had a TT at one point in their life, yet they still don't know where the cigarette went!

So ... after I thought it over, I think the wet cotton also implys that you put the cigarette out, before it vanished. I think part of it's power is the fact that it disapepared in a burning state - an element of danger which is going to trigger a built in human reflex - they expect something to catch fire. If they hear the cigarette go out on your flesh, you remove that fear factor from the effect.

But that's just my opinion, take it with as many grains of salt as you need.

In answer to the first post. I don't smoke but most of my friends do. I do quick vanishes with slight of hand. For a permanent vanish I use a p***. Never tried a TT... but then again, I'm not very experienced w/ cigs

I get great response to bare hand vanishing cig using a latex thumb tip. Just push it in and open hands out toward audience. Tip is pretty fire proof, and I keep one for cigs only, another for silks, etc, in my pocket. Still, I find all latex tips get dirty and can't really be cleaned -- tried toothpaste, per Gary Darwin's advice, works OK, but eventually I end up throwing them away. Anybody tried anything else for cleaning?

I've used the flash paper thing before, once I used a small piece that was still a little damp, and so made a sizzle sound, I was vanishing into someones shirt, and they really thought the sound was the cigarette burning their shirt.

Blue Tac, if you want to add extra insulation, blue tac will absorb the heat unlike foil, is easy to replace (ish), and gives you an extra sense of security.

Paul

I use a latex TT.

A latex TT w/ foil works fine.

I always use a p**l, but prior to that when using a tt, I would use a plastic tt. However, I had cut a metal tt just about at the nail and inserted it to the bottom of the plastic tt.
Patrick

Ttry some pink coloured foil. It's the best, e.g. in Europe are chocolates available called "Mon Cheri", wrapped in this stuff. Taste awful, but the foil is great to be placed inside a TT.

I've used the plastic TT with no problems. Jam it in there & it goes out quickly.