Isolate the tobacco from the filter tip with a thin layer of tinfoil and voila! A flameproof cigarette is born. Explaining his inspiration, inventor Song Yuanming, 58, a chain smoker from Jilin Province, said: "Too often I almost set the house on fire!" How it works: The tin foil cap is airtight. Firelight is automatically extinguished at the tin foil layer from the lack of oxygen, so the butt does not cause a fire.

　　Song patented his invention in September 2001. He brought his invention to the provincial government after he heard that a dropped cigarette butt was the culprit in a deadly fire that killed 54 and injured 70 in Jilin City on February 15.

　　(Xinhua)