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"I have a standard axiom: all governments lie. Don't believe anything they say. And corporations are only kinds of government."
- Frank Herbert

Self-Igniter  
  A self-lighting cigarette.  

Blantham stepped into the room, flung back his cape.

“Thank you,” he said. He seated himself on the edge of a chair, extended a case. "Cigarette ?”

“Thank you.” Magnus Ridolph gravely helped himself. He inhaled, frowned, took the cigarette from his lips, examined it.

“Excuse me,” said Blantham, producing a lighter. “I sometimes forget. I never smoke self-igniters ; I can detect the flavor of the chemical instantly, and it annoys me.”

“Unfortunate,” said Magnus Ridolph, after his cigarette was aglow. “My senses are not so precisely adjusted, and I find them extremely convenient. Now, what, can I do for you?”

Technovelgy from The Howling Bounders, by Jack Vance.
Published by Startling Stories in 1949
Additional resources -

Compare to the self-lighting cigarette from Methuselah's Children (1941) by Robert Heinlein.

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from The Howling Bounders
  More Ideas and Technology by Jack Vance
  Tech news articles related to The Howling Bounders
  Tech news articles related to works by Jack Vance

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