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The Professional's Choice

There are things that make smoke, and then there are smoke machines. Find out why and what makes the SmokeGENIE a machine built for professionals.

“One of the hottest accessories in the creator universe right now. The Chuck Norris of smoke machines."

JASON LANIER
Photographer

“This is very great…I never imagine I can have a smoke machine this small!”

LOK CHEUNG
YouTuber

“This is in my everyday carry kit for all my film shoots. Compact, reliable and packs a punch.”

JARED MANLEY
Special Effects Supervisor

Featured Projects

Hazing Up the Kowloon Walled City with the Fog Machine

SmokeGENIE in the “Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In”《九龍城寨之圍城》

852FES Concert

In collaboration with StillHouse, a special live effect for Artist Juno Mak.

Sony A7R5

A Special Collab with Photogrpaher Siu Wan

Our Corporate Solutions

Video Production

Empowering creatives with fast, reliable atmospheric haze.

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Immersive Experiences

Unique Special Effects for live events and art Installations.

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Airflow Testing

Precise and efficient smoke output for lab and on-location tests

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An In-depth look: The era of Highly portable smoke Generation technology

An Efficient, Safe & Small Hazer Machine for Video Production

 SmokeGENIE portable hazer is the world’s first pocket hazer. Our battery fog machine is fast filling (fills a 50 sqm studio in 1 min!), has a long hang time (30 mins with ventilation) and is safe to everyone on set. There are a few elements to consider when evaluating the performance of a mini hazer – It’s precision, filling time, hang time, and most importantly, it’s safety. Check out below to learn more about how our SmokeGENIE small haze machine excels in these areas.

A Precision Battery Fog Machine

SmokeGENIE mini fog machine is not only the first pocket-sized handheld hazer, it is also the first portable haze machine that allows precision hazing.

SmokeGENIE is a battery hazer and is lightweight enough to easily operate one-handed. What’s more, thanks to its coil-based technology, the SmokeGENIE small fog machine can produce a large amount of haze with ZERO boiling time.

Combining those 2 features, SmokeGENIE portable hazer can create haze precisely where you need it, when you need it. Not just hazing up a whole room, now you have the option to just haze up the background (so it will not cover the actors’ faces), just the foreground, just part of the room, and even top/bottom of the scene. With the SmokeGENIE mini haze machine, it is all under your control.

When we researched about who usually handles the haze on set, is it the light designer? prop designer? art director? or perhaps the set designer? Ironically, the answer is - whoever is unlucky. If you have worked with large or small hazers on set, you will understand the pressure. Each adjustment can take 15-20 minutes to show, the haze keeps changing, and it just takes forever to get right. The pressure is enormous when everyone on set is ready to go, just waiting for you to haze up the set.

When we first introduced the SmokeGENIE mini hazer to film sets in Hong Kong, not only the crew were impressed, but because our SmokeGENIE handheld haze machine is so effective and intuitive to use, that the directors often ask if they can handle this portable fog machine themselves and create the scene. It is always difficult to communicate the exact level of haze directors wanted, and there is just no better haze reference than the scene created by the director.

SmokeGENIE mini fog machine is not only the first pocket-sized handheld hazer, it is also the first portable haze machine that allows precision hazing. SmokeGENIE is a battery hazer and is lightweight enough to easily operate one-handed. What’s more, thanks to its coil-based technology, the SmokeGENIE small fog machine can produce a large amount of haze with ZERO boiling time. Combining those 2 features, SmokeGENIE portable hazer can create haze precisely where you need it, when you need it. Not just hazing up a whole room, now you have the option to just haze up the background (so it will not cover the actors’ faces), just the foreground, just part of the room, and even top/bottom of the scene. With the SmokeGENIE mini haze machine, it is all under your control. When we researched about who usually handles the haze on set, is it the light designer? prop designer? art director? or perhaps the set designer? Ironically, the answer is - whoever is unlucky. If you have worked with large or small hazers on set, you will understand the pressure. Each adjustment can take 15-20 minutes to show, the haze keeps changing, and it just takes forever to get right. The pressure is enormous when everyone on set is ready to go, just waiting for you to haze up the set. When we first introduced the SmokeGENIE mini hazer to film sets in Hong Kong, not only the crew were impressed, but because our SmokeGENIE handheld haze machine is so effective and intuitive to use, that the directors often ask if they can handle this portable fog machine themselves and create the scene. It is always difficult to communicate the exact level of haze directors wanted, and there is just no better haze reference than the scene created by the director.

A Handheld Smoke Machine with Fast Filling and Long Hang Time

• The speed you need to haze up a scene depends on the following 4 factors: How fast the haze is being produced (this one is simply to understand, the more output the merrier).

• How fast the haze is spreading (even though you have lots of haze, it takes time for big or small smoke machines to spread it across the room, that’s why it is quite common to add a secondary fan to assist the spread).

• Where is the output of the large or mini fog machine located (if you only have the hazer in one location, it can sometimes be difficult for the haze to reach a certain area of the location).

• Haze hang time (even if you have the desired output and spread from a battery fog machine, if it dissipates quickly, it will greatly limit the reach and max density of the haze).

Fast Filling

If you have worked with large or mini smoke machines on set, you will understand that it is hard to get it right in a high-pressure environment.
While being small, SmokeGENIE portable smoke machine can output 1/3 the amount of a 1500W handheld fog machine. Combined with the haze fan adapter, SmokeGENIE battery hazer can haze up a 50 sqm studio in just a minute.
With the convenience of SmokeGENIE handheld hazer, users can carry it and spray the haze around the room quickly and effectively. This greatly reduces the time needed for the haze to spread, and since the haze is not output from a single point, the density is more evenly distributed.

Long Hang Time

Due to the smoke generation technology used, most handheld haze machines’ formula consists of Water, Propylene Glycol and Vegetable Glycerine. All 3 ingredients can turn into smoke after heating, but water and Propylene Glycol vapor dissipates very quickly. So, when it comes to hazing, the only effective ingredient would be Vegetable Glycerine.

SmokeGENIE battery fog machine uses our unique cloud formula, which has zero water content and a high Vegetable Glycerine concentration. With air-conditioning turned on, the haze produced by the SmokeGENIE handheld fog machine can hang for 15-30 minutes. With ventilation completely off, the haze can suspend in the air for hours.

A Mini, Battery Hazer Perfect for On-Location Shoots

Using smoke on-location has always been a hassle for productions. Traditional portable hazers are often quite cumbersome and heavy, these battery haze machines have a short run time, and consume tons of liquid. To make matters worse, traditional handheld smoke machines break down easily and are difficult to repair.

Thanks to the coil-based technology, SmokeGENIE mini smoke machine is much more energy and fluid efficient than traditional small hazers. Our SmokeGENIE portable haze machine also has a modular design that minimizes the effort and cost for maintenance.

“Clean Fog” Technology in Our Small & Portable Fog Machine

The formula for smoke has always been heating some fuel or material to turn them into vapers or airborne powders.

The key to safety when using a large or small fog machine is to choose the right ingredient and control the heating process to ensure it doesn’t overheat. Even if the ingredient of a small haze machine is safe for humans, overheating it can still produce toxic chemicals.

This is where most big or small smoke machines leave unpleasant impressions with their dreadful smells. It is not only an issue of comfort for the mini smoke machine user, but also a serious safety issue for everyone on-set. After years of research by the movie industry and e-cigarette industry, Vegetable Glycerine is one of the safest options as a smoke formula for mini hazers, it also has an extra-long hang time compared to other options (like water, Propylene Glycol or mineral oil).

The cloud formula used by SmokeGENIE battery hazer is a food-grade, high Vegetable Glycerine concentration formula. Further, to make sure the safety issue is well-covered, our team has spent 2 years working with professionals on film sets, productions, and photoshoots, learning their workflow, and turned it into a proprietary control system we put inside a SmokeGENIE portable hazer.

In-Built Fire Protection System

For any handheld smoke machine to survive the stresses of a production environment, fire safety is just the very first step. The system in our mini haze machine needs to take care of issues like when the user forgets to refill, used the handheld fog machine while it was upside down, or perhaps is operating the handheld hazer under extreme temperatures.

After a full year of development, the protection system in SmokeGENIE portable haze machine not only prevents the small hazer from catching fire, but the system is also very sensitive, that it can stop the battery fog machine BEFORE any damage is done.

The protection system in our SmokeGENIE portable smoke machine greatly extends the expected lifespan of the heating coil inside the battery hazer to 100 hours of spray time, which is 100 times longer than traditional vape coils.

Ensuring Longevity of the Mini Hazer

Overheating the handheld haze machine would also affect the condition of the chamber, making it more difficult for the portable hazer to regulate the coil, and increases wear and tear over time, and leads to more frequent overhearing. Harmful chemicals produced during overheating of the portable fog machine will accumulate inside the coil. Even after overheating the small hazer, the coil will continue to produce toxic smoke.

This is why most aged large or small smoke machines have a lasting smell to them. With the patented design of our mini fog machine, the chamber is always kept in good condition, and heating can be precisely regulated. Since heating in our handheld hazer is closely-regulated, and combined with the protection system, the chamber can remain in good condition for extended periods of time.

This safe and positive usage cycle of our battery haze machine results in 100 hours of clean smoke that is far safer and more pleasant than traditional portable smoke machines.

“Clean Fog” Technology in Our Small & Portable Fog Machine

There is a saying that every machine can be a smoke machine if you are using it wrong. While this is obviously a light-hearted joke, it does point out how easy it is to create smoke - if you have no concern for safety.

SMC Tubing System

While not being that well known on the consumer side, SMC is an industrial giant that produces parts that are widely used in many manufacturers from around the world. Our mini smoke machines are designed to be compatible with their signature quick release tubing system.
Their tubing has the perfect structure, which is not too hard that it will restrict the mobility, and just hard enough to ensure the tubing is not clogged. This combined with their industrial grade quick release docking makes building smoke in props easier than ever using our battery fog machines.

Extension Cables

Beside SMC tubing, our SmokeGENIE and SmokeNINJA mini haze machines are compatible with our patent-pending extension cable. While using the battery hazer, instead of running the smoke through a long tube, the revolutionary design of the extension cable allows you to generate smoke at the end of the tubing, which has never been achieved before with other handheld smoke machines.

Airflow Test of Our Small, Battery Smoke Machine

Precise placement of smoke by handheld smoke machine
Multi-output, handheld fog machine
Dense and focused output for leaks
High output, and can fill a room with the haze fan adaptor if needed
Can take handheld hazer anywhere
Mini haze machine that is very easy to operate

Leak Test of Our Mini, Handheld Haze Machine

Our portable fog machine has 3 modes of smoke output. The Dryice can create dense and stationary smoke. When caught in an airflow, the dryice smoke can create a very clear trace of the air movement.

Due to the smoke generation technology used in our handheld haze machine, it can output smoke on demand instantly, which gives our portable hazer the advantage of outputting smoke in precision location.

This can allow the user of our mini fog machine to “paint the air with smoke”, and trace the air movement precisely where they want. These features were not possible with traditional small smoke machines.

For a leak test in a large room, you will need a battery hazer with large output. With our small fog machine in fog mode and the jet tip accessory, our handheld fog machine can also be used as a portable haze machine for a 50 sq. mt room in under a minute (our SmokeGENIE small haze machine can actually haze up a 500 sq. mt room with an adapter!).

Our handheld hazer also has the advantage of being a battery haze machine. Our battery smoke machine operates with 1 x 18650 standard battery with a slide cover, making replacing the battery quick and easy. This design of our battery fog machine significantly reduces the difficulty and cost for maintenance.

Key Highlights of SmokeGENIE Handheld, Mini Fog Machine

Compatible tubing & extension system for mini hazer
Small smoke machine, easy to conceal.
Odourless, a portable haze machine that is safe for audience
Small fog machine offers 100 levels of controllability, capable for different effects

More About Our Mini Smoke Machines – FAQs:

1. What are the disadvantages of traditional small smoke machines and their fog generation technology?

Due to the fog generation technology used in traditional handheld smoke machine, they have quite a few major drawbacks:

  Low energy efficiency - traditional portable fog machines use a large heating unit; the energy is not focused and radiates heat in the environment. Also, a lot of the energy is used by the portable hazer on heating up and turning the water content into quick displaying steam. In other words, the fog generation technology used in traditional handheld hazers is not energy efficient. This also means if it is a battery haze machine, it will need a large and heavy battery that doesn't provide much run time.

Low liquid efficiency - Also due to the design of a traditional small hazer’s heating unit, it required water to act as an expansion agent to push out the smoke. Since water steam will quickly dissipate, they don't really add much to the smoke produced by the mini haze machine. Because of their water content, more traditional handheld haze machines usually use up gallons of liquid per session, making such small smoke machines not very liquid efficient.

2. How is the fog technology used in your battery haze machine possible?

SmokeGENIE and SmokeNINJA portable smoke machines are based on coil-based smoke generation.

Unlike the smoke generation technology used in traditional small haze machines, the heating part in coil-based smoke generation is much smaller. That means less power consumption and energy waste while using the small smoke machine. However, before its implementation in our small hazers, coil-based smoke generation technology was mainly used in vape and e-cigarette in the past, but many technicians, including our team, have attempted to modify it to create a portable haze machine. In the initial stages, the problem was soon revealed to everyone who has tried, as not only the performance is far from ideal, but it’s also not reliable, breaks very easily, and just overall unsafe to use.

Mini haze machines that are made with vape parts have a very limited output power. Due to the low feeding power, it can only support 20-30 seconds of burst before they start to overheat.

Furthermore, the problem only got worse when you tried to add volume control to the handheld hazer, as the chamber must be able to supply the right amount of fluid during low and high smoke output. To solve all those problems, we completely redesign the chamber of our battery fog machine from the ground up. After 6 years of development and 2 patents, we have finally come up with a handheld haze machine design that can achieve what our team calls - dynamic fluid control. The patented chamber design of our portable fog machine will feed the fluid according to the output power and burst time.

When the power setting of the battery hazer is turned up, the chamber will feed more fluid to match, striking a perfect balance with maximum power and minimum oil split. But we didn’t stop there. The breakthrough came to us during the design of our battery haze machine when we realized that we could separate the creation of smoke and the shaping of the smoke.

Most traditional mini fog machines only serve one function. A portable hazer only does haze, while a handheld fog machine can only do fog. A huge part of it was due to the limitation of the smoke generation technology used. Due to their water content, the smoke can only be expelled out in a burst. With our coil technology, the smoke generated by SmokeGENIE and SmokeNINJA battery smoke machines are essentially stationary, which makes smoke-shaping possible. Our team spent 2 years working with professional photographers, cinematographers, and gaffers to create smoke shaping accessories for all kinds of smoke effects while using our small hazer. The smoke shaping accessories in our SmokeGENIE Pro Kit and SmokeNINJA Full Kit are the results of such research.

3. Why do you make such small haze machines?

Being a mini haze machine also means it is portable and easy to conceal, and we think this is important when designing a handheld smoke machine. Coil-based fog generation technology compared to older technology being used in traditional small smoke machines, is like LED technology to Incandescent light. Coil-based technology used in our mini fog machine is much more energy and liquid efficient than the fog generation technology used in traditional portable smoke machines.

The technology used in a traditional battery smoke machine requires water as an expansion agent. The water dilutes the fog liquid in the battery fog machine, increasing the consumption dramatically. Since it also takes a lot of energy to turn water into quick dissipating steam, traditional mini smoke machines normally use a large battery but can only support a short run time.

By taking out the water, the liquid used by SmokeGENIE and SmokeNINJA battery haze machines are more concentrated than liquid used by a traditional battery fog machine. That means more output with much, much less liquid can be achieved. Both of our small haze machines are based on coil-based smoke generation technology that only heats up at the precise location where smoke generation happens. Our portable haze machine consumes much less energy than traditional mini hazers, and only requires a small battery(s) for long output. To take it a step further, instead of proprietary or non-replaceable batteries like traditional battery smoke machines, both our SmokeGENIE and SmokeNINJA handheld haze machines use standard type 18650 batteries. This not only significantly reduces the cost for maintenance, but it also means it takes less than 10 seconds to replace batteries for our handheld fog machine. This completely eliminates any down time, and saves precious time for everyone on set.

What’s more, our patented technology allows SmokeGENIE and SmokeNINJA portable hazers to be powered by a much smaller battery, and consume much less liquid than traditional battery hazers.

4. What makes smoke-generation safer with your mini fog machine?

Difference in smoke generation technology:
The key to safe smoke is temperature regulation. If ingredients in fog liquid are safe and ideal, the smoke generated from a traditional, small fog machine should be safe too. But since traditional, small hazers have a large heating area that makes it very difficult to control the temperature, it is very easy for it to get overheated. Once the fog liquid is overheated within the small haze machine, it can decompose into toxic chemicals. This is also the source of the awful smell that most people associate with traditional portable haze machines. Both of our small hazers - SmokeGENIE and SmokeNINJA, use coil-based smoke generation technology. The heating area in our battery smoke machine is much smaller and therefore much easier to regulate. It took us 2 years to develop this proprietary technology for our SmokeGENIE and SmokeNINJA portable fog machines.

The built-in protection system will stop smoke generation whenever it detects the temperature in the heating area of the portable hazer is higher than the ideal temperature for smoke generation. This makes the smoke generated by SmokeGENIE and SmokeNINJA handheld fog machines much safer than the smoke from traditional handheld smoke machines.

As a handheld hazer:
Since PG has a lower vaporizing temperature, it is easier to decompose when overheated. VG has a higher vaporizing temperature, and its smoke is known to be safer than PG smoke. Traditional mini hazers use a high PG formula. Since the liquid used by traditional small hazers have a high water and PG ratio, the smoke dissipates quickly. Hence, traditional portable fog machines must operate continuously to maintain the haze scene. Not only is this energy consuming, it also means that a lot of vaporized PG will be dispensed into the environment by the small fog machine. Harmful chemicals can also accumulate if the heating unit in the mini haze machine is not properly regulated.

The cloud formula used by SmokeGENIE and SmokeNINJA portable smoke machines has a high Vegetable Glycerine (VG) concentration, which gives the haze a much longer hang time than traditional battery smoke machines. A one-minute spray of our SmokeGENIE battery haze machine can haze up a 50 sq.mt studio for a period of up to 30 minutes. Due to the extra-long hang time of our handheld haze machine, a lot less vaporization is needed to achieve and maintain the same level of haze effect. Combined with PMI’s patented handheld hazer chamber design and proprietary software protection, this makes our SmokeGENIE a far safer option than the traditional small smoke machines on the market.

5. What batteries do your portable haze machines use?

PMI’s small fog machines embrace modular design. Our team has thoroughly adopted a module design concept in both SmokeGENIE and SmokeNINJA battery smoke machines to reduce the maintenance cost and the longevity of the products.

With batteries being one of the easiest damaged parts in a small haze machine, instead of proprietary batteries, PMI has chosen to use 18650 lithium batteries in its mini hazers. The choice of 18650 is one of the most wildly available lithium batteries on the market today, and comes at a good price. This drastically reduces the cost and difficulty in maintenance for users of our battery haze machines.

6. What is so special about the refills of your mini haze machines?

Due to the limitation of the vaporizing technology used by traditional handheld smoke machines, its fog liquid has a higher water content. This type of fog liquid is often referred to as “Water-Based formula”. Since water steam will dissipate in the air after a few seconds, the water mainly functions as an expend agent in traditional handheld haze machines. When the fog liquid goes through the heating tube in a traditional mini fog machine, the PG & VG content turns into smoke, and the water turns into steam, expands, and pushes the smoke out. Shortly after the burst, most of the water steam will dissipate. It would be fair to say that the “effective ingredient” in a traditional handheld fog machine’s fog liquid is the VG and PG. With research and the advancement in vaporizing technology, SmokeGENIE and SmokeNINJA portable smoke machines can function with ZERO water content. The Cloud formula used by SmokeGENIE and SmokeNINJA battery smoke machines is essentially a water-based formula, but without any water. While using our mini hazer, having no water content means the liquid is 100% “effective ingredient”. Same amount of Cloud formula can generate 10-20 times the smoke compared to fog liquid used by traditional handheld smoke machines. Due to its high VG concentration in Cloud formula, the haze made with SmokeGENIE portable fog machine has an extra long hang time of 30 minutes.

To put this in perspective: ONE minute spray of SmokeGENIE portable hazer at highest power consumes around 0.5ml of Cloud Formula, and ONE minute of spray by our small hazer can haze up a 50 square meters aircon-ON studio for 30 minutes. This means you can maintain the haze in a 50 square meters studio for an hour with just 1 ml of Cloud Formula when using our small haze machine!

To ensure the safety of our users, the formula used by SmokeGENIE and SmokeNINJA battery smoke machines are food-grade. Besides being much more fluid efficient, having no water content also makes Cloud Formula much more portable with our handheld haze machine. Instead of a gallon of fog liquid, now you only need to carry a small 100 ml bottle in your backpack to finish a whole day of shooting with our small fog machines.

7. How do PMI’s mini fog machines compare to others?

All 3 founders of PMI have a background in special effects design, where mini smoke machines are widely used. So, it is safe to say, we are very familiar with the principles and operations of traditional portable fog machines. While traditional handheld smoke machine are used by technicians, they have a few major drawbacks that make them not viable for being a commercial product:

Maintenance:
Since traditional small haze machines are limited by their liquid storage capacity, they have to be maintained after each session. To make matters worse, traditional portable haze machines are difficult to maintain and lots of time is required if a technician needs to repair them. Users also need to do a full maintenance on traditional handheld smoke machines after each session, if they want it to work again in their next shooting.

Reliability:
The 2 parts that are mostly likely to go wrong on a handheld fog machine are the battery and the heating unit. Due to the limitation of the fog generation technology used in more traditional battery smoke machines, their heating unit is not temperature-regulated, making these battery hazers not very reliable and often break down on set. Everyone who has had experience working with traditional small hazers knows that it is much better to have more than enough units on set. Since a traditional mini hazer is easy to break and difficult to repair, experienced technicians often prepare an extra unit or two, which are ready on the side just in case the battery smoke machine breaks.

Output & Run Time:
Due to their small form factor, traditional mini smoke machines can only output a small amount of smoke for just a few seconds. Very often, the mini fog machine won’t be able to get to the output level desired, and the output time is usually just enough for one session. In a highly-stressful environment like in live events or productions, it is never good enough to have “just enough” portable fog machines on hand. Time is the most expensive cost in production, and you simply cannot afford to reset everything after each take.
Due to our patented design, our SmokeGENIE and SmokeNINJA small fog machines have 1/3 the output of a 1500w portable smoke machine, which far exceeds the normal output levels of traditional small haze machines. In terms of run time, our SmokeNINJA handheld haze machine has a 1-minute continuous run time, while our SmokeGENIE battery haze machine has 10 minutes of continuous run time.