This trick was inspired by a gag (accomplished with a film edit) by Stan Laurel in the 1938 film Block-Heads. After seeing this film, in 1939 Ade Duval began working on a stage method to reproduce the effect. According to Bart Whaley, in his Encyclopedic Dictionary of Magic (p. 265), Duval may have collaborated with the Melbourne, Australia, magic dealer Richard Rowe on the development of the gimmick. Whaley dates the debut of the trick by Duval as occurring in 1941. An earlier date of 1936 is implied in a February 3, 1951, Saturday Evening Post article, “Want to be a Magician” by John Kolber (see p. 44, bottom left), but this was probably based on an estimated date. A full description of Duval's presentation is given by David Charvet in Ade Duval, Silken Sorcerer, 2009, p. 95.

Billy McComb, also inspired by the Stan Laurel gag, came up with a version of the effect in which the smoke issued from the fist rather than the mouth; see “William's Invisible Pipe” in The First Book of William, 1947, p. 30.