IE41531B1 - Smoking product - Google Patents

Abstract

1495941 Tobacco composition IMPERIAL GROUP Ltd 7 Feb 1975 [21 Feb 1974] 7949/74 Heading A2C A smoking product comprises 5-60% by weight tobacco and 40-95% of a pectin containing additive. The pectin may be a slow set citrus pectin having a degree of methylation between 55% and 70% and an inherent viscosity (defined) between 3 and 6 decilitres per gram. Alternatively the pectin may be beet pectin with a degree of methylation between 30% and 75% and an inherent viscosity of between 2 and 6.5 decilitres per gram. The additive may further include a nicotine salt such as the pectinate, alginate or citrate. An inorganic filler such as celite, fullers earth, china clay, bentonite or diatomaceaus earth may be added. The combination of pectin and filler should be such that the pH of an aqueous of the smoking product is less than 6.5. "Triyol" (triethylene glycol) may be added as a humectant. Reference has been directed by the comptroller to Specification 1391614.

Description

This invention concerns a smoking product, e.g. a cigarette, hand rolling tobacco, pipe tobacco, cigar or cigarillo containing tobacco and non-tobacco substances.

It is an object of the present invention to provide 5 a smoking product having a higher filling value than flue-cured Virginia tobacco blends containing no additive.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a smoking product containing tobacco and non-tobacco additives which contains nicotine in a stable form at a level similar to that in conventional tobacco blends.

Small particle size and high sand content tobacco offals have hitherto proved difficult to reconstitute into sheet having acceptable physical properties. It is yet a further object of the invention to overcome this difficulty, 15 Tobacco, in the context of the invention, includes tobacco lamina, midrib, main stalk or tobacco offals, and tobacco extracts.

Hitherto, increased filling power of tobacco has only been satisfactorily achieved by physical/meohanical methods. It will be shown herein that an increased filling power over that of conventional flue-cured Virginia tobacco blends may be achieved by means of a suitable composition of matter containing tobacco and other substances in specified quantities, without recourse to physical or mechanical methods.

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided tobacco in admixture with non-tobacco additives including a pectin as a.film - 2 41531 forming or binding agent, wherein the pectin has a degree of methylation between 30% and 75% and an inherent viscosity between 2 and 6.5 decilitres per gram and the proportion of tobacco in the product is between 5% and 60% by weight, whereby the product has a relative filling power higher than that of flue-cured Virginia tobacco blend containing no additive.

Inherent viscosity is defined by the equation, Vx = 1 In (Vp) C (.. > (Vs) where is inherent viscosity Vp is viscosity of the pectin Vg is the viscosity of the solvent (usually water) and c is the concentration of pectin in solvent - usually 0.1% w/w.

Inherent viscosity is a measure of the molecular weight of a pectin.

• The pectin is preferably a slow-set citrus pectin having a degree of methylation between 55% and 70S and an Inherent viscosity between 3 and 6 decilitres per gram.

The pectin proportion of the additives is preferably between 13% and 31% of the smoking product on a dry weight basis The additives may include nicotine additive, such as nicotine or a nicotine salt, and a water-insoluble in-organic filler, such as a diatomaceous earth or complex silicate, the combination of the pectin and the filler being such that the pH of an aqueous extract of the smoking product is less than 6.5, thereby ensuring stability of nicotine in the smoking product.

The proportion of nicotine additive in the smoking product preferably lies between 4% and 9.5% on a dry weight basis.

The nicotine salt is preferably nicotine pectinate.

According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided a smoking article containing a smoking product according - 3 41531 to the first aspect.

The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying Tables 1-3. All concentrations and proportions are on a dry-weight basis.

Table 1 sets forth initial concentrations of tobacco and additives slurries for use in the invention.

Table 2 sets forth the proportions in which the slurries of Table 1 are mixed to give additive sheets containing different percentages of tobacco.

Tables 3A and 3B set forth comparative analyses and smoking properties of cigarettes made from (a) the additive sheets of Table 2, (b) tobacco extracts incorporating the compositions of of Table 1, (c) sheet tobacco containing no additives, and (d) a tobacco control.

The types of tobacco sheet identified in Tables 2 and 3 are as follows:- Type A Containing 5% tobacco, and made from tobacco offals or dust Type B It 10% It II II II tobacco offals or dust Type C n 20% u It ·< tl tobacco offals or dust Type D II 40% It II II II tobacco offals or dust Type E It 60% II II II II tobacco offals Or dust Type F II 5% tobacco, and made from tobacco extract Type G II 10% II It ft It II II Type H II 20% II II II II II II Type NTS II 100% tobacco, and containing no additive Type TC in Table 3Als a control cigarette made from conventional flue-cured Virginia tobacco blends.

Referring to Tables 1 and 2, flue cured high, silica tobacco dust (offal) was formed into a slurry with water to give a solid content of 7.8% w/w. This was passed through a SpoutWaldron refiner and then twice through a Manton Gaulin K'3 homogeniser at 3000 psi.

The additive part of the product was prepared bydissolving a slow-set citrus pectin having a degree of methylation of 55-70$ and an inherent viscosity of 3-6 decilitres per gram in water at 5θ°0 to give a solution of 3«5% w/w and. adding a solutior/disperoion of calcium hydroxide, potassium carbonate, citric acid, celite (a solid solution of dicalcium aluminate in dicalcium silicate) which is a waterinsoluble inorganic filler, and trigol, prepared at the concentration shown in Table I and added in the proportions shown in Table 2. The slurry was thoroughly mixed using a Wellmix high shear mixer.

The nicotine fortifying solution was prepared separately according to the concentrations shown in Table 1 and added along with the tobacco slurry to the pectin/inorganic mixture according to the proportions shown in Table 2. The slurry mixes were stirred using a Wellmix high shear mixer and cast on a Sandvik (Registered Trade Mark, sheet-making machine.

It is essential for the long term stability of nicotine in the final product that the pH of an aqueous extract of the final product does not exceed 6.5 and is preferably less than 6. The combination of binding agent and inorganic filler is chosen such that the pH requirement is attained.

The tobacco extracts of Table 3A (types F, G, H) were prepared by soaking 2016 of a commercial tobacco blend (flue-cured Virginia) in 1751B water for 3θ minutes, filtering and re-extracting the tobacco with two portions of 1101b water. The combined extracts were concentrated by two passes through a climbing film evaporator to yield a concentrate containing about 50% solids. The concentrated extract was - 5 41531 added to the prepared slurry of pectin and inorganic materials in the proportions listed in Table 2, mixed with a high shear mixer, and cast on a Sandvik (Registered Trade Mark) sheet-forming machine.

The types of sheet obtained by the above methods were cut at 37 cuts per inch on a 8 Legg tobacco cutting machine and made into filter tipped cigarettes on a Molins Mark 8 cigarette making machine. These cigarettes were 70 mm in length and 25.3 mm in circumference and had a 10 mm myria/ mm acetate dual filter.

The cigarettes were mechanically smoked on a Piltrona (Registered Trade Mark) 101 smoking machine to a butt length of 3 nan longer than the filter overwrap material using a 35 ml puff of 2 seconds duration once per minute. The smoke condensate collected on a Cambridge glass fibre filter pad was analysed for particulate matter and nicotine by weighting the wet deposit on each filter, analysing the deposit for nicotine content by automated colorimetric analysis (cyanogen bromide method) and analysing the deposit for water content by gas chromatography. The particulate matter (PM) level is thus water and nicotine free.

The cigarettes were also tested for firmness, an important parameter which influences manufacturing economics and consumer acceptability. Cigarette firmness can be described as the degree of flattening under constant compression. The firmness results are given in terms of the Relative Pilling Power (RFP) of the filler material and is obtained by dividing the mean density of an experimental cigarette into the density of a control cigarette at the same flattening, and expressing it as a percentage. In this case the control cigarette was a cigarette incorporating a commercially available tobacco blond. Analytical results are shown in Tables 3A and 3B.

TABLE 1. 1. Pectin solution Slow-set citrus pectin 3.5% w/w. 2. Inorganic dispersion/solution.

Calcium hydroxide 0.6% w/w. Potassium carbonate 0.6% w/w. Celite Ιίμ7% w/w. Citric acid 1.7% w/w. Trigol (triothylene glycol) 2.3% w/w. Nicotine fortifying solution Low methoxy! pectin 5.0% w/w. Nicotine 1.25%w/w. Tobacco slurry. Flue cured high silica tobacco dust 7.8% w/w.

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Alternatively to citrus pectins, having a degree of methylation between 55% and 70% and an inherent viscosity between 3 and 6 decilitres per gram, other pectins may be used, typically beet pectins having a degree of methylation between 30% and 75% and an inherent viscosity between 2 and 6.5 decilitres per gram.

Pectins occurring naturally in plants have a degree of methylation of 75% or more. Acid extraction of the pectin reduces the degree of methylation, possibly to as low as 30% under prolonged extraction conditions. It is the use of pectins having a degree of methylation of 3O%-75%? together with a specified proportion of tobacco, which has been found to give the hitherto unsuspected effect of providing an increase in relative filling power without recourse to physical or mechanical methods.

Nicotine salts other than nicotine pectinate may be used, such as nicotine alginate or nicotine citrate.

Instead of celite, the inorganic filler may be a complex silicate such as fullers earth, china clay or bentonite,provided the aqueous extract pH of the smoking product incorporating it is less than 6.5 so as to ensure the stability of the - 10 41531 nicotine in the product.

It is seen from Table 34 that a smoking product according to (lie Invention li.i:; .1 filling power .‘nibsl anf i a I I y higher than that of a conventional lluc-curod Virginia tobacco blend containing no additive. It follows that less additive sheet filler than tobacco is required to produce cigarettes of equivalent firmness to that of the control. Furthermore, the nicotine in samples of the smoking product of the invention was found to be at least as stable over a period of 3 months as the nicotine in a 100% tobacco sheet or a cigarette made from flue-cured Virginia tobacco blends.

The smoking product was found to be a practicable utilization of tobacco offals containing a high silica content, giving satisfactory properties.

Furthermore, the additive sheets of the invention yield less particulate (i.e. tar-containing) matter than the conventional tobacco control.

Claims (10)

1. Claims :1. A smoking product comprising tobacco in admixture with non-tobacco additives including a pectin as a film-forming or binding agent, wherein the pectin has a degree of methylation between 30% and 75% and an inherent viscosity between 2 and 6.5 decilitres per gram and the proportion of tobacco in the product is between 5% and 60% by weight, whereby the product has a relative filling power higher than that of flue-cured Virginia tobacco blend containing no additive.

2. A smoking product as claimed in claim 1 wherein the pectin is a slow-set citrus pectin having a degree of methylation between 55% and 70% and an inherent viscosity between 3 and 6 decilitres per gram.

3. A smoking product as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein the pectin proportion of the additives is between 13% and 31% of the smoking product on a dry weight basis.

4. A smoking product as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the additives include a nicotine additive and a water-insoluble inorganic filler, the combination of the pectin and the filler being such that the pH of an aqueous extract of the smoking product is less than 6.5, thereby ensuring stability of nicotine in the smoking product.

5. A smoking product as claimed in claim 4 wherein the filler is a complex silicate.

6. A smoking product as claimed in claim 4 or 5 wherein the nicotine additive is nicotine or a nicotine salt, the proportion of nicotine additive in the smoking product lying between 4% and 9.5% on a dry weight basis.

7. A smoking product as claimed in claim 6 wherein the nicotine salt is nicotine pectinate.

8. A smoking product as claimed in any preceding claims, when cast in sheet form.

9. A smoking product as claimed in claim 1 substantially as herein described with reference to Tables 1, 2 and 3.

10. Λ smoking article containing a smoking product as claimed in any preceding claim.