WO2011057969A1

WO2011057969A1 - Smoking article

Info

Publication number: WO2011057969A1
Application number: PCT/EP2010/066933
Authority: WO
Inventors: Nicole Hooper; Gerhard Malan Le Roux
Original assignee: British American Tobacco (Investments) Limited
Priority date: 2009-11-12
Filing date: 2010-11-05
Publication date: 2011-05-19
Also published as: GB0919784D0

Abstract

A smoking article in the form of a cigarette 1 has a filter 4 having a bevelled buccal end surface 2. The bevelled buccal end also provides a predetermined tactile sensory response to a consumer when the cigarette is inserted between their lips. The inclined surface of the bevel end 2 is perceived to have a distinctive, different feel from conventional filters with an orthogonal buccal end. Different buccal ends can be used to distinguish between different types of cigarette. A method of making the bevelled buccal end is described. The distal end may be bevelled such as to prevent tobacco from falling out of the distal end.

Description

Smoking article Field of the invention

This invention relates to a smoking article and a filter for a smoking article, particularly but not exclusively a filter cigarette.

Background

Conventional cigarettes typically comprise a cylindrical rod comprising a combustible smoking material that may be cut or shredded, for example tobacco, and retained in a paper wrapper, and a filter comprising a cut length of a rod of filter material such as cellulose acetate wrapped in a plug wrap, attached to the rod by tipping paper. The resulting, so-called stick has a longitudinal axis and the buccal or mouth end of the filter has hitherto comprised a plane surface with a circular periphery, disposed orthogonally to the longitudinal axis. Conventionally, the other or distal end of the cigarette comprises smoking material that is exposed ready to be lit, for example with a lighted match, having a plane surface that is disposed orthogonally to the longitudinal axis of the stick. A smoking article described in WO 2009/045828 has a bevelled distal end which subtends an angle of 20° or more to a plane that is orthogonal to the longitudinal axis (less than 70° to the longitudinal axis). This bevelled end configuration is described mainly in the context of heat-not-burn products in which the distal end contains a solid element of combustible material that is used to heat but not burn a charge of tobacco. The solid element can be shaped into a configuration to provide an increased, elliptical area to assist in lighting the combustible material. However, when combustible material for example containing cut or shredded tobacco, is combusted by conventional burning, there is a risk that the strands of tobacco will not be held adequately within the smoking article in the region of the bevel and will fall out of the rod at the distal end. Summary of the invention

According to the invention, there is provided smoking article having a bevelled buccal end. Also, according to the invention there is provided a filter for a smoking article, the filter having a bevelled buccal end.

Smoking articles in accordance with the invention provide clearly distinctive visual and tactile characteristics for the consumer. The bevelled buccal end provides a distinctive tactile sensory response when inserted between the lips of the smoker's mouth.

As used herein, the term "smoking article" includes smokeable products such as cigarettes, cigars and cigarillos, which usually incorporate cut or shredded material such as tobacco, tobacco derivatives, expanded tobacco, reconstituted tobacco or tobacco substitutes, and also articles simulating such products for example so- called heat-not-burn products which contain tobacco or tobacco substitute materials and heating systems for volatilising flavour bearing materials therein without combustion, or aerosol products in which an aerosol of flavouring material is generated physically for inhalation.

The smoking article may comprise an elongate stick and the bevelled end may comprise at least one end surface of the stick inclined at a non-orthogonal angle to the longitudinal axis of the stick. The end surface may comprise a single, plane end surface that may be inclined at an acute angle to a plane orthogonal to the longitudinal axis of the stick-.

The angle of inclination of the buccal end surface may lie within a range for which the minimum angle of inclination is preferably at least 2° although could be another larger value, such as at least 5 °, 7 °, 10°, 15° or 20°. The maximum angle of inclination for the range is preferably not more than 60° although could be up to 50°, 40° 30° or 25 °. The angle of inclination of the buccal end surface may lay within the range 40°-50° for example 45 ° or in the range 5 °-15 ° for example 10°. The distal end of the smoking article may be bevelled.

In accordance with the invention it has been appreciated that smoking articles which incorporate cut or shredded material such as tobacco, tobacco derivatives, expanded tobacco, reconstituted tobacco or tobacco substitutes, have a reduced propensity to shed such material from a bevelled distal end when the angle of the bevel is less than 20°. Accordingly, the invention further provides a smoking article comprising an elongate body with a bevelled distal end having an end surface that subtends an angle of 20°or less to a plane that is orthogonal to the longitudinal axis of the body. The bevelled distal end also provides distinctive visual and tactile characteristics for the consumer and the aforesaid feature of having a bevelled end surface that subtends an angle of 20°or less to a plane orthogonal to the longitudinal axis of the body has the advantage that combustible material in the body is retained within the body at the distal end.

The angle of inclination may advantageously greater than 5° but less than 15° e.g. about 10°, and the lower the angle, the lower the risk of smoking material falling out of the end of the cigarette during packaging and transport. The bevelled end surface (s) are preferably planar, to facilitate manufacture using a straight cutting edge. However more complex, non-planar surfaces may be provided if desired, using cutters of correspondingly complex shapes

The invention also includes a method of manufacturing smoking articles comprising attaching tobacco rods to opposite ends of a rod of filter material, and cutting the rod of filter material at an angle such that both of the smoking articles thereby formed have bevelled ends with end surfaces at the same angle of inclination to the longitudinal axis of the respective smoking articles.

The invention also includes a method of producing a predetermined tactile sensory response in a person by inserting the smoking article with the bevelled buccal end between the lips of the person's mouth to create a predetermined sensory response when the lips embrace the buccal end.

The invention further includes a method of distinguishing between different types of smoking article, comprising providing first and second smoking articles that have different smoking characteristics with respective first and second different bevelled ends, and distinguishing between the different types on the basis of the different tactile sensory responses produced in a person by the different bevelled 1 ends. Brief description of the drawings

In order that the invention may be more fully understood embodiments thereof will now be described by way of illustrative example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view of a first filter tip cigarette with a bevelled buccal end,

Figure 2 is a side view of the cigarette of Figure 1 showing its bevelled buccal end, Figure 3 is a view of the cigarette of Figure 1 from above, Figure 4 is a view of the cigarette of Figure 1 from below,

Figure 5 is a view corresponding to Figure 2 of a second filter tip cigarette with bevelled buccal and distal ends having parallel end surfaces,

Figure 6 is a view corresponding to Figure 2 of a third filter tip cigarette with bevelled buccal and distal ends having oppositely inclined end surfaces,

Figures 7 & 8 illustrate the manufacture of the cigarette shown in Figures 1 to 3,

Figure 9 illustrates an uncut 90mm super slim to be provided with bevelled buccal and distal ends, Figure 10 illustrates the super slim of Figure 9 when provided with bevelled buccal and distal ends,

Figures 11 and 12 are perspective views of an assembly for cutting the super slim of Fig. 9 to make the cigarette shown in Figure 10 Figure 13 is a schematic side view of another filter cigarette with a bevelled distal end.

Figure 14 is a schematic sectional view of another example of filter cigarette with a bevelled buccal end, and

Figure 15 is an enlarged, perspective view of the buccal end of the cigarette shown in Figure 14.Referring to Figures 1 to 3, a filter tipped cigarette 1 has a bevelled buccal end 2. The cigarette 1 comprises a tobacco rod 3 and a filter 4 both of circular cross section that together constitute a so-called stick, with a longitudinal axis X - X' .

Detailed description The tobacco rod 3 may be fabricated using techniques known per se in the art and may comprise shredded or cut tobacco threads wrapped in a paper wrapper. The tobacco rod has a distal end 5 that comprises a plane surface that is disposed orthogonally to the longitudinal axis X - X'.

The buccal end 2 of the filter has a plane surface in this example inclined at an angle Θ to a line A—A' orthogonal to the longitudinal axis X— X' In this example The angle Θ that is created during manufacture, results in a particular visual and tactile effect discussed in more detail hereinafter. The angle Θ may lie within a range for which the minimum angle of inclination is preferably at least 2° although could be another larger value, such as at least 5 °, 7 °, 10°, 15 ° or 20°. The maximum angle of inclination for the range is preferably not more than 60° although could be up to 50°, 40° 30° or 25 °. The angle of inclination of the buccal end surface may lay within the range 40°-50° or in the range 5 °-15° for example 10°. In the example shown in Figures 1 - 4, the angle Θ = 45 °. The filter 4 may comprise cellulose acetate tow in a plug wrap, attached to the tobacco rod by tipping paper, in a manner well known per se in the art and the detailed layer construction of the stick has been omitted from the drawings for the purpose of simplifying the description. The filter 4 may include lateral ventilation holes (not shown) to admit external air to dilute the mainstream smoke, as known in the art. The filter may also include additives to target filtration of particular components of the tobacco smoke or flavourants to impart particular flavours to the smoke drawn through the filter.

Cigarettes in accordance with the invention provide clearly distinctive tactile characteristics for the consumer because the bevelled buccal end provides a predetermined tactile sensory response when inserted between the lips of their mouth. The inclined surface of the bevel end 2 is perceived to have a distinctive difference from conventional filters with an orthogonal buccal end. Thus the bevelled buccal end provides a distinctive tactile response on the lips or indeed other parts of the body such as the palm of the hand, for a particular type of cigarette, so as to provide a tactile response that can be indicative of the cigarette type, which may in turn be determined by the composition or blend of tobacco, its length and diameter. This distinctive difference is perceivable visually as well as in terms of a distinctive tactile response. Also, for the example shown in Figures 1 to 3, the bevelled buccal end provides a clear visual indication before smoking, of which end of the stick is intended for insertion into the mouth, which can be of advantage in low light conditions.

Additionally, the distal end 5 of the cigarette may be provided with a bevelled end as illustrated in Figures 5 and 6. The bevelled distal end surface may be parallel to the surface of the bevelled buccal end 2 as illustrated by distal end surface 5' in Figure 5 or oppositely inclined as shown by surface 5" in Figure 6, or in some other angular relationship. For the distal end, the angle Θ lies in the range of 5 °- 20° and is conveniently 5-15 °, especially about 10°, in order reduce the risk of tobacco threads becoming dislodged from the end of the cigarette during packing or subsequent handling. The angle of the buccal and distal ends may match as shown in Figures 5 and 6 or may be different.

A method of making cigarettes as shown in Figures 1 to 3 will now be described with reference to Figures 7 and 8. Referring to Figure 7, equal lengths of tobacco rod 3-1 , 3-2, are attached to opposite ends of filter rod 4 by means of tipping paper as well known in the art. Then, as shown in Figure 8, the filter rod is cut along dotted line Z - Z' at a desired angle Θ to a normal to the longitudinal axis of the rod configuration, centrally of the filter rod. In this way, two identical cigarettes are produced each having the same bevelled buccal end 2 with the advantage of no cutting waste being produced by the formation of the bevelled end. Also, the tobacco rods 3-1 , 3-2 can be cut to provide the bevelled distal end 5', 5" shown in Figures 5 and 6.

Manufacture of the bevelled ends as a finishing step for conventionally

manufactured cigarettes will now be described. In the following example, cigarettes with bevelled buccal and distal ends are produced for example by conventional techniques by a making machine. In this example, the cigarette is manufactured as a super slim of length 90mm, which is approximately 5mm longer than the final length, as illustrated in Figure 9. In the process to be described hereinafter, the buccal and distal ends are cut at angle 6 = 10° along cutting lines 7 to create the cigarette shown in Figure 10. The end cutting can be carried out by rotary cutting blades in a gearbox assembly that can be retrofitted to the output stages of a cigarette making machine, as will now be described with reference to Figures 11 and 12.

The assembly includes tapered drums 8, 9, 10, 11 with respective axial shafts 12 - 15 mounted in a gear frame 16 and are driven by a motor and drive train (not shown) to rotate in the direction of arrows Y. Each tapered drum 9 - 11 has a respective frustoconical surface 17 - 20 formed with cigarette receptacles in the form of grooves 21 that are equally radially spaced around the axial shaft of the drum, the grooves 21 extending generally in the axial direction of the shaft. The drums 9 - 11 are driven to rotate with the same angular velocity and in synchronism, and are configured so that cigarettes 1 can transfer between the grooves of the successive drums and pass from drum to drum.

The drum 8 acts as a transfer drum to receive uncut cigarettes 1 manufactured in the configuration shown in Figure 9. The cigarettes are fed into the grooves 20 of drum 8 from a cigarette supply 21 illustrated schematically in Figure 11. The supply 21 may comprise a continuous supply from a cigarette making machine or may comprise a hopper containing a batch of cigarettes made previously. A guide mechanism (not shown) positions the cigarettes 1 in the grooves 20 of the transfer drum so that they are symmetrically disposed with equal overhang over the ends of the grooves at their buccal and distal ends.

The transfer drum 8 transfers the cigarettes 1 from its grooves 20 into

corresponding grooves 20 in drum 9, which acts as a cutting drum. The cutting drum 9 has a longer axial length than the transfer drum 8 and is formed with proximal and distal peripheral grooves 22, 23 that receive proximal and distal rotary disc shaped cutting blades 24, 25 mounted on a common shaft 26 driven by a motor (not shown). The blades 24, 25 each lie in a respective plane that is orthogonal to the axis of rotation of shaft 13 whereas the frustoconical surface 18 of the drum is inclined at the aforementioned angle Θ = 10° to the blades in the region where they intersect. The axial spacing of the blades 24, 25 along the shaft 26 (and the shaft 13) is in this example 82mm so that they cut the buccal and distal ends of the 90mm cigarettes 1 to provide the bevelled ends 2, 5". The cigarettes are thus cut as the cigarette containing grooves 20 pass through a cutting station 27 defined by the intersection of the rotating blades 24, 25 and the grooves 22, 23.

The cut cigarettes then pass from cutting drum 9 into grooves 20 of drum 10, which acts as an inspection/rejection drum. An optical inspection system uses lasers to illuminate the buccal and distal cut end surfaces to check the accuracy of the cuts made by the blades 24, 25. If the cuts are not satisfactory, the cigarettes can be selectively ejected from the grooves of drum 10. Laser and optical detector arrangement 28 for inspecting the distal end cuts is shown in Figure 11 and it will be appreciated that another such arrangement is provided for inspecting the buccal end cuts. The laser and optical detector arrangements 28 provide a rejection signal when unacceptable cutting of the cigarettes occurs and a mechanical drive that is responsive to the rejection signal is provided (not shown) to selectively remove the unacceptable cigarettes from the relevant groove of the drum 10. Cut cigarettes 1 that are not ejected from drum 10 are passed to drum 11 for delivery from the assembly.

In a modification to the process described with reference to Figures 9 to 12, only the distal end of the cigarette is provided with a bevelled end, as illustrated in Figure 13. The distal end surface 2 is a plane orthogonal to the longitudinal axis of the stick as shown in Fig. 13. It will be appreciated that the bevelled distal end can be achieved by omitting the cutting blade 24 from the apparatus so that only the distal end 5 is provided with a bevelled end surface, as illustrated in Figure 13. The angle of inclination Θ may be 10° as previously described but may lay in the range of 5 °- 20° and is conveniently within the range of 5°-15 ° in order reduce the risk of tobacco threads becoming dislodged from the end of the cigarette during packing or subsequent handling.

Many modifications and variations will be evident to those skilled in the art. For example, the buccal and/ or distal ends 2, 5 may include more than one plane or non-plane bevelled end surface rather than the single plane surface just described. Another example of filter cigarette with a bevelled buccal end is shown in Figures 14 and 15. In this super slim cigarette, the tobacco rod 3 is attached by a wrapper not shown to a filter 4 that comprises two filter elements 4-1, 4-2 with different filtering characteristics. Each element 4-1 , 4-2 comprises a cylindrical body of filter material provided with its own plugwrap, not shown, having circular end surfaces that lie in planes orthogonal to the longitudinal axis of the stick. The element 4-1 may comprise cellulose acetate containing carbon granules, whereas element 4-2 may comprise cellulose acetate only. The generally cylindrical filter 4 is wrapped by a further wrapper 29 that protrudes axially beyond planar buccal end surface 30 of the filter element 4-2 and has a bevelled end 5 that has an elliptical opening 31 to be gripped between the lips of a consumer's mouth. The arrangement thus provides a hollow space 32 at the buccal end. The wrapper 29 is conveniently made of card or board of sufficient thickness and rigidity for the buccal end to maintain the cylindrical configuration around the hollow space 32 generally as shown in Figures 14 and 14 when gripped between the lips of the consumer's mouth.

The opening 31 subtends angle Θ to a plane orthogonal to the longitudinal axis of the stick. The angle Θ may lie within the range discussed in relation to Figures 1 to 4 to provide a distinctive tactile and visual response for the consumer, and the angle may be selected according to the type of tobacco or other parameters specific to a particular type of cigarette.

Different buccal and distal end inclined surface configurations may be used to differentiate different types of cigarettes, for example with different tobacco bends or different flavoured filters, different lengths of tobacco rod or filter, filter ventilation or other parameters which distinguish different smoking article types. The distal end may be configured to mirror these more complex end surface arrangements for the buccal end.

Also, whilst the or each bevelled end may be applied to cigarettes of super slim dimensions they can also be applied to regular or slim configurations, with or without a filter. Furthermore, the bevelled buccal end may be applied to a filter without a tobacco rod, for use in a smoking article.

Claims

1. A smoking article having a bevelled buccal end.

2. A smoking article according to claim 1 including a filter having the bevelled buccal end.

3. A smoking article according to claim 2 including a tobacco rod attached to the filter.

4. A smoking article according to claim 1, 2 or 3 wherein the smoking article comprises an elongate stick and the bevelled end comprises at least one end region of the stick inclined at a non-orthogonal angle to a plane orthogonal to the longitudinal axis of the stick.

5. A smoking article according to claim 4 wherein the angle of inclination of the buccal end to said orthogonal plane lies within a range for which the minimum angle of inclination is at least 2° 5 °, 7 °, 10°, 15 ° or 20°.

6. A smoking article according to claim 4 or 5 wherein the angle of inclination of the buccal end to said orthogonal plane lies within a range for which maximum angle of inclination is not more than 60° , 50°, 40° 30° or 25°.

7. A smoking article according to claim 4 wherein the angle of inclination of the buccal end lies within a range 40°-50° or in a range 5°-15 °.

8. A smoking article according to claim 4 wherein the angle of inclination of the buccal end is 10° or 45 °

9. A smoking article according to any preceding claim wherein the bevelled end comprises at least one end surface.

10. A smoking article according to claim 8 wherein the end surface comprises a single, plane end surface.

11. A smoking article according to any one of claims 1 to 8 including a hollow space extending between an end surface of the filter and said bevelled end.

12. A smoking article according to claim 11 including a wrapper around the filter that defines said hollow space.

13. A smoking article according to claim 11 or 12 wherein the filter includes first and second filter elements with different filtering characteristics.

14. A smoking article according to any preceding claim wherein the tobacco rod has a distal end that is also bevelled.

15. A filter for a smoking article, the filter having a bevelled buccal end.

16. A method of manufacturing smoking articles comprising attaching tobacco rods to opposite ends of a rod of filter material, and cutting the rod of filter material at an angle such that both of the smoking articles thereby formed have bevelled ends with end surfaces at the same angle of inclination to the longitudinal axis of the respective smoking articles.

17. Smoking articles made by the method of claim 16.

18. A method of producing a predetermined tactile sensory response in a person comprising inserting a smoking article as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 14 between the lips of the person's mouth to create a predetermined sensory response when the lips embrace the bevelled buccal end.

19. A method of distinguishing between different types of smoking article, comprising providing first and second smoking articles that have different smoking characteristics with respective first and second different bevelled ends, and distinguishing between the different types on the basis of the different tactile sensory responses produced in a person by the different bevelled ends.

20. A method according to claim 19 wherein the different types of smoking articles have different buccal ends and the distinguishing between the different types is performed on the basis of the different tactile sensory responses produced in a person by the different bevelled ends.

21. A method according to claim 19 or 20 wherein the tactile response is created by the buccal ends being placed between the lips of the mouth of a consumer.

22. Use of a bevelled buccal end of a filter tip smoking article to distinguish between different types of smoking article with respective different buccal ends on the basis of the different tactile sensory responses produced in a person by the different bevelled ends.

23. An assembly for fabricating smoking articles to provide a bevelled end, comprising a tapered rotary drum with generally axially extending receptacles for smoking articles spaced around its periphery, a feed mechanism to supply cigarettes to the receptacles successively, and at least one cutting blade to cut an end of the smoking articles in the receptacles to provide the bevelled end.

24. An assembly according to claim 23 including a detector system to detect unsatisfactory bevelled ends cut by the cutting blade and to reject smoking articles having an unsatisfactory cut.

25. An assembly according to claim 23 incorporated in the gearbox of a cigarette making machine.

26. An assembly according to any one of claims 23 to 25 wherein the cutting blade is configured to form a bevelled buccal end on the smoking articles.

27. An assembly according to any one of claims 23 to 25 wherein the cutting blade is configured to form a bevelled distal end on the smoking articles.

28. A smoking article comprising an elongate body with a bevelled distal end having an end surface that subtends an angle of 20°or less to a plane that is orthogonal to the longitudinal axis of the body.

29. A smoking article according to claim 28 including a rod of combustible smoking material having an exposed surface at the distal end.

30. A smoking article according to claim 28 or 29 wherein the angle is between 5 ° and 15 °.

31. A smoking article substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.