Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A24—TOBACCO; CIGARS; CIGARETTES; SIMULATED SMOKING DEVICES; SMOKERS' REQUISITES
  • A24B—MANUFACTURE OR PREPARATION OF TOBACCO FOR SMOKING OR CHEWING; TOBACCO; SNUFF
  • A24B15/00—Chemical features or treatment of tobacco; Tobacco substitutes, e.g. in liquid form
  • A24B15/10—Chemical features of tobacco products or tobacco substitutes
  • A24B15/16—Chemical features of tobacco products or tobacco substitutes of tobacco substitutes
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A24—TOBACCO; CIGARS; CIGARETTES; SIMULATED SMOKING DEVICES; SMOKERS' REQUISITES
  • A24B—MANUFACTURE OR PREPARATION OF TOBACCO FOR SMOKING OR CHEWING; TOBACCO; SNUFF
  • A24B13/00—Tobacco for pipes, for cigars, e.g. cigar inserts, or for cigarettes; Chewing tobacco; Snuff
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A24—TOBACCO; CIGARS; CIGARETTES; SIMULATED SMOKING DEVICES; SMOKERS' REQUISITES
  • A24B—MANUFACTURE OR PREPARATION OF TOBACCO FOR SMOKING OR CHEWING; TOBACCO; SNUFF
  • A24B15/00—Chemical features or treatment of tobacco; Tobacco substitutes, e.g. in liquid form
  • A24B15/18—Treatment of tobacco products or tobacco substitutes
  • A24B15/28—Treatment of tobacco products or tobacco substitutes by chemical substances
  • A24B15/285—Treatment of tobacco products or tobacco substitutes by chemical substances characterised by structural features, e.g. particle shape or size

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a pouchless product for oral use.
• the present invention further relates to an apparatus and a method for manufacturing a pouchless product for oral use.
• Smokeless products for oral use are well known in the art and include tobacco products as well as non-tobacco products.
• Tobacco products for oral use may be offered in loose form or as portion-packed in a saliva-permeable, porous wrapper material forming a pouch enclosing a tobacco-based filling material.
• Non-tobacco pouched products are commonly provided in the form of a filling material comprising a particulate material and/or fibers which may be plant fibers of other origin than tobacco or man-made fibers.
• Pouched products for oral use are typically used by a consumer by placing the pouch between the upper or lower gum and the lip and retaining it there for a limited period of time. The pouch material holds the tobacco or non-tobacco filling material in place while allowing saliva to pass into the filling material and allowing flavours and active agents, e.g., nicotine to diffuse from the tobacco material into the consumer's mouth.
• the pouch material used in pouched products for oral use also called the packaging material, can be a dry-laid bonded nonwoven comprising viscose rayon fibres, i.e., regenerated cellulose, and a polymer that acts as binder in the nonwoven material and contributes to sealing of the pouches during manufacturing thereof, although other types of nonwoven material may be utilized as well.
• a dry-laid bonded nonwoven comprising viscose rayon fibres, i.e., regenerated cellulose, and a polymer that acts as binder in the nonwoven material and contributes to sealing of the pouches during manufacturing thereof, although other types of nonwoven material may be utilized as well.
• the release rate of the components of oral pouched products have been reported to vary. Purely as an example, nicotine is known to be absorbed rather slowly from pouched smokeless tobacco products. The satisfaction and perception of oral smokeless products will be influenced by which component(s) is/are released as well as the release rate of the active component.
• the oral smokeless product fits well in the mouth, is comfortable and can be used discretely.
• the oral smokeless products as disclosed herein are pouchless oral smokeless products for oral use. They may be nicotine-containing pouchless oral smokeless products for oral use with the nicotine being present in the form of a nicotine base and/or a nicotine salt.
• Patent document WO 2023/104774 A1 discloses a pouchless oral smokeless product in the form of an oral patch comprising a thickening agent, a carrier, and an active agent and/or a flavour, wherein the carrier is a fibrous carrier consisting of a water insoluble nonwoven material.
• a product typically has a height given by the thickness of the oral patch and a perimeter given by the shape of the oral patch.
• the pouchless oral smokeless product facilitates an efficient manufacturing, preferably at high speed. It is further desirable that a change of the product properties, e.g. its height, leads to as few adjustments of machine settings of the manufacturing apparatus as possible.
• the object of the present disclosure is to overcome or ameliorate at least one of the disadvantages of the prior art, or to provide a useful alternative.
• a first aspect of the present invention relates to a pouchless oral smokeless product, which comprises a strip of a water insoluble fibrous nonwoven material.
• the pouchless oral smokeless product further comprises an active agent and/or a flavour, wherein the active agent and/or flavour is located in and/or on the strip.
• the strip is folded at least twice or rolled.
• the pouchless oral smokeless product comprises a pair of opposed short side edges and a pair of opposed long side edges. A short side end portion is located at each short side edge. A seal is located in each short side end portion sealing the short side end portion.
• the strip is formed by a piece of the nonwoven material.
• the nonwoven material is typically supplied as a web.
• Nonwoven materials sometimes called nonwovens, are fabrics that are not produced by conventional textile forming processes, such as weaving or knitting. Many different methods for the manufacturing of nonwoven materials are known in the art. Further information on nonwovens may be found in " Handbook of Nonwovens" by S. Russel, published by Woodhead Publ. Ltd., 2007 . In view of the web production method used, nonwovens may be wet-laid or may be dry-formed.
• Dry-formed webs may be produced by methods such as carding, air-laying, spunbonding, melt-blowing, etc. If carded, the manufacturing process may result in fibres being substantially oriented in the carding direction i.e., in the machine direction. Dry-formed nonwoven may comprise parallel laid webs, cross laid webs or randomly laid webs. Parallel-laid webs and cross-laid webs may include two or more superimposed web layers, which may be carded, while randomly laid webs normally include a single web layer, which may be airlaid.
• the different types of bonding methods may be classified as mechanical bonding, e.g., needle punching, stitch bonding, hydroentanglement, as chemical bonding, e.g. saturation bonding, spray bonding, foam bonding, powder bonding, print bonding and as thermal bonding, e.g., hot calendering, through-air thermal bonding, ultrasonic bonding, radiant-heat bonding. More than one bonding method may be used to consolidate the nonwoven.
• the pouchless oral smokeless product according to the invention comprises an active agent or a flavour.
• it may comprise both an active agent and a flavour.
• One or more agents may be used.
• one or more flavours may be used.
• the active agent may comprise or consist of nicotine, cannabinoid, caffeine, ginseng, taurine and/or BCAA (branched amino acids). Nicotine is a well-known stimulant and may be used for example as an anti-smoke agent for people trying to quit smoking. The nicotine may have both sedative and stimulant effects on the body. Nicotine may give "kicks" which may be caused by nicotine stimulating the adrenal glands which results in release of adrenaline.
• nicotine compound which is used will depend on the circumstances, such as intended storage conditions for the product and/or the desired release rate.
• nicotine present in the product in the form of nicotine base may provide a substantially immediate release and good absorption across mucosal membranes when a consumer places the product in the mouth but may be associated with poor storage stability due to oxidation and volatility. Therefore, the nicotine may be provided in the product in a form other than nicotine base such as in the form of a nicotine salt.
• Useful nicotine salts include nicotine hydrochloride, nicotine dihydrochloride, nicotine mono-tartrate, nicotine bitartrate, nicotine bitartrate dihydrate, nicotine sulphate, nicotine zinc chloride monohydrate, nicotine salicylate, nicotine citrate, nicotine polacrilex, and any combination(s) thereof.
• a pH adjuster may be included in the nicotine preparation so that the nicotine may be released as nicotine base in sufficient amount to allow for satisfactory absorption across the mucosal membranes when the product is placed in the oral cavity of a consumer.
• the nonwoven material may be impregnated with the active agent and/or flavour. It is also contemplated to apply active agent and/or flavour as a coating on one or both surfaces of the nonwoven material. Combinations of impregnation and coating are also contemplated for the oral smokeless products as disclosed herein.
• a pouchless oral smokeless product as disclosed herein may be impregnated with a first flavour followed by coating with a second flavour, such that an initial flavour sensation may be different from a long-time flavour sensation.
• the active agent and/or flavour may be applied to the nonwoven material by spraying.
• the active agent and/or flavour may then be sprayed as a solution and/or in dry form, e.g. as a powder.
• it may be beneficial that the pouchless oral smokeless product is folded or rolled in such a way that that the side of the strip, onto which the active agent and/or flavour is applied, e.g. the top side, is facing inwards in the pouchless oral smokeless product.
• the active agent and/or flavour may be applied after the strip has been folded or rolled, such that the active agent and/or flavour is applied to outer layers of the folded or rolled strip, e.g. by means of spraying.
• the active agent and/or flavour may be added as a last step in the manufacturing of the pouchless oral smokeless product.
• the active agent and/or flavour may migrate further into the folded or rolled strip or may stay in the outer layers.
• the active agent and/or flavour is located in and/or on the strip. If impregnating, coating or spraying the active agent and/or flavour as a solution, the active agent and/or flavour forms a unitary unit with the strip of nonwoven material.
• the pouchless oral smokeless product according to the invention is pouchless and thus differs from prior art products being pouched oral smokeless product, in which a packaging material made of nonwoven encloses a filling material thereby forming a pouch around the filling material.
• the pouchless oral smokeless product according to the invention comprises a plurality of layers, i.e. it forms a multi-layer product.
• the strip may e.g. be folded into a plurality of panels, which are divided by folds. In that case, the panels will form the layers of the pouchless oral smokeless product.
• the number of panels will then be the number of folds plus one.
• the panels may be of equal width or have different widths depending on the way of folding.
• the strip may be folded or rolled in a machine direction.
• the machine direction is the running direction of the apparatus used for manufacturing pouchless oral smokeless products. Typically, this machine direction coincides with a machine direction when manufacturing the nonwoven material of the strip.
• the folds extend in the machine direction.
• the roll When rolled in the machine direction, the roll has a length axis coinciding with the machine direction.
• the strip may be folded or rolled in a cross-machine direction, being perpendicular to the machine direction.
• the cross-machine direction is perpendicular to the running direction of the apparatus used for manufacturing pouchless oral smokeless products.
• this cross-machine direction coincides with a cross-machine direction when manufacturing the nonwoven material of the strip.
• the folds extend in the cross-machine direction.
• the roll When rolled in the cross-machine direction, the roll has a length axis coinciding with the cross-machine direction.
• the pouchless oral smokeless product comprises a pair of opposed short side edges and a pair of opposed long side edges.
• the side edges may be straight or curved. Normally, the short side edges are straight.
• the long side edges may either be straight or curved. If both the short side edges and the long side edges are straight, which typically is the case when the strip is folded, the pouchless oral smokeless product has a rectangular footprint, i.e. its shape when seen from above, is rectangular. If the long side edges are curved, which may be the case if the strip is rolled, the pouchless oral smokeless product typically has a waist, i.e. its width at a longitudinal centre is less than its width at the seals.
• a respective short side end portion is located at each short side edge of the pouchless oral smokeless product.
• the short side end portion extends in a longitudinal direction of the pouchless oral smokeless product within a range of 1-10 mm as measured from the short side edge or within a range of 1-5 mm from the short side edge.
• a seal is located in each short side end portion.
• the seal is located at or adjacent to short side edge, e.g. within the range of 0-10 mm from the short side edge or within the range of 0-5 mm from the short side edge.
• the seal is located at the very short side edge, thereby being coterminous with the short side edge, i.e. without an interspace, which e.g. could be the case if using ultrasonic welding with a welding unit providing both welding and cutting in a single unit, e.g. as described in WO 2017/093486 .
• the seals extend at an angle ⁇ to the long side edges being between 45° and 135°, preferably between 60° and 120°, more preferably between 75° and 105°, e.g. perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to the long side edges of the pouchless oral smokeless product.
• the pouchless oral smokeless product according to the invention offers a way of controlling the release rate of the active agent and/or flavour. Further, the pouchless oral smokeless product fits well in the mouth, is comfortable and can be used discretely.
• the size of the pouchless oral smokeless product according to the invention e.g. its height, by controlling the folding or rolling.
• an extra panel may be added by folding once more or an extra revolution may be added to a roll.
• Such product adjustments can be made without having to make complicated adjustments of the settings of the manufacturing apparatus.
• the product adjustments can be made in the apparatus for manufacturing pouchless oral smokeless products itself. Hence, there is no need to make it in a previous apparatus of the manufacturing chain.
• folding and/or rolling can be performed at high machine speeds, allowing for efficient manufacturing.
• the present invention offers a great degree of freedom when selecting measures of the pouchless oral smokeless product, such as its height, and when selecting which active agent/s and/or flavour/s to apply and in which amounts.
• the seals may be heat-welded seals, ultrasonic-welded seals, edge embossings, pressure bondings, needle-punched seals, hydroentangled seals, stitched seals, sewn seals and/or comprise a glue or an adhesive.
• the seals join the layers of the pouchless oral smokeless product, thereby holding the layers together and sealing the short side end portion.
• the seals extend from one long side edge to the other long side edge, although it would also be feasible to have shorter seals.
• interspace there may be a small interspace between the seals and the short side edges, which interspace may be used to allow room for a cutting blade in an apparatus for manufacturing the pouchless oral smokeless product.
• the seals are located at the very short side edges, thereby being coterminous with the short side edges, i.e. without an interspace, which could be the case if using ultrasonic welding with a welding unit providing both welding and cutting in a single unit e.g. as described in WO 2017/093486 A1 . Needle-punched seals and hydroentangled seals are described in E P 3992093A1 .
• the strip may be folded in an accordion-like way, with the folds being located along the long side edges of the pouchless oral smokeless product. Hence, the strip is folded into panels divided by folds. There are folds at least at the seals, but preferably the folds are located along the whole length of the long side edges.
• the number of folds may be freely chosen, e.g. within the range of 3-10. The number of panels, and hence the number of layers of the pouchless oral smokeless product, will then be the number of folds plus one.
• the strip may be rolled and flattened with folds or bends located along the long side edges of the pouchless oral smokeless product. There are then folds or bends at least at the seals, but preferably the folds or bends are located along the whole length of the long side edges.
• the folds or bends are seen in a cross-sectional view of the roll. The bend has a smaller radius of curvature than the rest of the roll as seen in the cross-sectional view, which is a result of that the roll is flattened at least at the seals. If the whole length of the roll is flattened, there are typically folds or bends along the whole length of the long side edges.
• the nonwoven material of the strip may comprise a binder and/or thermoplastic fibres, which may contribute to provide strong seals by softening and/or melting.
• the pouchless oral smokeless product may be configured such that there is no active agent and/or flavour present in the portions of the strip being sealed. This may be beneficial if using an active agent and/or a flavour, which is known to weaken seal strength.
• a second aspect of the present invention relates to a method for manufacturing pouchless oral smokeless products, the method comprising:
• the method may be performed in the apparatus for manufacturing pouchless oral smokeless products described herein.
• the method may be used for manufacturing the pouchless oral smokeless product according to the invention.
• details described herein for the pouchless oral smokeless product and/or for the apparatus are valid for the method as well.
• Step a) is performed first. Steps c), d) and e) are performed in alphabetical order. Step b) is performed after step a). Thereby, step b) may be performed before step c), when performing step c), between steps c) and d), between steps d) and e) and/or after step e), as is further described below. If using more than one active agent or flavour, step b) may be performed such that the more than one active agent and/or flavour is provided at the same time or step b) may be performed twice or more, such that the more than one active agent and/or flavour are provided separately, either at the same stage of the method or at different stages. In the latter case, the more than one active agent and/or flavour may be provided between different steps of the method. Accordingly, examples of feasible orders of the steps are a)-b)-c)-d)-e) or a)-c)-d)-e)-b) or a)-b)-c)-d)-e)-b).
• Step c) may comprise first double-folding, triple-folding or quarter-folding the web and then making the rest of the folding or rolling.
• Step c) may be performed by folding or rolling the web in a cross-machine direction.
• the folds extend in the cross-machine direction.
• the roll has a length axis coinciding with the cross-machine direction.
• the seals are provided extending at an angle ⁇ to the cross-machine direction, preferably 45° ⁇ ⁇ ⁇ 135°, more preferably 60° ⁇ ⁇ ⁇ 120°, most preferably 75° ⁇ ⁇ ⁇ 105°, e.g. perpendicular to the cross-machine direction, i.e. parallel to the machine direction.
• Step c) may be performed by folding or rolling the web in a machine direction.
• the folds extend in the machine direction.
• the roll has a length axis coinciding with the machine direction.
• the seals are provided extending at an angle ⁇ to the machine direction, preferably 45° ⁇ ⁇ ⁇ 135°, more preferably 60° ⁇ ⁇ ⁇ 120°, most preferably 75° ⁇ ⁇ ⁇ 105°, e.g. perpendicular to the machine direction, i.e. parallel to the cross-machine direction.
• the method may further comprise flattening the rolled web, thereby forming folds or bends along long side edges of the rolled web, e.g. at least at the seals, preferably along the whole length of the long side edges.
• the seals may be provided by means of heat welding, ultrasonic welding, edge embossing, pressure bonding, needle-punching, hydroentangling, stitching, sewing and/or by applying a glue or an adhesive.
• the seal may be provided at the very short edge of the pouchless oral smokeless product or there may be a small interspace between the seal and the short edge.
• Each seal may be provided individually.
• a first seal of a piece mentioned in step e) may be provided at the same time as a second seal of a preceding piece. The applied seal may thereby split into two portions, typically halves, forming the respective seals of the pieces when performing the dividing in step e).
• the dividing may be performed by cutting, slitting, perforating or by providing a start notch or start slit for tearing.
• the pouchless oral smokeless product may be completely separated from each other during the manufacturing, e.g. by cutting, or they may be only partly separated from each other during the manufacturing. In that case, the user may himself/herself separate a pouchless oral smokeless product to be used, e.g. when he/she is about to use it.
• Steps d) and e) may be combined, which may be the case if using ultrasonic welding with a welding unit providing both welding and cutting in a single unit, e.g. as described in WO 2017/093486 .
• Step b) may be performed by supplying an active agent and/or a flavour to the web of a water insoluble fibrous nonwoven material provided in step a). Thereby, step b) may be performed before step c), such that it is the web with the active agent and/or flavour being located in and/or on the web, which is folded or rolled. Steps a) and b) may be performed in a separate manufacturing line, such that the web is supplied with the active agent and/or flavour already supplied to it.
• Step b) may comprise one or more of the following:
• the spraying or coating may be controlled such that no active agent and/or flavour is provided on the portions of the web, where a seal is to be provided. This may be beneficial if using an active agent and/or a flavour, which is known to weaken seal strength.
• step b) may as an alternative or a complement be performed when performing step c), between steps c) and d), between steps d) and e) or after step e).
• step b) may be performed by spraying.
• the active agent and/or flavour may be provided to the divided pieces provided in step e) in a continuous process or batchwise, e.g. in a tumbling barrel. It would further be feasible to provide the active agent and/or flavour after the provided pieced have been placed in a user container, e.g. by spraying on the divided pieces or somewhere else in the container.
• a third aspect of the present invention relates to an apparatus for manufacturing pouchless oral smokeless products, the apparatus comprising:
• the divided pieces of the folded or rolled web with the active agent and/or flavour in and/or on it form the pouchless oral smokeless products.
• the apparatus may be used for manufacturing the pouchless oral smokeless product according to the invention. Further, the method according to the invention may be performed in the apparatus. Thereby, the order of the different units of the apparatus reflects the steps of the method. Hence, details described herein for the pouchless oral smokeless product and/or for the method are valid for the apparatus as well.
• the first supply unit comes first when following the running direction of the apparatus, also called the machine direction.
• the dividing unit comes after the sealing unit, which comes after the web forming unit.
• the second supply unit may be located
• the second supply unit may be used to spray the active agent and/or flavour on web of nonwoven material.
• the second supply unit may be used to spray the active agent and/or flavour on the divided pieces.
• More than one second supply unit may be used, which second supply units in that case may be located at different positions when seen in the running direction, e.g. a second supply unit between the first supply unit and the web forming unit, applying active agent and/or flavour to the web, and another second supply unit after the dividing unit, applying active agent and/or flavour to the divided pieces.
• the first supply unit and the second supply unit may form a separate manufacturing line, such that the web is provided to the web forming unit with the active agent and/or flavour located in and/or on the strip.
• the dividing unit may be combined with the sealing unit, which may be the case if using ultrasonic welding with a welding unit providing both welding and cutting in a single unit, e.g. as described in WO 2017/093486 .
• Fig. 1a schematically illustrates a top view of a pouchless oral smokeless product 100 according to a first embodiment of the invention.
• the pouchless oral smokeless product 100 comprises a strip 102 of a water insoluble fibrous nonwoven material.
• An active agent and/or a flavour is located in or on the strip 102.
• the strip 102 is folded to form a plurality of layers in the pouchless oral smokeless product 100.
• the strip 102 has been folded into six panels forming six layers 104a-f by five folds 106a-e, see Fig. 1b showing a schematic cross-section at the longitudinal centre along line B-B.
• the pouchless oral smokeless product 100 has a height h c at the longitudinal centre and a width w c at the longitudinal centre, as indicated in Fig. 1b.
• Fig. 1b is schematic in order to show the six layers 104a-f and the five folds 106a-e. In reality, the layers 104a-f lay on top each other, such that the height h c at the longitudinal centre is the sum of the thickness of each layer 104a-f.
• the width w c of the pouchless oral smokeless product 100 at the longitudinal centre is the same as a width w p of an individual panel 104a-f.
• the pouchless oral smokeless product 100 has a pair of opposed short side edges, the pair comprising a first short side edge 108 and a second short side edge 110, and a pair of opposed long side edges, the pair comprising a first long side edge 112 and a second long side edge 114.
• a footprint of the pouchless oral smokeless product 100 i.e. its shape when seen from above as in Fig. 1a , is rectangular.
• a first seal 116 is located adjacent to the first short side edge 108 in a first short side end portion 118.
• a second seal 120 is located adjacent to the second side edge 110 in a second short side end portion 122.
• the seals 116, 120 join the layers 104a-f, thereby holding the layers 104a-f together and sealing the short side end portions 118, 122.
• the seals 116, 120 extend from the first long side edge 112 to the second long side edge 114, as is illustrated in Fig. 1a , although it would also be feasible to have shorter seals.
• the seals may be heat-welded seals, ultrasonic-welded seals, edge embossings, pressure bondings, needle-punched seals, hydroentangled seals, stitched seals, sewn seals and/or may comprise a glue or an adhesive.
• the small interspace may be used to allow room for a cutting blade in an apparatus for manufacturing the pouchless oral smokeless product 100.
• the seals 116, 120 are located at the very short side edges 108, thereby being coterminous with the short side edges 108, 110, i.e. without an interspace. This could e.g. be the case if using ultrasonic welding with a welding unit providing both welding and cutting in a single unit, as is illustrated in the pouchless oral smokeless product 500 of Fig. 5 , described below.
• FIG. 1a An arrow, at the left-hand side of Fig. 1a , indicates the machine direction MD used when manufacturing the pouchless oral smokeless product 100 of the first embodiment.
• the short side edges 108, 110 extend in the machine direction MD.
• the folds 106a-e and the long side edges 112, 114 extend in a cross-machine direction CD, indicated by another arrow, which is perpendicular to the machine direction MD.
• the pouchless oral smokeless product 100 is folded in the cross-machine direction CD.
• the strip 102 is folded in an accordion-like manner, as may be gleaned in Fig. 1b and Fig. 1c , resulting in the rectangular footprint of the pouchless oral smokeless product 100 described above in conjunction with Fig. 1a .
• the first long side edge 112 comprises two folds 106b, 106d of the strip 102 and the second long side edge 114 comprises three folds 106a, 106c, 106e of the strip 102, but the number of folds may be freely chosen, e.g. within the range of 3-10. The number of panels, and hence the number of layers, will then be the number of folds plus one.
• the folds 106a-e extend along the whole length of the long side edges 112, 114.
• the strip 102 is in Fig. 1c shown in an unfolded state, illustrating the five folds 106a-e between the six panels forming the six layers 104a-f.
• the strip 102 comprises a water insoluble fibrous nonwoven material.
• the active agent and/or flavour is located in and/or on the nonwoven material, e.g. impregnated into the nonwoven material, sprayed on the nonwoven material as a solution or in dry form, and/or coated as a solution on the nonwoven material.
• the nonwoven material comprises a binder and/or thermoplastic fibres, which may have a melting point selected, such that binder and/or the thermoplastic fibres can contribute to provide seal strength.
• Fig. 2a schematically illustrates a top view of a pouchless oral smokeless product 200 according to a second embodiment of the invention.
• the pouchless oral smokeless product 200 has two short side edges 208, 210 and two long side edges 212, 214. It has a rectangular footprint.
• An active agent and/or a flavour is located in or on the strip 202.
• the pouchless oral smokeless product 200 has a lot of features in common with the pouchless oral smokeless product 100 of the first embodiment, which features will not be described again.
• the main difference to the first embodiment is that the machine direction MD extends along the long side edges 212, 214. Thereby, the short side edges 208, 210 extend in the cross-machine direction CD.
• the folds 206a-e extend in the machine direction MD.
• the strip 202 is folded in an accordion-like manner thereby forming a plurality of layers in the pouchless oral smokeless product 200.
• the strip 202 has been folded into six panels forming six layers 204a-f by means of five folds 206a-e, see Fig. 2b showing a schematic cross-section at the longitudinal centre along line B-B and Fig. 2c showing the strip 202 in an unfolded manner.
• the seals 216, 220 are located in the respective short side end portion 218, 222. The details of the seals 216, 218 correspond to those described herein for the first embodiment.
• Fig. 3a schematically illustrates a top view of a pouchless oral smokeless product 300 according to a third embodiment of the invention.
• the pouchless oral smokeless product 300 has two short side edges 308, 310 and two long side edges 312, 314.
• An active agent and/or a flavour is located in or on the strip 302.
• Fig. 3b is a cross-sectional view along line B-B at a longitudinal centre of the pouchless oral smokeless product 300 showing a section of the roll.
• Fig. 3c is a cross-sectional view along line C-C through one of the seals 316, 320.
• the roll has been flattened, such that a height h S at the seal 316, 320 is less than a height he at the longitudinal centre, which may be gleaned if comparing Fig. 3b and Fig. 3c .
• the pouchless oral smokeless product 300 of the third embodiment has a non-rectangular footprint with a waist at the longitudinal centre, which may be gleaned in the top view of Fig. 3a .
• a pouchless oral smokeless product 400 comprises a roll corresponding to that of the third embodiment.
• the whole roll has been flattened, such that the whole roll has a flattened cross-section at the longitudinal centre, see Fig. 4b , which is similar to the cross-section at the seals 316, 320 for the third embodiment, see Fig. 3c .
• bends, or even folds 406a, 406b, if sufficiently flattened, are formed along the whole length of the long side edges 412, 414.
• the pouchless oral smokeless product 400 has a rectangular footprint, similar to that of the first and second embodiment.
• the strip 402 is in Fig. 4c shown in an unfolded state, illustrating the six panels 404a-f and the five folds 406a-e resulting from the roll being flattened. With this way of folding, the widths of the panels 404a-f are gradually decreasing towards the centre of the roll.
• Fig. 5 illustrates a pouchless oral smokeless product 500 according to the invention, e.g. according to the first, second or fourth embodiments, in which the seals 516, 520 instead are coterminous with the short side edges 508, 510.
• a seal may be made by using ultrasonic welding with a welding unit providing both welding and cutting in a single unit, e.g. as described in WO 2017/093486 .
• This kind of seal may also be used for the pouchless oral smokeless product 300 according to the third embodiment.
• seals 516, 520 they may be narrower than the corresponding seals illustrated for the first to fourth embodiments.
• Fig. 6a-c illustrate different variants of a method 600, 600', 600" according to the invention for manufacturing pouchless oral smokeless products.
• the method comprises:
• Step b) may be performed before step c), as shown in Fig. 6a , when performing step c), between steps c) and d), between steps d) and e) and/or after step e), as shown in Fig. 6b , which illustrates the order a)-c)-d)-e)-b).
• step b) may be performed such that the more than one active agent and/or flavour is provided at the same time, or step b) may be performed twice or more, such that the more than one active agent and/or flavour are provided separately, either at the same stage of the method or at different stages. In the latter case, the more than one active agent and/or flavour may be provided between different steps of the method, as in the order a)-b)-c)-d)-e)-b) illustrated in Fig. 6c .
• Step c) may be performed by folding or rolling the web in a cross-machine direction.
• the folds extend in the cross-machine direction CD, cf. Figs. 1a-c.
• the roll has a length axis coinciding with the cross-machine direction.
• the seals are provided extending at an angle ⁇ to the cross-machine direction, preferably 45° ⁇ ⁇ ⁇ 135°, more preferably 60° ⁇ ⁇ ⁇ 120°, most preferably 75° ⁇ ⁇ ⁇ 105°, e.g. perpendicular to the cross-machine direction, i.e. parallel to the machine direction, see Fig. 1a .
• Step c) may be performed by folding or rolling the web in a machine direction.
• the folds extend in the machine direction MD, cf. Figs. 2a-c and 4a-c.
• the roll has a length axis coinciding with the machine direction MD, cf. Figs. 3a-c and 4a-c .
• the seals are provided extending at an angle ⁇ to the machine direction, preferably 45° ⁇ ⁇ ⁇ 135°, more preferably 60° ⁇ ⁇ ⁇ 120°, most preferably 75° ⁇ ⁇ ⁇ 105°, e.g. perpendicular to the machine direction, i.e. parallel to the cross-machine direction, see Fig. 2a .
• the method may further comprise flattening the rolled web, thereby forming folds or bends along long side edges of the rolled web, e.g. at least at the seals, cf. Fig. 3a-c , preferably along the whole length of the long side edges, cf. Fig. 4a-c .
• Fig. 7 shows an apparatus 700 according to the invention for manufacturing pouchless oral smokeless products.
• the apparatus 700 comprises:
• the order of the different units 710-750 of the apparatus 700 reflects the steps of the method.
• the divided pieces of the folded or rolled web with the active agent and/or flavour in and/or on it form the pouchless oral smokeless products 100, 200, 300, 400, 500.

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• 2024
  • 2024-04-18 EP EP24171023.5A patent/EP4635304A1/fr active Pending
• 2025
  • 2025-03-26 WO PCT/EP2025/058289 patent/WO2025219037A1/fr active Pending

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