TWI600381B - Smoking article - Google Patents

Description

Smoking supplies Field of invention

The present invention relates to smoking articles having a biodegradable filter.

Background of the invention

Smoking articles, such as cigarettes, typically comprise a smokable cigarette rod wrapped in a roll of cigarette paper, such as a cigarette paper, and a filter attached to the cigarette rod via a tipping paper . Perforations surrounding each of the layers of the filter material can be applied to obtain filter venting that can dilute the mainstream smoke with air.

Filters for smoking articles typically consist of 2 or more sections that are axially aligned to obtain special filter features. Depending on the number of filter segments, these filters are referred to as double, triple, etc. filters.

For smoking articles, cellulose acetate is the most commonly used filter material. However, cellulose acetate has poor biodegradability, whether in a composting environment or in standardized tests (eg OECD 301 B). Filter materials having improved biodegradability are also known, such as paper, other nonwoven (e.g., airlaid) cellulosic fibers, or regenerated like cellulose lyocell or viscose.

The problem with the latter filter material is that the filtration efficiency of the particulate matter ("tar") for the mainstream smoke is much higher than that of cellulose acetate. Since the amount of carbon monoxide in the mainstream smoke is not affected by filtration, the carbon monoxide yield (in milligrams per smoking article) and the particulate matter yield (in milligrams per smoking article) The ratio increases as the filtration efficiency increases. At this point and below, the particulate matter is determined by PMWNF ("Particulate matter (anhydrous and nickidine)"). This filter material also limits the PMWNF level due to the upper limit for carbon monoxide yield and PMWNF yield in many national and EU regulations. The use of so-called LIP ("low ignition tendency") paper has been further considered to be due to this situation, as these papers have a tendency to increase CO yield at a constant PMWNF level.

Tobacco is known as a filter material from prior art, for example from FR 1 270 093 or from the brand "Gitanes Mais". Tobacco filters are primarily used to affect the taste of such smoking articles or to provide a special appearance of a filter-free cigarette at the mouth end of the cigarette. However, with the increased use of filter cigarettes, today's consumer preferences have shifted towards the white color of the visible filter tip.

WO 02/45531 A1 discloses a smoking product comprising a cigarette filter having a hollow mouthpiece. A cellulose-based filter section can be selectively placed between the cigarette rod of the smoking product and the cigarette filter.

Summary of invention

It is an object of the present invention to provide a smoking article having a biodegradable filter that has an acceptable white appearance at the mouth side and It provides a low filtration efficiency for micro-pulling materials sufficient for filtration efficiency similar to such conventional cellulose acetate filters.

This object is obtained by a smoking article having the characteristics of item 1 of the patent application. Patent Application No. 11 relates to a self-manufactured filter tube for a smoking article which can form a smoking article as defined in claim 1 of the patent application. Advantageous variants of the invention can be inferred from the dependent items.

The smoking article according to the present invention comprises a smokable cigarette rod comprising tobacco and a cigarette paper; and a filter having a first end and a second end. The smoking article is preferably a cigarette, and the cigarette paper is preferably a cigarette paper, but also covers other types of smoking articles, such as cigarillo. The filter includes a first filter section extending up to a first end of the filter and is located at one end of the cigarette rod (rod side filter section) and a second extending up to a second end of the filter Filter section (mouth side filter section). The first filter section comprises cut or chopped plant material. The second filter section comprises a cellulosic material as a filter material. For the purposes of the present invention, the cellulosic material is a material based on natural cellulose or regenerated cellulose rather than a cellulose derivative such as cellulose acetate. The length of the second filter section is in the range of 3 to 12 mm. Moreover, according to OECD 301 B, the filter of the smoking article of the present invention is biodegradable.

OECD 301 is an OECD guideline for testing chemicals (used by the Council on July 17, 1992) and is designed to screen for chemistry that is readily biodegradable in an aerobic aqueous medium. Several methods of the product. One of these methods is called OECD 301 B. In this test, the CO ₂ emissions of the test compound in an aqueous medium under the aerobic conditions were determined and the cyclic CO ₂ production of the test compound was determined with respect to complete degradation. Roughly speaking, if the measured ratio of CO ₂ to theoretical CO ₂ is increased from 10 to 60% or higher within 10 days, the test can be considered acceptable. For detailed information, see the OECD 301 guidelines, which include the description of the OECD 301 B.

Since the second or mouth side filter section comprises a cellulosic material, its appearance is typically white or white, similar to the mouth side end of a typical cigarette having a cellulose acetate filter. The filter section is relatively short so that the generally high filtration efficiency of the cellulosic material per unit length does not result in too high overall filtration efficiency of the second filter section. The first or rod side filter section generally does not increase the overall filtration efficiency of the filter a lot, but it adds some length to the filter, so the total length of the filter is shown to be familiar to the consumer and can be made during manufacture. Promote the handling of these filters. Moreover, the cut or chopped plant material of the first filter section can affect the taste of the smoking article.

The filter is preferably a double filter. It is intended that no other filter segments are included other than the first filter segment and the second filter segment, wherein each filter segment is considered to have a generally non-variable structure along the longitudinal axis of the smoking article.

In general, the structure of each filter segment can be predominantly uniform, i.e., non-denatable along the longitudinal axis or within the cross-sectional area.

Examples of cellulosic materials of the second filter section are paper, airlaid cellulose or regenerated cellulose, such as lyocell or viscose. Mixtures or blends of such materials are also suitable. Moreover, the second filter element may comprise a blend of adsorbents capable of reducing the vapor phase component of the mainstream smoke, preferably in a A component of paper material, such as a paper containing activated carbon.

In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the first or rod side filter section comprises cut tobacco or chopped (or chopped) herbs such as peppermint, eucalyptus, and/or tea leaves. Mixtures or blends of tobacco and chopped or chopped herbs such as mint, eucalyptus, and/or tea are also contemplated. A suitable plant material suitable for the first filter section, such as a suitable blend, can be used to create a number of ways that can affect the overall taste of the smoking article.

The first filter section may have in the range of from 0.20 to 0.35 g / cm ³ of density in a. It is typically slightly larger than the density of tobacco in the cigarette rod of the smoking article. By adjusting the density, the filtration efficiency and the taste provided by the first filter section can be affected. Moreover, a denser filter feels harder, more like a commonly used cellulose acetate filter, and a more dense filter is harder during the manufacturing process, with loss from the end side of the first filter section The tendency of plant particles will decrease.

According to recent regulations, and particularly if the smoking article is a cigarette, the smoking paper of the smoking article may be a cigarette paper comprising at least one region having a permeability less than the base permeability of the cigarette paper. It means that the original or basic permeability of the cigarette paper can be reduced in certain areas, for example by applying a coating to reduce the original or basic permeability of the cigarette paper. The low permeability regions can be arranged, for example, in a ring pattern. By using the method, a low ignition tendency of the smoking article can be obtained, so the smoking article preferably conforms to the requirements of ASTM E2187 and/or EN 16156:2010. In general, low ignition tendency smoking articles are my skills in this skill. Well known.

As further described above, the CO yield or level of a smoking article is substantially unaffected by the filter (other than by ventilation), however the PMWNF yield (level) can be controlled by the filter. . Within the present invention, the latter can be achieved, for example, via the density or type of cellulosic material within the second filter section or via the length of the second filter section. When smoking according to ISO conditions, if the smoking article has a PMWNF level of more than or equal to 8 mg, the CO/PMWNF ratio is preferably less than 1.3. When smoking according to ISO conditions, if the smoking article has a PMWNF level of less than 8 mg, the CO/PMWNF ratio is preferably less than 1.1. In this paper, CO/PMWNF is expressed as follows: Total CO production per milligram of smoking articles (mg) divided by total PMWNF production (mg) per smoking article. The relevant standard is ISO 4387.

The filter as explained so far can also be used in conjunction with a self-manufactured filter tube for carrying out a smoking article comprising a cigarette paper suitable for containing tobacco. The only difference between a smoking article according to the present invention and the smoking article filter is that, in the latter case, the tobacco is lost in the cigarette rod in the state to be marketed, wherein the consumer himself fills up the tobacco . The filter of the smoking article filter can have all of these properties of the filter of the smoking article according to the invention.

A smoking article according to the present invention can be obtained, for example, in that the filter base for the second filter section is based on a standard paper filter manufacturer from a paper fabric, a tobacco block packaging material ( Plug wrap) and adhesive. As known to the skilled person, the width of the paper fabric and the fabric can be The pressure drop and retention of the component are controlled as needed by embossing or folding. The tobacco block packaging material may be porous or non-porous depending on the intended type of filter venting.

The tobacco filter base for the first filter section is made according to a standard cigarette manufacturer from all over or chopped tobacco blends, a roll of cigarette paper and an adhesive. Such tobacco blends typically comprise cut Virginia, Burley and/or Oriental tobacco leaves. The tobacco blend can further comprise cut tobacco stems. All of the cigarette material can be inflated using a method familiar to those skilled in the art. The cigarette paper may be a porous or non-porous filter tobacco block packaging material paper.

It can be seen from the filter bases that a double filter rod can be produced by a standard filter compounding machine using a second porous or non-porous cigarette paper and an adhesive.

The flammable cigarette rod can be made from tobacco, cigarette paper and adhesive according to a standard filter cigarette manufacturer. The dual filter can be attached to the rod by a filter paper that covers the filter and a portion of the smokable cigarette rod.

Therefore, in the present example, each filter segment comprises a tobacco block packaging material, and the two filter segments are combined by an additional cigarette paper, and the formed double filter is connected to the ignitable pump by a filter paper. Smoking cigarette rods.

1‧‧ ‧ Cigarettes

2‧‧‧ cigarette rod

3‧‧‧Double filter

4‧‧‧ first end

5‧‧‧second end

11‧‧‧First filter section

12‧‧‧Second filter

In the following, the invention is further described by way of examples. The drawings are as follows: Figure 1 is a schematic view of an embodiment of the smoking article according to the present invention, and Figure 2 is a graphical representation of the degradation of cigarette filter segments containing paper, tobacco and cellulose acetate as a function of time as measured as described in OECD 301 B.

Detailed description of the preferred embodiment

Figure 1 is an illustration of an embodiment of a smoking article in a schematic view. The smoking article is a cigarette 1 comprising a smokable cigarette rod 2 (tobacco wrapped in a cigarette paper) and a double filter 3. The dual filter 3 is attached to the smokable cigarette rod 2 by means of a filter paper (not shown in Figure 1). The dual filter 3 has a first end 4 adjacent to the cigarette rod 2 and a second end 5 as the mouth side filter end.

The double filter 3 includes a rod side first filter section 11 and a nozzle side second filter section 12. The first filter section 11 contains cut or minced plant material (in the tobacco of this example), however the second filter section 12 contains a cellulosic material (in this embodiment paper) as a filter material. Each filter segment 11, 12 comprises a tobacco block packaging material, and both filter segments 11, 12 are combined by an additional cigarette paper (not shown in Figure 1).

In this embodiment, the double filter 3 is ventilated by a circumferentially extending venting opening in the region of the first filter section 11.

As an example, a cigarette sample was prepared using the parameters specified below and listed in Table 1. The "References" and "References II" columns are for samples having a conventional filter ("Mono-AC") or a paper filter containing cellulose acetate for comparison purposes. The remaining four columns ("tobacco-paper filter samples") are related to the samples according to the invention.

All cigarettes included in Table 1 are standard specialty cigarettes, The total length of the filter is 21 mm, the total length of the smokable cigarette rod is 62 mm, and the diameter is 7.88 mm. In all cases, the filter paper was 25 mm in length. Within the cigarette rod, all cigarettes of Table 1 contained a standard American blend having a rod weight of 670 mg. In all venting specimens, the filter vent is located 13 mm from the mouth side of the filter. Moreover, all samples contained a LIP cigarette paper having a base porosity of 70 CU (Coresta units). The cigarette yield of cigarettes according to ISO 4387 test table 1. For the determination of this pressure drop ("PD"), the vents are open; 1 mm WG = 9.8 Pa.

In the samples according to the invention, the tobacco filter section (tobacco filter block) is a dark air-cured blend containing 60% of the unrolled tobacco stems.

The last column in Table 1 ("+25% mint") is a sample containing mint leaves in the tobacco filter. In the present case, 25% of the leaf portion of the tobacco blend in the filters of Samples 1 to 3 was replaced with threshed mint leaves.

A target of a CO/NFDPM ratio of 1.3 or less can be obtained via all of the samples according to the present invention.

The biodegradability of the paper filter section, the tobacco filter section and the cellulose acetate filter of the samples according to Table 1 was tested according to the OECD 301 B method. The results are shown in Figure 2. This illustration shows the amount of degradation during the passage of time. As detailed in the OECD 301 guideline, indicating that the degradation follows: since the ratio of the theoretical yield of the CO ₂ in the CO ₂ test specimen assumptions each of the test samples of the produced completely degraded.

As can be seen from Figure 2, tobacco and paper can pass the test, while acetic acid Cellulose failed.

1‧‧ ‧ Cigarettes

2‧‧‧ cigarette rod

3‧‧‧Double filter

4‧‧‧ first end

5‧‧‧second end

11‧‧‧First filter section

12‧‧‧Second filter

Claims (11)

A smoking article comprising a smokable cigarette rod comprising tobacco and a cigarette paper; and a filter having a first end and a second end, wherein the filter comprises: an extension to the filter a first filter segment at a first end of the cigarette rod, wherein the first filter segment comprises cut or chopped plant material, and a second filter segment extending to the second end of the filter, Wherein the second filter section comprises a cellulosic material as a filter material; the second filter section comprises at least one of the cellulosic materials selected from the group consisting of paper, paper containing an adsorbent, and activation Carbon paper, airlaid cellulose, regenerated cellulose, lyocell, viscose; characterized in that: - the structure of the second filter section is mainly uniform, - the second The filter section has a length ranging from 3 to 12 mm, and - the filter is biodegradable according to OECD 301 B. A smoking article according to claim 1 wherein the first filter section comprises cut tobacco. A smoking article according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the filter is a double filter. A smoking article according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the first filter segment comprises at least one of the materials selected from the group consisting of: cut or chopped herbs, cut or cut Broken mint leaves, eucalyptus, tea. The smoking article requested item 1 or 2, characterized in that the first filter segment having a self range of 0.20 g / cm ³ to .35 g / cm ³ of density in a. A smoking article according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the cigarette paper is a cigarette paper, the cigarette paper comprising at least one region having a permeability lower than a base permeability of the cigarette paper and adapted to provide the smoking The product has a low ignition tendency. A smoking article according to claim 6 characterized in that the smoking article satisfies the requirements of ASTM E2187 and/or EN 16156:2010. A smoking article according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the smoking article has a PMWNF level of greater than or equal to 8 mg and a CO/PMWNF ratio of less than 1.3 when pumped according to ISO conditions. A smoking article according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the smoking article has a PMWNF level of less than 8 mg and a CO/PMWNF ratio of less than 1.1 when pumped according to ISO conditions. A self-made smoking article filter for a smoking article according to claim 1, comprising a cigarette paper adapted to contain tobacco to provide a smokable cigarette rod, and a first end and a first a two-end filter, wherein the filter comprises: a first filter segment extending to a first end of the filter and located at one end of the cigarette rod, wherein the first filter segment comprises cut or chopped plants a material, and a second filter segment extending to the second end of the filter, wherein the second filter segment comprises a cellulosic material as a filter material; the second filter segment comprises the cells selected from the group consisting of At least one of the materials: paper, paper containing an adsorbent, paper containing activated carbon, airlaid cellulose, regenerated cellulose, lyocell, viscose (viscose); wherein the structure of the second filter section is mainly uniform, the second filter section has a length ranging from 3 to 12 mm, and the filter is biodegradable according to OECD 301 B. A smoking article filter according to claim 10, which has the features as described in any one of claims 2 to 6.