ES2569038T3 - Smoking article - Google Patents

Abstract

Smoking article, comprising a bar (2) of smokable tobacco, which includes tobacco and a wrapper, and a filter (3) having a first end (4) and a second end (5), in which the filter ( 3) comprises - a first filter segment (11) that extends to the first end (4) of the filter (3) and which is located at one end of the tobacco bar (2), in which the first segment of filter (11) comprises cut or chopped plant material, and - a second filter segment (12) extending to the second end (5) of the filter, wherein the second filter segment (12) comprises a cellulose material as a filter material, - the second filter segment (12) comprising at least one of the cellulose materials selected from the following group: paper, paper containing an adsorbent, paper containing activated carbon, cellulose deposited by air, cellulose regenerated, lyocell, viscose, characterized in that - the constitution of the second filter segment (12) is largely homogeneous, - the second filter segment (12) has a length in the range between 3 mm and 12 mm, and - the filter (3) is biodegradable according to OECD 301 B .

Description

Smoking article.

The present invention relates to a smoking article with a biodegradable filter.

Smoking articles, such as cigarettes, usually comprise a smokable tobacco bar wrapped in a wrapper (such as a cigarette paper) and a filter attached to that bar by means of a nozzle paper. A perforation of the layers surrounding the filter material can be applied to achieve filter ventilation that dilutes the main smoke with air.

Filters for smoking articles often consist of two or more segments that are axially aligned to achieve special filter characteristics. Depending on the number of filter segments, such filters are known as dual, triple filters, etc.

Cellulose acetate is the filter material most commonly used for smoking articles. However, cellulose acetate has poor biodegradability either in composting environments or in standardized tests such as the OECD 301 B standard. Filter materials with improved biodegradability are also known, such as paper, other nonwoven cellulose fibers (for example deposited by air), or regenerated cellulose such as lyocell or viscose.

The problem with these latter filter materials is that they have a much higher filtration efficiency for particulate matter ("tar") of the main smoke than cellulose acetate. Since the amount of carbon monoxide in the main smoke is not influenced by filtration, the relationship between the production of carbon monoxide (in mg per article of smoking) and the production of particulate matter (in mg per article of smoking ) increases with increasing filtration efficiency. Here and in the following, particulate matter is measured as PMWNF ("particulate matter (without water or nicotine)"). Since there are upper limits on the production of carbon monoxide and the production of PMWNF in the regulations of numerous countries and the EU, such filter materials limit PMWNF levels. The use of the so-called LIP papers ("low propensity for ignition") has been attributed additionally to this situation because these papers tend to increase CO productions to constant PMWNF levels.

It is known from the prior art to use tobacco as a filter material, for example from FR 1 270 093

or of cigarettes of the brand "Gitanes Mais". Tobacco filters are mainly used to influence the taste of smoking articles or to achieve a special aspect of the end of the cigarette that is introduced into the mouth that looks like a cigarette without a filter. However, with the increasing use of filter cigarettes, consumer preference has now changed to a white color at the end of the visible filter.

WO 02/45531 A1, which corresponds to DE 100 60 234 A1, discloses a smoking product comprising a tobacco filter with a hollow nozzle. Optionally, a section of the cellulose-based filter can be placed between the tobacco bar of the smoking product and the tobacco filter.

EP 2 324 722 A1 discloses a filter segment comprising a substrate with a smoke modifying agent, which is formed from filter roll wrap. The substrate can be loaded with menthol.

EP 1 234 514 A2 discloses a smoking article that has a reduced ignition propensity. A wrap around a tobacco bar comprises at least one distinct area treated with a composition to reduce its base permeability.

WO 2011/123320 A2 discloses a biodegradable cigarette filter consisting of a segment, which includes integrated seeds.

EP 0 597 478 A1 discloses a biodegradable cellulose ester composition, which is suitable for the manufacture of tobacco filters.

EP 1 889 550 A1 discloses a multi-component filter comprising two aroma release segments.

The object of the invention is to provide a smoking article with a biodegradable filter, which has an acceptable white appearance at its end on the side of the mouth and that provides a filtration efficiency for particulate matter that is low enough to resemble that of usual cellulose acetate filters.

This object is achieved by a smoking article having the characteristics according to claim 1. Claim 10 refers to a filter tube for self-production of a smoking article, which results in a smoking article as defined in claim 1. Advantageous versions of the invention are derived from the dependent claims.

The smoking article according to the invention comprises a smokable tobacco bar, which includes tobacco wrapped in a wrapper, and a filter having a first end and a second end. Preferably, the smoking article is a cigarette and the wrapping is a cigarette paper, but other types of smoking articles are also conceivable, for example a cigar. The filter comprises a first filter segment that extends to the first end of the filter and is located at one end of the tobacco bar (filter segment on the side of the bar), as well as a second filter segment that extends to the second end of the filter (mouth side filter segment). The first filter segment comprises cut or chopped plant material. The second filter segment comprises a cellulose material as a filter material. A cellulose material within the meaning of the invention is a material based on natural cellulose or regenerated cellulose, but not a cellulose derivative such as cellulose acetate. The length of the second filter segment is in the range between 3 mm and 12 mm. In addition, the smoking article filter according to the invention is biodegradable according to OECD 301 B.

The OECD 301 standard is an OECD guideline for testing chemical products (adopted by the Council on July 17, 1992) and describes several methods that allow the examination of chemical products to determine their easy biodegradability in an aerobic aqueous medium. One of these methods is referred to as the OECD 301 B standard. In this test, CO2 evolution is measured due to a test sample in an aqueous medium under aerobic conditions and is related to the theoretical CO2 production of the test compound assuming complete degradation In general, the test will be considered passed if the ratio of CO2 measured with respect to theoretical CO2 increases from 10% to 60% or more within a period of 10 days. For detailed information, see OECD 301 guideline, which includes the description of the OECD 301 B standard.

Since the second filter segment or the side of the mouth comprises a cellulose material, its appearance is generally white or off-white, similar to the end of the mouth side of a conventional cigarette with a cellulose acetate filter. This filter segment is quite short so that the generally high filtration efficiency per unit length of the cellulose materials does not result in an overall filtration efficiency of the second filter segment that is too high. The first segment of the filter or the side of the bar generally does not add much to the overall filtration efficiency of the filter, but adds some length to the filter, so that the total length of the filter is familiar to the consumer and facilitates the handling of The filters during production. In addition, the cut or chopped plant material of the first filter segment can influence the taste of the smoking article.

Preferably, the filter is a dual filter. This means that it does not comprise additional segments in addition to the first filter segment and the second filter segment, considering that each filter segment generally has a non-variable constitution along the longitudinal axis of the smoking article.

The constitution of the second filter segment is largely homogeneous. In general, the constitution of each filter segment can be largely homogeneous, that is, not variable along the longitudinal axis and across cross-sectional areas.

Examples for the cellulose material of the second filter element are paper, air-deposited cellulose or regenerated cellulose such as lyocell or viscose. Mixtures or combinations of such materials are also possible. In addition, the second filter element may contain a mixture of an adsorbent to reduce the gas phase constituents of the main smoke, preferably as a constituent of a paper material, for example a paper containing activated carbon.

In advantageous embodiments of the invention, the first filter or bar side segment comprises cut tobacco or cut (or chopped) herbs, for example mint, eucalyptus and / or tea. Mixtures or combinations of tobacco and cut or chopped herbs (such as mint, eucalyptus and / or tea) are also conceived. There are multiple ways to influence the overall taste of the smoking article by selecting an appropriate plant material, for example an appropriate mixture, for the first filter segment.

The first filter segment may have a density in the range between 0.20 g / cm3 and 0.35 g / cm3. This is generally somewhat higher than the density of tobacco in the tobacco bar of the smoking article. By adjusting the density, the filtration efficiency and taste provided by the first filter segment can be influenced. In addition, a denser filter is seen harder, more similar to a usual cellulose acetate filter, and a denser filter is more rigid during the manufacturing process, decreasing the propensity to lose plant particles from the end sides of the first filter segment

According to recent regulations, and in particular if the smoking article is a cigarette, the wrapping of the smoking article may be a cigarette paper, which comprises at least one area that has a lower permeability than a basic permeability of the cigarette paper. This means that the original or basic permeability of cigarette paper decreases in certain areas, for example by applying a coating. The low permeability zones can be arranged, for example, in a ring pattern. In this way, a low propensity to ignition ("LIP") of the smoking article is achieved so that the smoking article preferably meets the requirements of ASTM E2187 and / or EN 16156: 2010 standards. In general, articles of

Smoking with low propensity to ignition.

As already mentioned before, the level or CO production of a smoking article is hardly influenced by the filter (except for ventilation), while the production of PMWNF (level) can be controlled through the filter . In the present invention, the latter can be achieved, for example, through the density or type of cellulose material in the second filter segment or through the length of the second filter segment. If the smoking article has a PMWNF level greater than or equal to 8 mg, the CO / PMWNF ratio is preferably less than 1.3, when smoked 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, when smoking according to ISO conditions. In this case, CO / PMWNF is expressed as the total production of CO in mg per smoking article divided by the total production of PMWNF in mg per smoking article. The relevant standard is ISO 4387.

The filter explained so far can also be used with a filter tube for the self-production of a smoking article, comprising a wrapper adapted to accommodate tobacco. The only difference between a smoking article according to the invention and such a smoking article filter tube is that, in the latter, tobacco is missing from the bar in the state to be marketed, the consumer filling it with tobacco itself. The smoking article filter tube filter can have all the properties of the smoking article filter according to the invention.

A smoking article according to the invention can be manufactured, for example, as follows:

The filter base bars for the second filter segments are manufactured in a conventional paper filter factory from a paper web, a roll and glue wrap. As one skilled in the art knows, the decrease in pressure and retention of this element can be controlled through the width of the paper web and an optional embossed or corrugated pattern of that web. Depending on the desired type of filter ventilation, the roll wrap may be either porous or non-porous.

The tobacco filter base bars for the first filter segments are manufactured in a conventional cigarette factory from a mixture of cut or chopped tobacco, a wrap and glue. Such tobacco mixtures usually comprise tobacco leaf cut from Virginia, Burley and / or Oriental. The tobacco mixture may additionally comprise cut tobacco stalks. All tobacco materials can be expanded using procedures familiar to a person skilled in the art. The wrapping can be a porous or non-porous filter roll wrapping paper.

From these filter base bars, a dual filter bar can be manufactured with a conventional filter combination machine using a second porous or non-porous wrap and glue.

The fuel tobacco bar is produced in a cigarette factory with a conventional filter made from tobacco, cigarette paper and cola. The dual filters are attached to that bar by a nozzle paper that covers the filter as well as part of the smoking tobacco bar.

Thus, in this example, each filter segment comprises a roll wrap, both filter segments are combined by means of an additional wrap, and the resulting dual filter is attached to the smokable tobacco bar by means of a nozzle paper. .

In the following, the invention is further described by means of embodiments. The drawings show in

1 shows a schematic view of an embodiment of the smoking article according to the invention and

Figure 2 a graphical representation of the degradation of paper cigarette, tobacco and cellulose acetate filter segments as a function of time, when measured as described in OECD 301 B.

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

The dual filter 3 comprises a first filter segment on the side of the bar 11 and a second filter segment or on the side of the mouth 12. The first filter segment 11 contains cut or chopped plant material (in the tobacco embodiment) , while the second filter segment 12 contains a cellulose material as a filtering material (in the paper embodiment). Each filter segment 11, 12 comprises a roll wrapper, and both filter segments 11, 12 are combined by means of an additional wrapper (not shown in Figure 1).

In the embodiment, the dual filter 3 is vented by a row of vent holes that extend

circumferentially located in the area of the first filter segment 11.

As examples, cigarette samples were produced with the parameters indicated below and listed in Table 1. The "Reference" and "Reference II" columns refer to samples having a conventional cellulose acetate filter ("Mono-AC ”) Or a paper filter, respectively, for comparison purposes. The remaining four columns ("Tobacco samples-paper filter") refer to samples according to the invention.

All the cigarettes included in Table 1 are conventional king size (larger than normal) cigarettes with a total filter length of 21 mm, a total length of the smokable tobacco bar of 62 mm 10 and a diameter of 7 , 88 mm. In all cases, the nozzle length (nozzle paper length) is 25 mm. In the tobacco bar, all the cigarettes in Table 1 contain a conventional American mixture with a bar weight of 670 mg. In all ventilated samples, the filter ventilation is located 13 mm from the end of the side of the filter mouth. In addition, all samples contain a LIP cigarette paper with a base porosity of 70 UC (coresta units). The smoke productions of the cigarettes in Table 1 were tested according to

15 ISO 4387 standard. For pressure decrease measurements (“DP”), the ventilation perforations were opened; 1 mmWG = 9.8 Pa.

In the samples according to the invention, the tobacco used for the tobacco filter segment (tobacco filter roll) is a dark air-cured mixture containing 60% expanded stems.

20 The last column (“+ 25% of mint”) in Table 1 refers to a sample that includes mint leaves within the tobacco filter segment. In this case, 25% of the leaf portion of the tobacco mixture in the filters of samples 1 to 3 has been replaced by chopped mint leaf.

All samples according to the invention achieve the objective of providing CO / NFDPM ratios of less than 1.3.

The biodegradability of the paper filter segment, the tobacco filter segment and the cellulose acetate filter of the samples was tested according to Table 1 according to the method of OECD 301 B. The results are shown in the figure 2. The graphical representations show the amount of degradation during the advance of the

30 time The degradation is expressed as the CO2 production ratio due to the respective test sample with respect to the theoretical CO2 production of the test sample assuming complete degradation, as described in detail in OECD Guideline 301.

As shown in Figure 2, tobacco and paper passed the test while cellulose acetate did not.

Table 1. Data of reference cigarettes and cigarettes according to the invention that present a dual filter comprising a segment of paper and tobacco

Reference

Reference II Tobacco samples-paper filter

Mono-Ac

Paper filter one 2 3 + 25% mint

Filter parameters

Paper roll length

mm - twenty-one 6 6 6 6

Paper roll weight

mg - 152 Four. Five 40 Four. Five Four. Five

DP paper roll

mmWG - 75 18 fifteen 18 18

Tobacco Roll Length

mm - - fifteen fifteen fifteen fifteen

Tobacco Roll Weight

mg - - 183 194 183 186

Tobacco Roll DP

mmWG - - 27 3. 4 27 26

Mono-Ac filter length

mm twenty-one - - - - -

DP Mono-Ac filter

mmWG 70 - - - - -

Filter ventilation

% 43 35 0 29 fifty 27

Smoke data

Number of puffs

7.9 7.4 7.9 7.9 9.0 8.1

NFDPM (tar)

mg / cig 8.7 6.9 11.4 10.2 6.4 8.6

Smoke Nicotine

mg / cig 0.84 0.49 0.84 0.85 0.60 0.75

Carbon monoxide (CO)

mg / cig 7.9 9.9 14.6 9.2 6.9 10.5

CO / tar

0.89 1.43 1.28 0.90 1.08 1.22

Claims (9)

1. Smoking article, comprising a bar (2) of smokable tobacco, which includes tobacco and a wrapper, and a filter (3) having a first end (4) and a second end (5), in which the filter (3) comprises 5

-

a first filter segment (11) extending to the first end (4) of the filter (3) and which is located at one end of the tobacco bar (2), in which the first filter segment (11) comprises cut or chopped plant material, and

-

a second filter segment (12) extending to the second end (5) of the filter, wherein the second filter segment (12) comprises a cellulose material as a filter material,

-

the second filter segment (12) comprising at least one of the cellulose materials selected from the following group: paper, paper containing an adsorbent, paper containing activated carbon, air-deposited cellulose, regenerated cellulose, lyocell, viscose,

characterized by that

-

the constitution of the second filter segment (12) is largely homogeneous,

-

the second filter segment (12) has a length in the range between 3 mm and 12 mm, and

-

The filter (3) is biodegradable according to OECD 301 B.

2. Smoking article according to claim 1, characterized in that the filter is a dual filter (3).

3.

Smoking article according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the first filter segment (11) comprises cut tobacco.

Four.

Smoking article according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the first filter segment (11) comprises at least one of the materials selected from the following group: cut herbs

or chopped, chopped or chopped mint leaves, eucalyptus, tea. 5. Smoking article according to any of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the first segment of filter (11) has a density in the range between 0.20 g / cm3 and 0.35 g / cm3.

6.

Smoking article according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the wrapper is a cigarette paper comprising at least one area that has a lower permeability than a base permeability of the cigarette paper and that is adapted to provide the smoking article a low propensity to ignition.

7.

Smoking article according to claim 6, characterized in that the smoking article (1) meets the requirements of ASTM E2187 and / or EN 16156: 2010.

A smoking article according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the smoking article (1) has a PMWNF level greater than or equal to 8 mg and a CO / PMWNF ratio of less than 1.3 when Smokes according to ISO conditions.

9.

Smoking article according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the smoking article (1) has a PMWNF level of less than 8 mg and a CO / PMWNF ratio of less than 1.1 when smoking according to ISO conditions.

10.

Smoking article filter tube for the self-production of a smoking article according to claim 1, which

it comprises a wrapper adapted to accommodate tobacco to provide a smokable tobacco bar, and a filter having a first end and a second end, in which the filter comprises

-

a first filter segment that extends to the first end of the filter and is located at one end of the tobacco bar, the first segment of filter comprising cut or chopped plant material, and

-

a second filter segment extending to the second end of the filter, the second filter segment comprising a cellulose material as a filter material,

-

the second filter segment comprising at least one of the selected cellulose materials 65 from the following group: paper, paper containing an adsorbent, paper containing activated carbon, cellulose deposited by air, regenerated cellulose, lyocell, viscose,

-

the constitution of the second segment of the filter being largely homogeneous,

-

the second filter segment having a length in the range between 3 mm and 12 mm, and

-

in which the filter is biodegradable according to OECD 301 B.

11. Smoking article filter tube according to claim 10, characterized in that it comprises the features distinctive characters according to any of claims 2 to 6. 10