CA1157731A - Formation of tobacco blends - Google Patents
Formation of tobacco blendsInfo
- Publication number
- CA1157731A CA1157731A CA000428898A CA428898A CA1157731A CA 1157731 A CA1157731 A CA 1157731A CA 000428898 A CA000428898 A CA 000428898A CA 428898 A CA428898 A CA 428898A CA 1157731 A CA1157731 A CA 1157731A
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- stem material
- mass
- tobacco
- water
- shredded
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Expired
Links
Abstract
ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
Blends, suitable for cigarette making, are formed from tobacco stem material and tobacco lamina material.
The tobacco stem material is moistened to a high moisture content and mechanically fiberized to form shredded stem material. The shredded stem material is dried to an intermediate moisture level and blended with shredded tobacco lamina at the same moisture level. The resulting blend then is dried to the final moisture content for use in cigarette making.
Blends, suitable for cigarette making, are formed from tobacco stem material and tobacco lamina material.
The tobacco stem material is moistened to a high moisture content and mechanically fiberized to form shredded stem material. The shredded stem material is dried to an intermediate moisture level and blended with shredded tobacco lamina at the same moisture level. The resulting blend then is dried to the final moisture content for use in cigarette making.
Description
I lS7731 FO~TION OF TOBACCO BLENDS
The present invention is concerned with formation of tobacco blends for cigarette formation.
This application is a division of copending application Serial No. 372,861 filed March 12, 1981.
In the manufacture of cigarettes, tobacco leaf is processed to separate the stems from the lamina. The lamina are shredded and formed into cigarettes or other smoking articles. The stems are not successfully utilizable as such in cigarette making because of their relatively large diameter, their hard nature and poor burning properties.
Nevertheless, tobacco stem material constitutes a substantial proportion of the leaf, usually about 20 to 25% of the weight thereof, and contains tar, nicotine and other materials common to the lamina. In the past, therefore, efforts have been made to process the stem material for use i`n smoking articles but such procedures have generally been unsatisfactory, unsuccessful or inefficient.
It now has been found that tobacco stem material can be satisfactorily, successfully and efficiently blended with tobacco lamina for use in forming cigarettes by a combination of steps.
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a method of forming a tobacco feed material suitable for the formation of cigarettes therefrom, which comprises: moistening tobacco stem material in water to a moisture content of about 30 to about 60% by weight, mechanically fiberizing the moistened tobacco stem material to a shredded fibrous form, partially drying the shredded stem material to form partially-dried shredded stem material of a lower moisture content in the range of about 19 to about 35 35 wt.%, blending the partially-dried shredded stem material with shredded tobacco lamina material having a substantially similar moisture content in the proportion of about 2 to about 50% by weight of the partially-dried shredded stem material and about 98 to about 50% by weight of the shredded tobacco lamina, and drying the blend so formed to a moisture content of about 10 to about 16 wt.%.
In the method, a mass of tobacco stem material which may first be cut into convenient lengths, for example, about 0.5 to 6 inches, is initially treated with water to moisten the same to an overall moisture content of about 30 to about 60% by weight. preferably about 50 to about 60% by weight.
The procedure may involve soaking of the mass of stem material in water at atmospheric pressure in such a way as to avoid any substantial loss of water extractibles from the mass. This result may be achieved by initially exposing the tobacco mass to water for about 5 to about 15 minutes, so as to permit the mass to soak up the water. The water has a volume sufficient to permit the desired moisture content to be achieved and may have~any convenient temperature up to the boiling point thereof, such as about 15 to about 90C, higher temperatures speeding up the absorbtion of the water.
Thereafter, the exposed mass is stored in confined manner to permit the soaked up water to permeate through the mass and into the tobacco stem material therein and to evenly distribute therethrough. The confinement may be from about 0.25 to about 24 hours, preferably about 1 to about 4 hours.
Alternatively, the tobacco mass may be exposed to water in a suitable conditioning drum for a period sufficient to achieve the desired overall moisture content.
The mass of soaked stem material resulting from the moistening step is mechanically fiberized to a shredded fibrous form. Apparatus suitable for carrying 3~ out the mechanical fiberizing step is a revolving disc refiner, such as are manufactured by Bauer Bros., Sprout-Waldron and American Defibrator. The disc refiner includes two disc-like counter-rotating plates which are closely spaced apart, and at least one has a .~:
face pattern designed to fiberize the material fed - between the plates.
The disc refiner usually is of the counter-rotating type with the plates spaced apart about 0.05 to about 0.3 inches, preferably 0.13 to 0.18 inches, operating at atmospheric pressure. The optimum plate-spacing and pattern, rotational speed and retention time are readily determined for a particular tobacco stem material and type of disc refiner used.
The product resulting from the refiner generally has the appearance and size of shredded tobacco lamina, namely, bundles of loosely integrated fibres.
Some temperature rise results in the mechanical fiberizing step, as a result of the friction between lS the plate ribs and the tobacco stem material. The soaked mass of tobacco stem material may be fed to the mechanical fiberizing step at any convenient temperature up to the boiling point of the water.
The effect of such heat on the final product is to increase the filling power and pressure drop parameters and at the same time increase the burn rate. The temperature of the mass, therefore, may be used to vary the parameters possessed by the product.
The temperature usually ranges from about 15 to about 90C. When lower temperature operations are desired, the temperature of the mass entering the mechanical fiberizing step may vary from about 10 to about 35C, preferably about 15 to about 25C.
The shredded stem material which results from the mechanical fiberizing step is dried first to an intermediate moisture level of about 19 to about 35 wt.~, blended at that moisture level with the desired quantity of shredded lamina material having a substantially similar moisture content, and then drying the blend to the final moisture content of about 10 to about 16 wt.%, preferably about 12 to about 15 wt.%.
In one preferred embodiment of the invention, the shredded stem material is discharged directly from the disc refiner into a flowing air stream to maintain the fibres in a substantially separated condition. This - action may be combined with cooling of the shredded stem material by using an air stream having a temperature below that of the exiting shredded stem material, for example, about 20 to 25C.
The maintenance of the fibres in a separated condition decreases the incidence of "balling", or the joining together and curling up of the fibres to form ball-like particles which are unusable in the final product. Once the shredded fibres have been discharged from the air stream, for example, using a flexible shell air-lock, they are dried to the intermediate moisture level of about 19 to about 35% by weight, using any conventional tobacco drying equipment, such i5 as, a rotary tumbler drier.
Thereafter, any ball-like particles may be removed from the fibres by any conventional winnowing technique, such as, by air separation and recycled to the refiner, prior to blending the shredded stem material with shredded tobacco lamina, and drying the blend to the final moisture level.
The use of the moistening and fiberizing procedure to produce a shredded stem material having a physical appearance and size similar to shredded lamina and the use of the two-stage drying operation with intermediate blending of the shredded lamina material, permits the tobacco stem material to be successfully used as a cigarette filler material.
In summary of this disclosure, the present invention provides a novel method of achieving blends of tobacco stem material and tobacco lamina material useful in cigarette making. Modifications are possible within the scope of this invention.
, ~..
The present invention is concerned with formation of tobacco blends for cigarette formation.
This application is a division of copending application Serial No. 372,861 filed March 12, 1981.
In the manufacture of cigarettes, tobacco leaf is processed to separate the stems from the lamina. The lamina are shredded and formed into cigarettes or other smoking articles. The stems are not successfully utilizable as such in cigarette making because of their relatively large diameter, their hard nature and poor burning properties.
Nevertheless, tobacco stem material constitutes a substantial proportion of the leaf, usually about 20 to 25% of the weight thereof, and contains tar, nicotine and other materials common to the lamina. In the past, therefore, efforts have been made to process the stem material for use i`n smoking articles but such procedures have generally been unsatisfactory, unsuccessful or inefficient.
It now has been found that tobacco stem material can be satisfactorily, successfully and efficiently blended with tobacco lamina for use in forming cigarettes by a combination of steps.
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a method of forming a tobacco feed material suitable for the formation of cigarettes therefrom, which comprises: moistening tobacco stem material in water to a moisture content of about 30 to about 60% by weight, mechanically fiberizing the moistened tobacco stem material to a shredded fibrous form, partially drying the shredded stem material to form partially-dried shredded stem material of a lower moisture content in the range of about 19 to about 35 35 wt.%, blending the partially-dried shredded stem material with shredded tobacco lamina material having a substantially similar moisture content in the proportion of about 2 to about 50% by weight of the partially-dried shredded stem material and about 98 to about 50% by weight of the shredded tobacco lamina, and drying the blend so formed to a moisture content of about 10 to about 16 wt.%.
In the method, a mass of tobacco stem material which may first be cut into convenient lengths, for example, about 0.5 to 6 inches, is initially treated with water to moisten the same to an overall moisture content of about 30 to about 60% by weight. preferably about 50 to about 60% by weight.
The procedure may involve soaking of the mass of stem material in water at atmospheric pressure in such a way as to avoid any substantial loss of water extractibles from the mass. This result may be achieved by initially exposing the tobacco mass to water for about 5 to about 15 minutes, so as to permit the mass to soak up the water. The water has a volume sufficient to permit the desired moisture content to be achieved and may have~any convenient temperature up to the boiling point thereof, such as about 15 to about 90C, higher temperatures speeding up the absorbtion of the water.
Thereafter, the exposed mass is stored in confined manner to permit the soaked up water to permeate through the mass and into the tobacco stem material therein and to evenly distribute therethrough. The confinement may be from about 0.25 to about 24 hours, preferably about 1 to about 4 hours.
Alternatively, the tobacco mass may be exposed to water in a suitable conditioning drum for a period sufficient to achieve the desired overall moisture content.
The mass of soaked stem material resulting from the moistening step is mechanically fiberized to a shredded fibrous form. Apparatus suitable for carrying 3~ out the mechanical fiberizing step is a revolving disc refiner, such as are manufactured by Bauer Bros., Sprout-Waldron and American Defibrator. The disc refiner includes two disc-like counter-rotating plates which are closely spaced apart, and at least one has a .~:
face pattern designed to fiberize the material fed - between the plates.
The disc refiner usually is of the counter-rotating type with the plates spaced apart about 0.05 to about 0.3 inches, preferably 0.13 to 0.18 inches, operating at atmospheric pressure. The optimum plate-spacing and pattern, rotational speed and retention time are readily determined for a particular tobacco stem material and type of disc refiner used.
The product resulting from the refiner generally has the appearance and size of shredded tobacco lamina, namely, bundles of loosely integrated fibres.
Some temperature rise results in the mechanical fiberizing step, as a result of the friction between lS the plate ribs and the tobacco stem material. The soaked mass of tobacco stem material may be fed to the mechanical fiberizing step at any convenient temperature up to the boiling point of the water.
The effect of such heat on the final product is to increase the filling power and pressure drop parameters and at the same time increase the burn rate. The temperature of the mass, therefore, may be used to vary the parameters possessed by the product.
The temperature usually ranges from about 15 to about 90C. When lower temperature operations are desired, the temperature of the mass entering the mechanical fiberizing step may vary from about 10 to about 35C, preferably about 15 to about 25C.
The shredded stem material which results from the mechanical fiberizing step is dried first to an intermediate moisture level of about 19 to about 35 wt.~, blended at that moisture level with the desired quantity of shredded lamina material having a substantially similar moisture content, and then drying the blend to the final moisture content of about 10 to about 16 wt.%, preferably about 12 to about 15 wt.%.
In one preferred embodiment of the invention, the shredded stem material is discharged directly from the disc refiner into a flowing air stream to maintain the fibres in a substantially separated condition. This - action may be combined with cooling of the shredded stem material by using an air stream having a temperature below that of the exiting shredded stem material, for example, about 20 to 25C.
The maintenance of the fibres in a separated condition decreases the incidence of "balling", or the joining together and curling up of the fibres to form ball-like particles which are unusable in the final product. Once the shredded fibres have been discharged from the air stream, for example, using a flexible shell air-lock, they are dried to the intermediate moisture level of about 19 to about 35% by weight, using any conventional tobacco drying equipment, such i5 as, a rotary tumbler drier.
Thereafter, any ball-like particles may be removed from the fibres by any conventional winnowing technique, such as, by air separation and recycled to the refiner, prior to blending the shredded stem material with shredded tobacco lamina, and drying the blend to the final moisture level.
The use of the moistening and fiberizing procedure to produce a shredded stem material having a physical appearance and size similar to shredded lamina and the use of the two-stage drying operation with intermediate blending of the shredded lamina material, permits the tobacco stem material to be successfully used as a cigarette filler material.
In summary of this disclosure, the present invention provides a novel method of achieving blends of tobacco stem material and tobacco lamina material useful in cigarette making. Modifications are possible within the scope of this invention.
, ~..
Claims (7)
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS
FOLLOWS:
1. A method of forming a tobacco feed material suitable for the formation of cigarettes therefrom, which comprises:
moistening tobacco stem material in water to a moisture content of about 30 to about 60% by weight, mechanically fiberizing said moistened tobacco stem material to a shredded fibrous form, partially drying said shredded stem material to form partially-dried shredded stem material of a lower moisture content in the range of about 19 to about 35 wt.%, blending said partially-dried shredded stem material with shredded tobacco lamina material having a substantially similar moisture content in the proportion of about 2 to about 50% by weight of said partially-dried shredded stem material and about 98 to about 50% by weight of said shredded tobacco lamina, and drying the blend so formed to a moisture content of about 10 to about 16 wt.%.
moistening tobacco stem material in water to a moisture content of about 30 to about 60% by weight, mechanically fiberizing said moistened tobacco stem material to a shredded fibrous form, partially drying said shredded stem material to form partially-dried shredded stem material of a lower moisture content in the range of about 19 to about 35 wt.%, blending said partially-dried shredded stem material with shredded tobacco lamina material having a substantially similar moisture content in the proportion of about 2 to about 50% by weight of said partially-dried shredded stem material and about 98 to about 50% by weight of said shredded tobacco lamina, and drying the blend so formed to a moisture content of about 10 to about 16 wt.%.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein said tobacco stem material is moistened to a moisture content of about 50 to about 60% by weight.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein said moistening is effected by soaking a mass of tobacco stem material in water at atmospheric pressure to provide substantially uniform distribution of moisture therethrough in such manner as to avoid any substantial loss of water extractibles from said mass.
4. The method of claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein said moistening is effected by:
(i) exposing a mass of tobacco stem material to water having a temperature up to the boiling point thereof and having a volume sufficient to permit the desired moisture level to be achieved for about 5 to about 15 minutes, thereby to permit said mass to soak up said water, and (ii) storing said exposed mass in a confined manner for about 0.25 to about 24 hours to permit said soaked-up water to permeate through and into the tobacco stem material in said mass and to evenly distribute therethrough.
(i) exposing a mass of tobacco stem material to water having a temperature up to the boiling point thereof and having a volume sufficient to permit the desired moisture level to be achieved for about 5 to about 15 minutes, thereby to permit said mass to soak up said water, and (ii) storing said exposed mass in a confined manner for about 0.25 to about 24 hours to permit said soaked-up water to permeate through and into the tobacco stem material in said mass and to evenly distribute therethrough.
5. The method of claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein said moistening is effected by:
(i) exposing a mass of tobacco stem material to water having a temperature of about 15° to about 90°C
and having a volume sufficient to permit the desired moisture level to be achieved for about 5 to about 15 minutes, thereby to permit said mass to soak up said water, and (ii) storing said exposed mass in a confined manner for about 1 to about 4 hours to permit the soaked-up water to permeate through and into the tobacco stem material in said mass and to evenly distribute therethrough.
(i) exposing a mass of tobacco stem material to water having a temperature of about 15° to about 90°C
and having a volume sufficient to permit the desired moisture level to be achieved for about 5 to about 15 minutes, thereby to permit said mass to soak up said water, and (ii) storing said exposed mass in a confined manner for about 1 to about 4 hours to permit the soaked-up water to permeate through and into the tobacco stem material in said mass and to evenly distribute therethrough.
6. The method of claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein said mechanical fiberizing is effected at atmospheric pressure between counter-rotating fiberizing surfaces.
7. The method of claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the final moisture content of the blend is about 12 to about 15%
by weight.
by weight.
Priority Applications (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA000428898A CA1157731A (en) | 1980-03-24 | 1983-05-25 | Formation of tobacco blends |
Applications Claiming Priority (6)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| GB8009823 | 1980-03-24 | ||
| GB8009823 | 1980-03-24 | ||
| GB8019273 | 1980-06-12 | ||
| GB8019273 | 1980-06-12 | ||
| CA000372861A CA1156532A (en) | 1980-03-24 | 1981-03-12 | Tobacco stem shredding |
| CA000428898A CA1157731A (en) | 1980-03-24 | 1983-05-25 | Formation of tobacco blends |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA1157731A true CA1157731A (en) | 1983-11-29 |
Family
ID=27426294
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA000428898A Expired CA1157731A (en) | 1980-03-24 | 1983-05-25 | Formation of tobacco blends |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA1157731A (en) |
-
1983
- 1983-05-25 CA CA000428898A patent/CA1157731A/en not_active Expired
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Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| MKEX | Expiry |