EP2310298B1

EP2310298B1 - Package for smoking articles

Info

Publication number: EP2310298B1
Application number: EP09765694.6A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Darryl Stephenson; Paul Gibson; Theresa Salisbury
Original assignee: British American Tobacco Investments Ltd; British American Tobacco Co Ltd
Current assignee: British American Tobacco Investments Ltd
Priority date: 2008-06-18
Filing date: 2009-05-19
Publication date: 2014-04-09
Anticipated expiration: 2029-05-19
Also published as: WO2009153114A1; RU2507143C2; EP2310298A1; CL2009001389A1; BRPI0913329A2; UA102399C2; CN102066211B; MX2010013125A; HK1158155A1; JP2011524315A; AR072170A1; RU2011101496A; GB0811161D0; JP4977802B2; ZA201008607B; CN102066211A

Description

Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a package for smoking articles such as cigarettes.

Background to the Invention

Packs of the so-called soft cup type are well known in the art and enjoy particular popularity in certain markets. A soft cup pack typically comprises three distinct layers of soft-sheet material, namely: (i) an inner-wrap in the form of metallised paper folded in at its ends to contain the smoking articles; (ii) a paper outer wrap wrapped around the inner-wrap upon which printed indicia may be present; and (iii) a transparent overwrap of, for example, cellophane material heat sealed over the outer wrap to seal the pack against the ingress of contaminants and thus preserve the freshness and moisture content of the smoking articles prior to opening.
Conventional soft cup packs have an open-ended outer wrap which, once the overwrap is removed, allows the consumer to remove a portion of the exposed inner-wrap to gain access to the smoking articles and provide a permanent opening for the removal of cigarettes from the packet. Indeed, this means of opening has become a familiar ritual amongst certain consumers and is thus a significant contributing factor to the popularity of soft cup packs.
Once a soft-cup cigarette package is opened and one or more cigarettes are removed, there exists empty space in the package and the remaining cigarettes are retained only loosely in the package. Consequently, there is a risk that the remaining cigarettes may fall out of the package.
It would be desirable to provide a cigarette package capable of retaining cigarettes in the opened package, once at least one cigarette has been withdrawn from the package.
GB 2263275A describes a package, eg for cigarettes, having a sticker applied transversely across two edges of the longitudinal dimension of the packet. The sticker may perform the function of a seal by being applied along the line of contact between the body and the lid to prevent the packet being opened other than by tearing the sticker. The sticker may be provided with a weakening line. However, the size of the sticker and its location on the pack (almost on the corner) would make this sticker unsuitable for reducing the size of the pack once opened.
WO 89/06629 describes a soft-cup cigarette pack provided with a self-adhesive opening tab on the edge of its side and top face, covering a line of weakness. The pack is opened by pulling the tab and temporarily closed by replacing it. However, as the tab is located at the opening, it would not be suitable for allowing the size of the pack to be reduced.
US 5301804 describes a soft-cup cigarette pack provided on the back with a longitudinal tab which is provided with an adhesive strip which can be attached to the front of the pack to allow opening and re-closing of the pack. Side tabs can additionally be opened to allow cigarettes to be withdrawn more easily. However, the adhesive label provided by this packaging would not be suitable for allowing the size of the pack to be reduced.
US 2109100 describes a soft-cup cigarette pack provided on the rear portion with a revenue stamp having two longitudinal adhesive strips, which can stick to the front of the pack to allow reclosing.
Reference is also directed to US 2 106 499A which discloses a package for smoking articles in which the internal dimensions of the pack can be reduced once the package has been opened and the contents accessed. Another package of this type is disclosed in BE 413 802 .

Summary of the Invention

The invention is defined by the claims. There is provided a deformable package containing cigarettes, having exterior faces, a cigarette access portion in a top face of the package and a closure element, wherein the closure element does not cover the cigarette access portion, and the closure element comprises a releasable, adhesive label attached to a face of the package and configured to be re-applied across the package to maintain the package in a deformed state, thereby allowing the internal dimensions of the package to be reduced once the package has been opened and the contents accessed.
The package of the present invention provides a means of reducing the size of the package (particularly in width and/or depth) once cigarettes have been withdrawn from the package. The size of the access opening is reduced and the contained articles are held together in a part of the package away from the access opening, thus preventing cigarettes from falling out of the pack. The reduced size of the package also allows the consumer to store/carry the package more easily, for example in a pocket.
The package of the invention is suitable for containing smoking articles such as cigarettes, cigars and cigarillos, loose tobacco, or so-called, roll-your-own tobacco and smokeless tobacco products such as oral tobacco products. For convenience and brevity these will be referred to hereinafter as cigarettes.
The package of the invention may be made of any suitable deformable material, examples of which include paper, card, metallised foil materials and any other suitable material. Preferably, the package is formed from a paper material surrounding an inner metallised paper, as typically used in soft-cup cigarette packages. The package may be formed in a manner known to those skilled in the art.
The package may have any suitable shape, preferably a general shape suitable for storing elongate articles such as cigarettes. Examples of suitable shapes include cylindrical and parallelepiped, of which parallelepiped, such as cuboid, is preferred. The package may be of any shape known in the art, and may for example have rounded or bevelled edges.
The package is provided with an access portion enabling the contained articles to be withdrawn therethrough. The access portion is typically provided at the top of the package and suitably comprises a portion of the metallised paper which is removed by a consumer to create an opening, thereby exposing the contained articles and allowing removal of the articles from the package.
In contrast to the closures for the packages described in the prior art documents, as the closure element of the present invention is applied at a location remote from the opening of the package, it does not allow the opening to be covered. Instead, the closure element is applied to the outer surface of the package at a location on the package such that it is capable of maintaining the package in a deformed state, thereby allowing the internal dimensions of the package (especially a transverse dimension, such as its width and/or depth) to be reduced once opened. Once articles have been withdrawn from the package, this allows the package to fit around the remaining articles contained therein more closely, thus making it more difficult for the articles to fall out once the package is opened.
Suitably, when the package opens at the top, the closure element is applied at a location on the longitudinal dimension of the package, either on one face (for example the front or rear face) or across one or more edges shared by two or more longitudinal faces. The closure element may be applied at a location transverse to the opening of the package. Preferably, the closure element is applied to the package around the midpoint of one or more longitudinal faces of the package.
The closure element should be of suitable flexibility to permit it to be attached to the package, and temporarily (partially or fully) detached, so that, after further articles have been withdrawn from the package, the closure element can be re-attached at a different location so it covers a further, additional deformation of the package. The label may conveniently be provided on one face with a permanently tacky adhesive to allow such attachment and detachment. The label may be provided with permanently tacky adhesive over only a portion of its surface and may be provided with permanent adhesive over a portion so as to permanently adhere a portion of the label to the package and allow only a portion of the label to be detached and re-attached as desired.
Preferably, the self-adhesive label, is provided with a non-adhesive tab on one end of the label to facilitate its attachment to and detachment from the package. A consumer may then grasp the non-adhesive tab of the label to detach the label from the package and to reapply the label to the package as desired.
The package may comprise two or more closure elements. Suitably, the package may include two closure elements, each of which closure elements may be attached to opposing sides of the package such that the package may be reduced from both sides and the remaining cigarettes retained in a central portion of the pack only (under the tax stamp). Alternatively a single closure element may be of a length sufficient to allow it to be used to retain both sides of the pack in a folded/reduced arrangement.
The label may suitably include printed indicia on its surface. This printed indicia or other graphics may be the same as that on the underlying package, and may include legislative requirements such as health warning information. Suitably, the label may be transparent, or at least partially transparent, to allow the underlying package to be seen through it. This is of particular importance if the closure element is to be used over printed indicia on the package such as branding or health warnings.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Embodiments of the invention are described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 illustrates a package according to the invention; and
Fig. 2 illustrates a package according to the invention in use, with the label applied over a folded portion of the package to reduce the width of the package.

Detailed Description of the Invention

Fig. 1 illustrates generally a soft-cup cigarette package 1 according to a preferred embodiment of the invention. The package has an access portion at the top. The package is initially closed and includes a tax stamp 4 extending across the top face of the package.
The package is further provided with a closure element 5 comprising a self-adhesive label. The label 5 is applied to the front of the package around the midpoint of its longitudinal dimension. The label 5 has a non-adhesive tab 6 to allow its easy detachment and attachment to the package by hand.
Fig. 2 illustrates the package of the invention in use, in which a number of cigarettes have been withdrawn from the package. The portion of metallised paper inner wrap layer at the access portion 3 at the top of the package has been removed to expose the cigarettes 7 contained within the package 1. The side face 8 of the package has been folded inwards to form a narrowed package. The label 5 has been at least partially detached from the front of the package and reattached such that the label 5 maintains the package in a folded state, having reduced dimensions compared to its original unopened state, and allows the package to retain the remaining cigarettes 7 more tightly and prevent the remaining cigarettes 7 falling out of the package.
The skilled person will be aware of various modifications that may be made to the embodiments described above. Accordingly, the scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims.

Claims

A deformable package (1) containing cigarettes, having
exterior faces and
a cigarette access portion (3) in a top face of the package, characterised in that the package (1) comprises
a closure element (5), wherein
the closure element does not cover the cigarette access portion (3), and the closure element (5) comprises a releasable, adhesive label attached to a face of the package and configured to be re-applied across the package to maintain the package in a deformed state, thereby allowing the internal dimensions of the package to be reduced once the package has been opened and the contents accessed.
A package according to claim 1, wherein the closure element (5) is applied to a front face of the package (1).
A package according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the closure element (5) is configured to be applied across one or more edges shared by two or more of the faces of the package (1).
A package according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the closure element (5) is applied around the midpoint of one or more of the faces of the package (1).
A package according to any preceding claim, wherein the package (1) has a longitudinal axis and the closure element (5) is arranged in a direction transverse to said longitudinal axis.
A package according to any preceding claim, wherein the label is provided with a non-adhesive tab (6) to facilitate attachment to and detachment from the package (1).
A package according to any preceding claim, wherein the package (1) is a soft-cup cigarette pack.
A package according to any preceding claim, wherein the closure element (5) is operable to maintain the package (1) in a form having reduced width.
A package according to any preceding claim, wherein the closure element (5) is operable to maintain a side face of the package (1) in a folded state.
A method of reducing a dimension of a deformable package (1) containing smoking articles, the package having exterior faces, a smoking article access portion (3), and a closure element (5) comprising a releasable, adhesive label attached to a face of the package, the method comprising, after removal of one or more of the smoking articles from the package, re-applying the label across the package so as not to cover the smoking article access portion (3) and so as to maintain the package in a deformed state, thereby reducing the internal dimensions of the package.
A method according to claim 10 wherein the label is attached to a front face of the package (1), and said re-applying of the label comprises placing the label across one or more edges shared by two or more faces of the package (1).
A deformed package (1) containing smoking articles comprising
a smoking article access portion (3) in a top face of the package; and
a closure element (5) comprising a releasable, adhesive label attached across the deformed package to maintain the package in the deformed state, wherein the closure element (5) does not cover the smoking article access portion (3).