EP2777410A1

EP2777410A1 - Filter cigarette with variable ventilation

Info

Publication number: EP2777410A1
Application number: EP13159014.3A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Reyad ASHRAM
Original assignee: JT International SA
Current assignee: JT International SA
Priority date: 2013-03-13
Filing date: 2013-03-13
Publication date: 2014-09-17

Abstract

A filter cigarette (1) comprises a rod (2) of smokable material and a mouth piece (3) attached to the rod (2), the mouth piece (3) comprising an element rotatable with respect to the rest of the filter cigarette about the longitudinal axis thereof such that a user can vary the ventilation of the filter cigarette and a fixed element that is fixed relative to the rod. There is also a strength indicator comprising a scale extending at least circumferentially about at least one of the periphery of the rotatable element or a part of the cigarette that is fixed relative to the rod of smokable material, and a cursor element on the other of the periphery of the rotatable element or a part of the cigarette that is fixed relative to the rod of smokable material, wherein the scale comprises central symmetry about a point and the cursor is longitudinally aligned with the point of symmetry of the scale when the scale is arranged in a position representing a minimum level of strength of the cigarette.

Description

The present invention relates to a filter cigarette with variable ventilation.
Filter cigarettes are well known and generally comprise a cylindrical rod of tobacco surrounded by a paper wrapper and a cylindrical filter adjacent thereto and axially aligned therewith. It is usual for the tobacco rod and filter to be joined by a band of tipping paper that encases the entire length of the filter and an adjacent portion of the wrapped tobacco rod. It is also well known for the tipping paper to be provided with one or more perforations at a location on the filter in order to introduce air to the smoke produced from the lit tobacco rod. It is also known to provide means for varying the mixing of the air passing though the perforations to enable a user to vary the ratio of air to smoke, and thereby vary the strength of the cigarette, with a larger proportion of smoke to air increasing the strength of the cigarette.
An example of such a cigarette is disclosed in US-A-4570649 . In this document there is disclosed a conventional cylindrical tobacco rod attached to a filter plug. The filter plug is wrapped with a plug wrap and tipping paper, at least one of which is impermeable to air. In this prior art configuration the plug wrap is divided into three bands, one at the mouth end of the cigarette, a central band, and a further band adjacent to the rod. The mouth and rod end bands are fixed to the filter and the central band is arranged to be rotatable around the longitudinal axis of the cigarette. The tipping paper is positioned over the plug wrap and arranged in two bands. The first of these bands extends from the mouth end to a position overlying the rod end of the plug wrap and is attached to the central band of the plug wrap for rotation therewith. This first band of tipping paper has an opening therein overlying the rod end band of the plug wrap. The rod end band of the plug wrap has at least one aperture formed therein such that rotation of the first band of the tipping paper rotates to enable positioning of the perforation therein with the perforation in the plug wrap to vary the amount of air that may be drawn in during use, thereby varying the mixing of smoke from the burning tobacco rod with external air to control the strength of the cigarette. Such cigarettes have appeal to consumers, but can have problems in that the consumer, whilst being able to vary the strength of the cigarette, does not have a clear indication of how the mixture of air and smoke has been adjusted and therefore what strength has been selected for this cigarette during smoking. Attempts have been made to overcome such problems by providing scale and cursor arrangements to provide an indication of adjustment amount to a user, as disclosed in WO-A-2011/116976 , for example, where a cursor is provided on either the fixed or rotatable part of the cigarette, and a scale is provided on the other of the fixed and rotatable parts, with the respective movement between the cursor and scale providing an indication of the level of ventilation provided to the filter of the cigarette. However, such configurations still have disadvantages in that they do not provide a simple and readily understandable indication of selected cigarette strength and still provide a fair degree of uncertainty to the user in terms of the cigarette strength when making an adjustment.
According to the present invention there is provided a filter cigarette comprising: a rod of smokable material; a mouth piece attached to the rod, the mouth piece comprising an element rotatable with respect to the rest of the filter cigarette about the longitudinal axis thereof such that a user can vary the ventilation of the filter cigarette and a fixed element that is fixed relative to the rod; and a strength indicator comprising: a scale extending at least circumferentially about at least one of the periphery of the rotatable element or a part of the cigarette that is fixed relative to the rod of smokable material, and a cursor element on the other of the periphery of the rotatable element or a part of the cigarette that is fixed relative to the rod of smokable material, wherein the scale comprises central symmetry about a point and the cursor is longitudinally aligned with the point of symmetry of the scale when the scale is arranged in a position representing a minimum level of strength of the cigarette.
With the arrangement of the present invention it is possible for the user to know clearly and simply what level of strength of a cigarette has been selected by rotation of the strength selecting component. Furthermore, with the arrangement of the present invention it is possible for the user to know this strength selection regardless of the direction of rotation of strength selection component in a simple and effective manner.
In some preferred examples of the present invention, the cursor is longitudinally aligned with one of the symmetrical extremities of the scale when the scale is arranged in a position representing a maximum level of strength of the cigarette.
One example of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a side-view of components of a cigarette during its assembly according to the present invention;
Figure 2 is a side-view of a cigarette constructed in accordance with the present invention;
Figure 3 is a series of end cross-sectional view of the filter and ventilation components of the present invention in positions selecting different cigarette strengths;
Figure 4 shows examples of indicator arrangements of the present invention; and
Figure 5 shows an example of the present invention with different positions of the cursor with respect to the scale corresponding to different selected cigarette strengths.

Referring to Figure 1, a filter cigarette 1 comprises a tobacco rod 2 and filter component 3. The filter component 3 is configured to allow adjustment of the filter ventilation by a user to adjust the taste strength of the cigarette. The filter component 3 comprises a plug of filter material such as acetate having a plug wrap 4 extending over its outer surface. The filter component 3 is divided into two filter segments 5, 6 by a circumferential transverse cut 7 which is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the cigarette 1. The cut 7 is only partial throughout the diameter of the filter plug 4 so as to leave a central connecting member of filter material between the two segments 5, 6. This connecting member advantageously acts as an axis of rotation for the segments relative to each other to allow variation of the filter ventilation level as explained below. At least one perforation 8 is formed into the plug wrap 4 in the segment 6 of the filter component 3 adjoining the tobacco rod 2. This perforation 8 allows air to be drawn in though the plug wrap 4 and into the core of the filter component 3. To assemble the filter component 3 to the tobacco rod 2 a tipping paper 9 is provided and wrapped over the plug wrap 4 and filter segment 5, 6. The tipping paper 9 is comprised of two bands 10, 11 separated by a cut line 12. A first band 10 is glued to mouth end filter segment 5 of the cigarette 1 and extends over the cut 7 between the two filter segments 5, 6 and partially over the second filter segment 6 and the perforation 8 without being glued to the second segment 6. This first tipping band 10 comprises a slot 13 which is positioned so that it can be aligned over the perforation 8 in the second filter segment 6. A second band 11 is glued on the remaining part of the second filter segment 6 and the tobacco rod 2 to attach the filter component 3 to the tobacco rod 2.
Figure 2 shows Figure 1 when assembled with the slot 13 of first band 10 of tipping paper 9 aligned over perforation 8. Such configuration of the filter component 3 and tipping paper 9 makes the mouth end filter segment 5 capable of rotation around the central longitudinal axis of the cigarette 1 relative to the second filter segment 6 connected to the tobacco rod 2. This varies the respective positions of the perforation 8 in the second filter segment 6 and the slot 13 in the first tipping band 10 as shown in Figure 3 in order to adjust the filter component ventilation, and hence the strength of the cigarette 1.
Figure 3 shows a cross-sectional view of the cigarette 1 through the location of the perforation 8 and slot 13. From this it can be seen that relative rotation of mouth end filter segment 5 with respect to second filter segment 6 in either direction can adjust the relative positions of the slot 13 and perforation 8 to control the amount of air that can be drawn through the combination of the slot 13 and perforation 8 and into the filter component 3 when the cigarette 1 is being smoked.
In the example of Figures 1 to 3 the filter component 3 and tipping 9 comprise only one perforation 8 and slot 13 respectively. However, it will be noted that multiple perforations and slots could likewise be contemplated in the filter component and tipping respectively without affecting the filter function.
The present invention provides an indicator means to help the consumer have a direct visual indication of the strength of the cigarette that is being set through variation of the ventilation level of the filter component as described above.
Referring to Figure 4, examples of the indicator arrangement of the present invention are shown. For purposes of clarity of the representations, only elements of the indicator arrangement on the tipping paper 9 of filter component 3 and cigarette 1 (as described in Figures 1 to 3) are shown in Figures 4A to 4D. In Figures 4A to 4D the indicator arrangement of the present invention has cursors 40, 41, 42, 43 formed on rod connecting band 11 of the tipping paper 9. Formed on the mouth end band 10 of the tipping paper 9 is a scale 20, 21, 22, 23. The cursors 40, 41, 42, 43 and scales 20, 21, 22, 23 are thereby separated by the transverse cut line 12 between rod connecting band 11 and mouth end band 10 of the tipping paper 9 of the filter component 3. It will be appreciated that the cursors 40, 41, 42, 43 could be formed on the mouth end band 10 with the scales 21, 22, 23, 24 formed on the rod connecting band 11 adjacent thereto with similar operation of the invention.
Figure 4A shows a scale 20 and cursor 40, wherein scale 20 comprises a single point of symmetry 25 about its centre point, cursor 40 and said point of symmetry 25 are aligned along longitudinal axis 30 and scale 20 and cursor 40 are positioned on opposing sides of a transverse cut line 12. Figure 4B shows an alternative scale 21 and an alternative cursor 41, wherein scale 21 comprises a single point of symmetry 26 about its centre point, cursor 41 and said point of symmetry 26 are aligned along longitudinal axis 30 and scale 21 and cursor 41 are positioned on opposing sides of a transverse cut line 12. Figure 4C shows another scale 22 and another cursor 42, wherein scale 22 comprises a single point of symmetry 27 about its centre point, cursor 42 and said point of symmetry 27 are aligned along longitudinal axis 30 and scale 22 and cursor 42 are positioned on opposing sides of a transverse cut line 12. Figure 4D shows an yet another scale 23 and yet another cursor 43, wherein scale 23 comprises a single point of symmetry 28 about its centre point, cursor 43 and said point of symmetry 28 are aligned along longitudinal axis 30 and scale 23 and cursor 43 are positioned on opposing sides of a transverse cut line 12.
The shape of the cursors and that of the scales may vary from what is shown in the Figures; they can vary depending upon specific product requirements as long as the scales show symmetry about a central point and the cursors can be aligned with said centre of symmetry of the scale in a position where the ventilation level of the filter component of the cigarette is at a maximum, i.e. the level of strength of the cigarette is at a minimum.
Figure 5 shows an example of an indicator (as shown in Figure 4A) employed with the present invention. Figure 5A shows an example of an indicator of the present invention when the cigarette has a maximum level of strength. The user can identify this condition, for example, by the alignment of an extremity of the scale 20 with cursor 40. The position of the indicator as shown in Figure 5A may coincide with perforation 8 and slot 13 (as shown in Figures 1 to 3) being isolated from each other. As the rod connecting band 11 and mouth end band 10 are rotated with respect to one another, perforation 8 and slot 13 may begin to overlap, thus increasing the air to smoke ratio of the filter and therefore decreasing the strength of the cigarette, and this is indicated by the relative positions of scale 20 and cursor 40 as shown in Figure 5B. When the scale 20 and cursor 40 are arranged as shown in Figure 5C such that the point of symmetry 25 of scale 20 is aligned with cursor 40 along longitudinal axis 30, perforation 8 and slot 13 entirely overlap and thus the air to smoke ratio is at a maximum and therefore the strength of the cigarette is at a minimum level. If the rod connecting band 11 and mouth end band 10 are continued to be rotated with respect to one another, perforation 8 and slot 13 move away from one another and scale 20 and cursor 40 are arranged as shown in Figure 5D. When the other extremity of scale 20 is aligned with cursor 40, as shown in Figure 5D, perforation 8 and slot 13 are completely isolated from one another again and the cigarette has a maximum level of strength.
It will be noted that there are a number of aspects of the indicator configuration, both in terms of the shape and location, that may be provided and which provide additional benefits in terms of improved accuracy of indication to a user and the ease of use of the cigarette as a whole.

Claims

A filter cigarette comprising:
a rod of smokable material;

a mouth piece attached to the rod, the mouth piece comprising an element rotatable with respect to the rest of the filter cigarette about the longitudinal axis thereof such that a user can vary the ventilation of the filter cigarette and a fixed element that is fixed relative to the rod; and

a strength indicator comprising:
a scale extending at least circumferentially about at least one of the periphery of the rotatable element or a part of the cigarette that is fixed relative to the rod of smokable material, and a cursor element on the other of the periphery of the rotatable element or a part of the cigarette that is fixed relative to the rod of smokable material, wherein the scale comprises central symmetry about a point and the cursor is longitudinally aligned with the point of symmetry of the scale when the scale is arranged in a position representing a minimum level of strength of the cigarette.
A filter cigarette according to claim 1, wherein the cursor is longitudinally aligned with one of the symmetrical extremities of the scale when the scale is arranged in a position representing a maximum level of strength of the cigarette.