EP4114213A1

EP4114213A1 - An aerosol-generating consumable article comprising a tobacco-containing strand

Info

Publication number: EP4114213A1
Application number: EP21708038.1A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Anthony DYLAN-HYDE; Theo Verlaan
Original assignee: JT International SA
Current assignee: JT International SA
Priority date: 2020-03-03
Filing date: 2021-03-03
Publication date: 2023-01-11
Also published as: JP2023516038A; WO2021175897A1

Abstract

Present invention relates to an aerosol-generating consumable article (100) comprising at least a tobacco-containing strand (10), wherein the strand (10) is formed of foamed tobacco-containing material such as tobacco mousse. It also relates to a method of manufacturing an aerosol-generating consumable article (100), comprising the steps of (a) forming at least one continuous strand (10) from a foamed tobacco-containing material such as tobacco mousse; (b) conditioning the foamed strand (10), preferably into one or more spools.

Description

An aerosol -generating consumable article comprising a tobacco- containing strand

Technical field of the invention

The present invention relates to the field of tobacco, especial tobacco- containing foam-like or mousse-like aerosol-generating material. The aerosol generating consumable article is provided especially to an oven-type or a heated- type vaping device.

Background of the invention

Aerosol-generating consumables or articles in which an aerosol forming material, usually comprising a tobacco-containing material, typically formed of laminate sheets of reconstituted tobacco aggregated wound or generally collated together in a stick form, is heated rather than combusted are already known in the art. These aerosol-generating articles for instance the systems sold under the commercial name Glo or IQOS, use a heater to heat the aerosol-generating material above 300 degrees Celsius to produce a nicotine- containing aerosol.

Patent document US 2010/0273620 relates to a method and an apparatus for preparing a rod for use in the preparation of a smoking article. The smoking article may comprise a rod having a first end, a second end and a solid support. Examples of solid supports include threads, tapes etc. that may be coated or impregnated with flavourant, in particular menthol if the smoking article is a cigarette. The solid support can be coated with an additive.

Existing aerosol-generating consumable articles are becoming more and more popular but consumers at the same time acknowledge that they do not offer a comparable taste and sensory experience to conventional smoking articles such as cigarettes or cigars. In particular, consumers find currently available products to lack real tobacco taste. Moreover, these existing aerosol-generating consumable articles are found to be poor in terms of its vapouring performance due to their current textures, forms and/or shapes. For these reasons, a larger percentage of the aerosol-generating material has not been correctly heated and evaporated. It would thus be advantageous to provide consumers with aerosol generating consumable articles and materials which have a more pleasant taste experience, more efficient heating thereby resulting in less unused leftover and has better vapouring performance. Summary of the invention

The inventors of the present invention have found solutions to the above-discussed problems through a new and inventive aerosol-generating consumable article as defined in the claims.

A first aspect of the invention is accordingly to provide an aerosol- generating consumable article comprising at least a tobacco-containing strand, wherein the strand is formed of foamed tobacco-containing material such as tobacco mousse.

A second aspect of the invention is to provide a method of manufacturing an aerosol-generating consumable article, comprising the steps of · Forming at least one continuous strand from a foamed tobacco- containing material such as tobacco mousse;

• Conditioning the foamed strand, preferably into one or more spools.

It is found out that the present invention, thanks to the foamed tobacco- containing material in form of a strand, the aerosol-generating consumable article is excellent in terms of its vapouring performance due to the fact that the strand of foamed tobacco-containing material can be heated more evenly and easily, as more surface area of the articles is in direct contact with air, thereby the article can be heated more efficiently for the release of vapour/aerosol. Moreover, the foamed tobacco-containing material in form of a strand is also particularly suitable to be provided into a secondary structure, such as a 3-dimensional object (e.g. mat, cube, rolled sheet and etc.).

In one embodiment, the at least one strand has an inner core carrier element covered by the foamed tobacco-containing material. This embodiment allows the foamed tobacco-containing material to be provided in a continuous thread, for example it can be rolled as a spool for easy storage and further handling. The foamed tobacco-containing material maybe fully or partially covering the inner core carrier.

In another embodiment, the inner core carrier element is made of a material that is inert, heat-resistant, flexible and/or elastic. This is important to avoid the foamed tobacco-containing material to be burnt or over heated. The material that is inert or heat-resistant is crucial in controlling the foamed tobacco- containing material to be heated under a desired range of temperatures.

To this end, it is disclosed that the carrier element can be solid, hollow or made of a fibre-based material like a rope structure. The carrier element such as in a rope-like structure has the advantage that the foamed tobacco-containing material can adhere easier to the carrier element.

According to a further embodiment, the at least one strand has a mean diameter of less than 2 mm, preferably less than 1 mm. A mean diameter of less than 2 mm of the strand allows the foamed aerosol-generating substrate to be heated at an ideal pace under normal vaping rate, thereby maximising its vapouring performance.

In one further embodiment, the tobacco material in the strand has a thickness of the foamed tobacco-containing material between 0.05 mm to 1.5 mm, preferably between 0.08 mm to 1 mm, or between 0.5 mm to 0.8 mm. This thickness is sufficient to give real-tobacco vapouring performance, thereby avoiding the waste of the foamed tobacco-containing material. According to one preferred embodiment, the at least one strand has a cross section profile that is round, square, polygon, ovule or irregular shapes. Cross section profile of a round shape is easy to be manufactured whereas other than round shape (square, polygon) may be more advantageous as a larger surface area helps evaporation of the foamed tobacco-containing material when heated.

In yet a further embodiment, the aerosol-generating consumable article according to the present invention, comprising a plurality of tobacco- containing strands arranged in a sheet or a mat form. These 3-dimensional structure of articles are particularly suitable to be made from the present invention which started from a strand or a plurality of strands.

In one embodiment, the sheet or mat is formed of a woven or non- woven arrangement of strands.

In another embodiment, the aerosol-generating consumable comprises a portion of a said sheet or mat cut or carved therefrom.

In one embodiment, the method comprises one or more of the following steps:

• Providing a carrier element before or during the foaming step, and

• Foaming the at least one strand by covering at least partly or fully the carrier element with the foamed tobacco-containing material.

In a further embodiment, the method further comprises the step of:

• Drying the foamed tobacco-containing material of the strand.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, the foamed tobacco-containing material is applied to the inner core carrier element by bathing, spraying, coating, painting, dipping, extruding. According to yet another embodiment, the invention comprises the step of forming a sheet or mat from the conditioned strand, the sheet or mat preferably being formed of a woven or non-woven arrangement of a plurality of strand segments cut from the continuous strand. In one preferred embodiment, it comprises the step of portioning the sheet or mat to form individual aerosol-generating consumable article portions.

By “about” or “approximately” in relation to a given numerical value, it is meant to include numerical values within 10% of the specified value. All values given in the present disclosure are to be understood to be complemented by the word “about”, unless it is clear to the contrary from the context.

The indefinite article “a” or “an” does not exclude a plurality, thus should be treated broadly.

Unless defined otherwise, technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs.

Any reference to the "cross section profile" of the aerosol-generating consumable article or a component of the aerosol-generating article refers to the transverse cross-section unless stated otherwise.

A “tobacco-containing material” can be any compound, mixture, particle matter, and/or solution that contains and/or carries a constituent of tobacco, either artificially included or naturally contained in tobacco, e.g. tobacco, tobacco particles, tobacco flavor and/or nicotine. In contrast, an example for an artificially added non-tobacco-specific flavor would be menthol.

As used herein, the term "heated aerosol-generating article" refers to an aerosol-generating article for producing an aerosol comprising an aerosol generating material that is intended to be heated rather than combusted in order to release volatile compounds that can form an aerosol. The consumable article can be heated in an oven-type or an internal heating type of vaping device. As used herein, the term "aerosol-generating material" refers to a material capable of releasing upon heating volatile compounds, which can form an aerosol. The aerosol generated from aerosol-generating material of aerosol generating articles described herein may be visible or invisible and may include vapours (for example, fine particles of substances, which are in a gaseous state, that are ordinarily liquid or solid at room temperature) as well as gases and liquid droplets of condensed vapours.

An aerosol-forming agent can be any compound, mixture and/or solution that is capable of forming an aerosol, e.g. when heated, mixed, blended, aerated and/or in mixture with a tobacco ingredient containing agent. Well known examples include humectants such as glycerin and propylene glycol, other alcohols, such as ethanol, etc.

As used herein, wt.-% is to be understood as weight percent, based on the total weight of element e.g. foam or material, unless explicitly otherwise specified. In the present disclosure, all amounts are given in wt.-%, unless clearly stated otherwise or obvious from context. In the present disclosure, furthermore all amounts given in wt.-% in a particular foam add up to 100 wt.-%. The weight percent are thereby calculated by dividing the mass of each component by the total mass of the foam, unless indicated otherwise or clear from context. As used herein, the term “foam” is used interchangeably with the term

“mousse”. The foam of the present invention is an open pored foam according to certain embodiments. An open pored foam as used herein is to be understood as a foam which can be considered as being formed of a plurality of interconnecting pores (formed out of a structural material derived from the foam forming agent cooperating with the interacting components such as the foam stabilizing agent, solid components such as tobacco particles and some solvent, etc.) which are able to contain fluid, in particular a mixture of humectant/liquid aerosol-forming substrate and air, wherein at least a significant portion (e.g. greater than 50% by volume) of the pores in the foam are fluidly connected with each other, contrary to a closed-cell foam, wherein the majority of the pores form discrete pockets, each completely enclosed by pore-forming material so as to substantially prevent fluid from passing freely between pores. It is currently believed that the foams, particularly mousses, formed as described herein are largely open-pored foams, particularly mousses, because after heating the foam, particularly mousse, to release vapour, substantially all of the humectant appears to be released based on measuring the weight of the foam, particularly mousse, portion before and after heating, which could not be readily explained if the humectant was not able to travel through neighbouring pores to reach the surface of the foam, particularly mousse, portion. However, alternative explanations cannot be totally excluded - for example closed pores could perhaps be opened by rupturing a closed cell wall as a result of the pressure of vaporized gas, etc. For example, according to the definition of the present invention, the term “foam” cannot be equate to terms like gel, cream or slurry.

Brief description of the drawings

Figure 1 shows a schematic representative of a method of producing an aerosol-generating consumable article in 3-dimensional object according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 shows a schematic representative of an example of the aerosol-generating consumable article in form of a rolled mat.

Figure 3 shows a schematic representative of an example of the aerosol-generating consumable article in form a cube.

Detailed description of the invention

The aerosol-generating consumable article of the present invention comprises at least one or more tobacco-containing strands, wherein the strand is formed of a foamed tobacco-containing material such as tobacco mousse. It has been found out that conventional aerosol-generating heat-not-burn consumables (e.g. aerosol-generating reconstituted tobacco material) has poor vaporizing performance, as a large portion of the consumable products have not been heated properly to release the vapour and/or aerosol, thereby resulting in the wasting of the consumables.

The at least one strand consumable article according to the present invention comprises foamed tobacco-containing material such as tobacco mousse. The aerosol-generating consumable article can be manufactured by extruding the tobacco mousse from an extruding machine such that a strand (or a thread) is produced. The strand may be a thin single strand, having a mean diameter of between 0.1 mm to 1.0 mm for instance. It is also foreseen that the foamed tobacco-containing material may be provided in a mud form (yet foamy) which can be shaped accordingly. The foamed tobacco (or tobacco mousse) of the present invention may comprise for instance propylene glycol, glycerine, tobacco and optionally water, flavourant, binder, additives, enhancer and humectant. It may further comprise aerosol-generating agent, foam-foaming agent and foam-stabilizing agent for instance.

According to a preferred embodiment, an inner core element (e.g. in form of a strand) can be firstly provided, followed by dip-coating a layer of tobacco mousse at least fully or partially on the surface of the inner core element. In this connection, the tobacco mousse material may be provided in fluid form. For example, the carrier element (or inner core element) passes through a pool of tobacco mousse such that the inner core element is fully or at least partially covered by the tobacco mousse. The layer of tobacco mousse can then be air dried or dried in an oven, hence forming an aerosol-generating consumable article of the present invention which is in form of a longitudinal strand. Apart from bathing (or dip coating) the carrier element in a pool of tobacco-mousse, the tobacco mousse can be sprayed or painted such that a coating of the tobacco mousse is applied to the carrier element. This method has the advantage of creating a partially coated strand of foamed tobacco-containing material, thereby further reduces the amount of foamed tobacco-containing material that is required. The strand can then be subsequently rolled as a spool for further application. As such, consumable articles made up of at least one continuous strand (or a plurality of strands) comprising foamed tobacco- containing material such as tobacco mousse is thereby produced.

Figure 1 shows an exemplary embodiment of a manufacturing process of the aerosol-generating consumable article 100 according to the present invention. The strand of foamed tobacco-containing material can firstly go through a device having a feeding nozzle such as a 3D printer. A number of applications can thereby be produced using the 3D printer. Illustrated in the Figure 1 is a mat (or sheet) that is produced from the strand according to the present invention. The aerosol-generating consumable article 100 may be produced through one continuous strand or a multiple number of strands.

Figure 2 shows another embodiment of the consumable article 100 of the present invention, wherein the strand(s) of foamed tobacco-containing materials according to the present invention are initially transformed into a mat, the mat is subsequently rolled up into a cylindrical structure of the consumable article. In a further embodiment, the aerosol-generating consumable article 100 of the present invention may be transformed into a cube structure, as shown in the Figure 3.

To this end, it is disclosed that the continuous strand of foamed tobacco-containing material according to the present invention may have a range of cross-section profiles. A round cross-section profile will be a choice as it can be easily manufactured. Nevertheless, other shapes of cross-section maybe more advantageous. In particular, shapes of the cross section of the strand that are more complex (having more protrusions) confer larger surface area (over volume). This has the advantage that more surface area of the tobacco mousse is in contact with heat such that evaporation for the release of aerosol is more effective. In other words, the cross section profile of the strand may be square, polygon, ovule, rectangular or an irregular shape.

In this connection, it is disclosed hereto that depending on the specific type of mousse/foam, the strand which may be produced via extrusion, is flexible to be rolled as spools for further processing. Of course, other methods of strand forming can also be employed. Figure 4 shows a consumable article in form of a mat which is produced through the at least one strand covered with foamed tobacco- containing material. Due to the flexible nature of the strand according to the present invention, the mat can be rolled into a cylindrical form as shown in the Figure 5. The rolled sheet or mat can also be cut (perpendicular to the longitudinal axis) into smaller pieces, and followed by packaging before being used as consumable articles. Other forms of articles such as cuboid or any shape articles are of course also within the scope of the invention.

In this connection, it is disclosed that the thickness of the strand is preferably in the range of between about 0.08 mm and 2.0 mm, preferably between about 0.1 mm and 1.0 mm. When an inner core element is used, the thickness of the foamed tobacco-containing material applied to the surface of the inner core element is preferably less than about 0.2 mm or in the range of between about 0.01 mm and 0.2 mm, or preferably less than about 0.1 mm or in the range of between about 0.03 mm and 0.1 mm. The thickness of the coating (foamed tobacco mousse) can be adjusted according to a typical vaping session, thereby not wasting any costly tobacco material.

To this end, it is reiterated that the present invention is a foamed tobacco-containing material such as tobacco mousse that is provided in form of a strand, wherein the strand is especially suitable to be rolled as spools for easy handling or storage. In other words, the foamed tobacco-containing material according to the present invention comprises a certain consistency and texture such that the foamed tobacco-containing material, which provided in a thread-like structure, does not break easily. In some embodiments, the strand of foamed tobacco-containing material of the present invention is configured into elastomeric nature such that the strand can be rolled into spool. In these instances, 20 wt. % of the total dry weight of the aerosol-generating consumable article for instance may be made up of tobacco material e.g. reconstituted tobacco. Alternatively, the heating of the strand before and/or during forming of the consumable may also make the strand more flexible and/or elastic, thereby improving the handling of the thin strands. As disclosed above, the consumable articles according to the present invention can be produced through a device having a 2D or 3D movable feeding nozzle (or a small extruder) that is moved through a programme-assisted computer. In other words, the consumable article can consist of a single layer or multiple layers. Moreover, the feeding nozzle cane be heated so as to soften the mousse material to allow for a good flowing and bending of the strand.

It is reiterated herein that the consumable articles made of at least one or multiple strands of tobacco mousse allow the foam or mousse material to be evaporated easily, as this structure of the consumables allows for a good airflow through the consumables, thereby resulting in a good vaping experience while reducing unused leftover of the tobacco mousse.

The consumable articles according to the present invention is suitable to be used not only in a heat-not-burn vaping device, but also in an oven style of vaping devices (similar to a shisha device for instance). In general, the consumables can be used in any type of suitable vaping device that is provided with a means of heating the consumable and providing an airflow around the consumable so that the resulting vapour can be provided to a user. The heating could be provided by a heated air or liquid flow.

Claims

1. An aerosol-generating consumable article (100) comprising at least a tobacco-containing strand (10), wherein the strand (10) is formed of a foamed tobacco-containing material such as tobacco mousse.

2. The aerosol-generating consumable article (100) according to claim 1, wherein the at least one strand (10) has an inner core carrier element covered by the tobacco-containing material.

3. The aerosol-generating consumable article (100) according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the inner core carrier element is made of a material that is inert, heat-resistant, flexible and/or elastic.

4. The aerosol-generating consumable article (100) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the at least one strand (10) has a mean diameter of less than 2 mm, preferably less than 1 mm.

5. The aerosol-generating consumable article (100) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the tobacco material in the strand (10) has a thickness of the foamed tobacco-containing material between 0.05 mm to 1.5 mm, preferably between 0.08 mm to 1 mm, or between 0.5 mm to 0.8 mm.

6. The aerosol-generating consumable article (100) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the at least one strand (10) has a cross section profile that is round, square, polygon, ovule or irregular shapes.

7. The aerosol-generating consumable article (100) according to any preceding claim, comprising a plurality of tobacco-containing strands (10) arranged in a sheet or a mat form.

8. The aerosol-generating consumable article (100) according to claim 7, wherein the sheet or mat is formed of a woven or non-woven arrangement of strands (10).

9. The aerosol-generating consumable article (100) according to claim 7 or 8, comprising a portion of a said sheet or mat cut or carved therefrom.

10. A method of manufacturing an aerosol-generating consumable article (100), comprising the steps of

• Forming at least one continuous strand (10) from a foamed tobacco-containing material such as tobacco mousse; · Conditioning the foamed strand (10), preferably into one or more spools.

11. The method according to claim 10, further comprising one or more of the following steps:

• Providing a carrier element before or during the foaming step, and

• Foaming the at least one strand (10) by covering at least partly or fully the carrier element with the foamed tobacco- containing material.

12. The method according to any of claims 10 or 11 , further comprising the steps of :

• Drying the foamed tobacco-containing material of the strand

(10).

13. The method according to any one of the previous method claim, wherein the foamed tobacco-containing material is applied to the inner core carrier element by bathing, spraying, coating, painting, dipping, extruding.

14. The method according to any one of claim 10 to 13, further comprising the step of forming a sheet or mat from the conditioned strand (10), the sheet or mat preferably being formed of a woven or non-woven arrangement of a plurality of strand segments cut from the continuous strand (10).

15. The method according to claim 14, further comprising the step of portioning the sheet or mat to form individual aerosol-generating consumable article portions.