FR3103685A1 - Manufacturing process for reels and notebooks of rolling cigarette paper sheets - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing cigarette rolling paper reels, sheets and book and a method of manufacturing cigarette rolling paper book. Abstract Figure: Figure 1

Description

Process for manufacturing reels and booklets of sheets of paper for rolling cigarettes

The invention relates to sheets of paper for rolling cigarettes (Roll-your-own cigarettes according to the English terminology).

Rolling cigarette paper sheets have a generally rectangular shape to which an adhesive strip is applied along one of the long edges of the rectangle. These sheets are sold in the form of a notebook that can include a hundred sheets. To make a rolling cigarette, the user takes a sheet out of their notebook, puts tobacco on the sheet, then forms the rolling cigarette by wetting the adhesive strip and layering it on the sheet.

Conventionally, sheets of cigarette rolling paper are made from strips of cigarette rolling paper cut into reels of cigarette rolling papers, the width of the reels being substantially equal to the width of the sheets. An adhesive strip is then applied to one of the two long edges of the reel of cigarette paper to be rolled in the machine direction, and the reel is then dried. The dried coil is then cut into sheets of cigarette rolling paper.

Rolling cigarette paper has a very low grammage, which can therefore easily tear during the manufacture of the sheet. One of the most problematic steps is that of applying the adhesive tape to the reel. Indeed, this step is conventionally carried out using pressurized nozzles which can easily tear the coil. This is all the more true when the width of the reel is less than 10cm. In addition, the adhesive tape is deposited along one of the long edges of the reel, so some of the adhesive tape may be deposited outside the reel so that material is lost and the amount of adhesive tape does not is not sufficient for a cigarette to be formed.

Because of these problems, the conventional methods of producing rolling paper for cigarettes have to be regularly stopped. The paper running speed in these processes can also be optimized.

For all these reasons, the productivity of these processes is not optimal.

Technical problem

There is therefore a need for an effective solution for improving the productivity of the process for manufacturing sheets of paper for rolling cigarettes.

It is thus to the credit of the inventors to have found that it was possible to meet this need by applying several adhesive strips which can be activated by humidity on a strip of paper for rolling cigarettes and then cutting the strip into a reel.

Summary

Thus a first aspect of the invention is a method for manufacturing rolls of paper for rolling cigarettes comprising the following steps:
a) applying n moisture-activatable adhesive strips to a strip of cigarette rolling paper to obtain an adhesive paper strip, each of the n moisture-activatable adhesive strips extending in the machine direction, and
b) cutting the adhesive paper strip in the machine direction along n -1 moisture-activatable adhesive strips to obtain n reels of cigarette rolling paper, each reel of cigarette rolling paper comprising a moisture-activatable adhesive strip along one of these long edges, n being an integer greater than or equal to 2.

Unlike the conventional method in which a single moisture-activatable adhesive strip is deposited directly on a reel of rolling cigarette paper, the n moisture-activatable adhesive strips are deposited by the method of the invention on a strip of rolling cigarette paper. roll whose width is greater than the width of a reel of cigarette rolling paper. The risk of tearing the cigarette rolling paper during step a) of application with the method for manufacturing a reel of cigarette rolling paper of the invention is lower than with the conventional method. Thus, it is not necessary to regularly stop the method of manufacturing a roll of paper for rolling cigarettes of the invention.

It is also more efficient to apply the n moisture-activatable adhesive strips to a strip of cigarette rolling paper and then to cut said strip of cigarette rolling paper into n reels of cigarette rolling paper than to cut a strip of cigarette rolling paper into n coils of cigarette rolling paper and applying a single strip to each of the n coils of cigarette rolling paper.

Additionally, only one of the n moisture-activatable adhesive strips is applied to one of the long edges of the cigarette rolling paper strip. Thus, compared to the conventional method, the method of the invention makes it possible to greatly limit the loss of adhesive that can be activated by humidity.

Therefore, the productivity of the method of manufacturing a reel of cigarette rolling paper of the invention is higher than the productivity of the conventional methods of manufacturing a reel of cigarette rolling paper.

Another aspect of the invention is a method of manufacturing a sheet of cigarette rolling paper comprising a step c) of cutting a roll of cigarette rolling paper manufactured by the method of manufacturing a roll of rolling paper of the invention.

Another aspect of the invention is a method of manufacturing a book of cigarette rolling paper sheets comprising a step d1) of forming a stack of cigarette rolling paper sheets manufactured by the method of manufacturing a sheet of rolling cigarette paper of the invention.

Another aspect of the invention is a method of manufacturing a book of sheets of cigarette rolling paper comprising a step d2) of forming a stack of rolls of cigarette rolling paper manufactured by the method of manufacturing a reel of paper for a rolling cigarette of the invention followed by a step e) of cutting the stack of reels.

The methods of the invention advantageously make it possible to produce a paper, in the form of a reel or sheet, for a rolling cigarette comprising a strip which can be activated by humidity with a productivity higher than the productivity of conventional methods.

Fig. 1

illustrates a strip of adhesive paper obtained at the end of step a) of the method of the invention on which four adhesive strips that can be activated by humidity are applied.

Fig. 2

illustrates comprising four coils obtained at the end of step b) of the method of the invention.

Detailed description of the invention

According to a first aspect, the invention is a method for manufacturing rolls of paper for rolling cigarettes comprising the following steps:
a) applying n moisture-activatable adhesive strips to a strip of cigarette rolling paper to obtain an adhesive paper strip, each of the n moisture-activatable adhesive strips extending in the machine direction, and
b) cutting the adhesive paper strip in the machine direction along n -1 moisture-activatable adhesive strips to obtain n reels of cigarette rolling paper, each reel of cigarette rolling paper comprising a moisture-activatable adhesive strip along one of these long edges and n being an integer greater than or equal to 2.

Within the meaning of the present invention, the term “rolling cigarette paper” means a paper used for rolling cigarettes. It can be made from wood pulp, tobacco fiber, hemp fiber, flax fiber, sisal fiber, fiber from the shell protecting the cocoa bean, rice straw, fiber from esparto and mixtures thereof. Paper for rolling cigarettes has a lower grammage and is thinner than the paper of commercially rolled cigarettes. For example, the grammage of the rolling paper, measured outside the adhesive strip, can be between 10g/m² and 50g/m², in particular between 12g/m² and 25g/m², more particularly between 13g/m² and 15g/m². m². The thickness of the rolling paper can be between 5 micrometers and 100 micrometers, in particular between 10 micrometers and 60 micrometers, more particularly between 20 micrometers and 50 micrometers.

Within the meaning of the present invention, the term “strip of rolling paper for a cigarette” means a rolling paper for a cigarette as described above, the general shape of which, once the strip has been unrolled, is a rectangle. Typically, the width of the rectangle is several tens of meters, or even several thousand meters, while its width is greater than or equal to 0.6 m, in particular greater than or equal to 1 m, more particularly greater than or equal to 1.2 m, plus particularly still greater than or equal to 1.5 m.

Within the meaning of the present invention, the term “reel of rolling paper for a cigarette” means a rolling paper for a cigarette as described above, the general shape of which, once the reel has been unwound, is a rectangle and which may comprise a moisture-activatable adhesive strip along one of the long edges of the rectangle. The width of the rectangle is substantially equal to the width of the sheets of paper for rolling cigarettes, ie between 30mm and 75mm, in particular approximately 36mm, approximately 44mm or approximately 53mm. Typically the length of the rectangle is several hundred to several thousand meters, for example between 1000m and 15000m, in particular between 3000m and 10000m, most particularly between 5000m to 8000m. The length of the rectangle can also be one or several tens of meters, in this case the sheet is called a roll. The length of the rectangle can also be one or more meters, in this case the sheet is called a ream.

The moisture-activatable adhesive tape (also referred to as adhesive tape) includes a moisture-activatable adhesive.

Within the meaning of the present invention, the term “adhesive activatable by humidity” is understood to mean a compound which exhibits an adhesive property in contact with water or humidity, such as for example saliva. The moisture-activatable adhesive (also denoted adhesive) can be any type of adhesive known to those skilled in the art. For example, the adhesive can be chosen from sugar solutions, polysaccharides, modified or not, gums, and mixtures thereof, in particular gums.

As polysaccharides, modified or not, mention may be made of starch, alginates, dextrins, cyclodextrins or mixtures thereof.

Gums can be natural or artificial. Examples of natural gums are acacia gum, gum arabic, guar gum, Karaya gum, pectins, in particular gum arabic.

The mass concentration of moisture-activatable adhesive in the adhesive strip of the reel of rolling cigarette paper, without taking the rolling cigarette paper into account, may for example be at least 95%, in particular at least 97%, more particularly at least 99%, more particularly still 100%.

The adhesive tape may also include an additive to impart a property other than stickiness to the adhesive tape.

For example, the additive can be a plasticizer, a defoamer, a colorant, an aromatic compound, and their mixture, in particular a plasticizer, a defoamer and their mixture.

Sorbitol is an example of a plasticizer which can be used in the context of the present invention.

As a colorant, mention may be made of natural or artificial food colorants, in particular natural food colorants. Caramels, chlorophyllin, coloring from paprika, coloring from beetroot, carotene, coloring from turmeric, cochineal, coloring from annatto seed, lutein, coloring from sunflower, anthocyanins, coloring from malt, charcoal and thermoluminescent pigments are examples of natural food coloring.

The aromatic compound can be chosen from glycosilated modified aromas, encapsulated aromas (cyclodextrins, membranes or matrices), natural aromas and mixtures thereof. The aromatic compound can in particular be chosen from terpenes and their mixture.

The grammage of the adhesive tape depends on the technology implemented in step a) of application. Typically, the grammage of the adhesive tape, apart from rolling cigarette paper, is less than 8g/m², in particular between 5.5g/m² and 7.5g/m², more particularly between 5g/m² and 6.5g /m².

The grammage of the adhesive tape is determined by weighing the mass of 1m² of an area of the paper roll without adhesive tape, by weighing the mass of 1m² of an area of the paper roll including adhesive tape and by subtracting the two masses.

Typically, the width of the adhesive strip is between 1mm and 10mm, in particular between 4mm and 8mm, more particularly between 5mm and 7mm.

The adhesive strip can have a continuous or discontinuous form.

As a shape of a continuous shape, there can be mentioned a straight line, a zigzag pattern, a slotted pattern or a wave pattern.

Examples of discontinuous shape are a discontinuous line of geometric shapes, logos or their mixture. The line can be straight or curved.

Examples of geometric shape are polygon, circle, ellipse, oval or their mixture. The polygon can be a triangle, a quadrilateral such as a square, a rectangle, or a rhombus, a pentagon, a hexagon, an octagon.

The logo may be a logo of a cigarette rolling paper manufacturer.

According to one embodiment, n is an integer less than 100, in particular between 30 and 55.

Step a) of application can, for example, be carried out at a speed of travel of the paper greater than or equal to 70m/min, in particular greater than or equal to 100m/min, more particularly greater than or equal to 150m/min, more particularly still greater than or equal to 200 m/min.

Step a) of application can be carried out by any technique known to those skilled in the art. For example, application step a) can be implemented with a moisture-activatable adhesive solution and by techniques such as gravure, flexography, heliography, flexogravure, gravure, spray , wetting and immersion, in particular flexography, heliography, flexogravure and gravure. Each of these techniques can be followed by drying.

According to a particular embodiment, step a) of application is carried out by flexography, followed if necessary by drying.

Flexography is a relief printing process known to those skilled in the art in which a flexible plate in relief, called cliché, is impregnated with a printing solution, the substrate and the impregnated cliché are brought into contact so that printing solution is applied to the substrate.

In the context of the present invention, flexography advantageously allows the contacting of n plates impregnated with the adhesive solution that can be activated by humidity and the strip of paper for rolling cigarettes to allow the application of the n strips of adhesive on the strip of rolling paper.

Flexography also makes it possible to have a paper running speed that can be four times higher than the speed of conventional processes. Thus, the productivity of the method of manufacturing a reel of paper for rolling cigarettes of the invention is therefore superior to conventional methods.

In addition to the speed and the use of n shots, flexography is a gentle application method that greatly reduces the risk of tearing the strip of paper for rolling cigarettes when performing step a ) applicable.

Other advantages offered by flexography include precision, simplicity and low cost of printing plates.

In addition, flexography is a flexible method which makes it possible to obtain an adhesive tape whose shape depends on the shape of the printing plate.

In addition, the tensile strength in the machine direction and in the transverse direction of the coils manufactured after an application step a) carried out by flexograph is greater than that of the coils manufactured by a conventional process. The coils manufactured after a step a) of application carried out by flexograph can therefore more easily be implemented in subsequent steps to the method for manufacturing the coils of the invention, such as for example a step of cutting the coil into a sheet or a step of forming a stack of coils followed by a step of cutting the stack into a sheet stack.

The moisture-activatable adhesive solution (also referred to as an adhesive solution) comprises a moisture-activatable adhesive. The mass concentration of adhesive that can be activated by humidity in the adhesive solution can be between 30% and 60%, in particular between 32% and 45%, more particularly between 35% and 40%.

The adhesive solution is typically an aqueous solution. The moisture-activatable adhesive solution may also include an additive as described above.

According to a particular embodiment, the adhesive solution may comprise a moisture-activatable adhesive, a plasticizer, and an antifoam, and the mass concentration of humidity-activatable adhesive is from 30% to 50%, the mass concentration of plasticizer is from 0.1% to 0.5% and the mass concentration of antifoam is from 0.5% to 1%.

FIG. 1 illustrates a strip of adhesive paper 1 on which four adhesive strips 2 are applied at the end of step a) of the method of the invention.

Step b) of cutting the strip of adhesive paper is a standard cutting step known to those skilled in the art. The latter will therefore be able to adapt it to the method of manufacturing a reel of paper for rolling cigarettes of the invention.

Step b) of cutting can, for example, be carried out at a speed of travel of the paper greater than or equal to 100m/min, in particular greater than or equal to 500m/min, more particularly greater than or equal to 750/min, more particularly still greater than or equal to 1000m/min.

Figure 2 illustrates four reels of cigarette rolling paper 11, each reel 11 including an adhesive strip 2 along one of these two long edges.

A coil made by the process of the invention can be cut into a sheet of rolling cigarette paper which will then be used to form a rolling cigarette.

Another aspect of the invention is therefore a process for the manufacture of a sheet of paper for a cigarette to be rolled, comprising a step c) of cutting out at least one reel of paper for a cigarette to be rolled manufactured by the process for the manufacture of a reel of cigarette rolling paper described above for making a sheet of cigarette rolling paper.

Within the meaning of the invention, the term "sheet of paper for a cigarette to be rolled" means a paper for a cigarette to be rolled as described above, the general shape of which is a rectangle and which comprises an adhesive strip as described above. along one of the long edges of the rectangle. Typically, the length of the rectangle is between 50mm and 110mm while its width can vary from 30mm to 75mm.

Step c) of cutting the reel of rolling cigarette paper is a standard cutting step known to those skilled in the art. The latter will therefore be able to adapt it to the method of manufacturing a sheet of paper for rolling cigarettes of the invention.

The sheet of paper for rolling cigarettes produced by the process of the invention is conventionally sold in the form of a booklet.

The invention therefore also relates to a method of manufacturing a book of sheets of paper for rolling cigarettes comprising a step d1) of forming a stack of sheets of paper for rolling cigarettes manufactured by the method of manufacturing a sheet of rolling cigarette paper of the invention.

The forming step d1) can for example be carried out by stacking the sheets of cigarette rolling paper on top of each other or by inserting a sheet of cigarette rolling paper between 2 sheets of cigarette rolling paper.

For example, step d1) of formation can be carried out by inserting the sheets using the equipment marketed by IMAtec in Luxembourg.

According to one embodiment, the stack of sheets formed after step d1) can undergo an entangling step to form a stack of entangled sheets.

The stack of sheets, tangled or not, can then be introduced into a case.

The invention therefore also relates to a method of manufacturing a book of sheets of paper for rolling cigarettes comprising a step d2) of forming a stack of rolls of paper for rolling cigarettes manufactured by the method of manufacturing a reel of paper for a rolling cigarette of the invention followed by a step e) of cutting the stack of reels.

The stack of coils can be formed during step d2) by stacking the coils of cigarette rolling paper on top of each other or by inserting a coil of cigarette rolling paper between two coils of cigarette rolling paper.

According to one embodiment, the stack of sheets formed in step e) of cutting out the stack of coils can undergo an entangling step to form a stack of entangled sheets.

According to one embodiment, the stack of coils formed in step d2) can undergo an entangling step before the cutting step to form a stack of entangled sheets.

The stack of sheets, tangled or not, can then be introduced into a case.

Example 1 according to the invention

An aqueous solution of gum arabic is flexographically applied to a strip of cigarette rolling paper so that 4 adhesive strips run in the machine direction. The strip is then dried to then cut to obtain 4 reels, each reel comprising an adhesive strip comprising gum arabic.

The coil is then cut into sheets.

Each sheet has a rectangular shape 110mm long, 44mm wide and a continuous adhesive strip along one of the two long edges of the sheet.

Thanks to this process, the sheets are produced at a speed of 200m/min.

Comparative example 2

A strip of paper is cut into 4 reels.

An aqueous solution of gum arabic is applied through a nozzle to each roll of cigarette rolling paper. Each reel is then dried to then cut into sheets.

Each sheet has a rectangular shape 110mm long, 44mm wide and has a continuous adhesive strip along one of the two long edges of the sheet.

the sheets are produced at a speed of 55m/min with the method according to Example 2-comparative.

The process for manufacturing the sheet of Example 1 (according to the invention) is therefore 4 times faster than the process for manufacturing the sheet of Example 2 (comparative).

The productivity of the process of Example 1 is therefore higher than the productivity of the process of Example 2.

Claims (13)

Method of manufacturing rolls of paper for rolling cigarettes comprising the following steps:
a) applying n moisture-activatable adhesive strips to a strip of cigarette rolling paper to obtain an adhesive paper strip, each of the n moisture-activatable adhesive strips extending in the machine direction, and
b) cutting the adhesive paper strip in the machine direction along n -1 moisture-activatable adhesive strips to obtain n reels of cigarette rolling paper, each reel of cigarette rolling paper comprising a moisture-activatable adhesive strip along one of these long edges, n being an integer greater than or equal to 2. A method according to claim 1 wherein the moisture-activatable adhesive is selected from sugar solutions, polysaccharides, starch and gums and mixtures thereof. Process according to Claim 1 or Claim 2, in which step a) of applying is carried out with an adhesive solution which can be activated by humidity and by techniques such as engraving, flexography, heliography, flexogravure , rotogravure, spraying, wetting and immersion, in particular flexography, rotogravure, flexogravure and rotogravure. Process according to any one of Claims 1 to 3, in which step a) of application is carried out by flexography. Method according to any one of Claims 1 to 4, in which the adhesive strip which can be activated by humidity has a basis weight of less than 8 g/m². A method according to any of claims 1 to 5 wherein the moisture-activatable adhesive tape has a continuous form or a discontinuous form. A method according to claim 6 wherein the continuous shape is selected from a straight line, a zigzag pattern, a slotted pattern or a wave pattern. A method according to claim 6 wherein the discontinuous shape is selected from a discontinuous line of polygons, a discontinuous line of geometric shapes, logos or a mixture thereof. A method of manufacturing a sheet of cigarette rolling paper comprising a step c) of cutting a reel of cigarette rolling paper produced by the method as defined in any one of claims 1 to 8 to produce a sheet of paper for rolling cigarettes. A method of manufacturing a book of cigarette rolling paper sheets comprising a step d1) of forming a stack of cigarette rolling paper sheets manufactured by the method as defined in claim 9. A method of manufacturing a book of cigarette rolling paper sheets comprising a step d2) of forming a stack of rolls of cigarette rolling papers manufactured by the method as defined in any one of claims 1 to 8 followed by a step e) of cutting the stack of coils to form a stack of sheets. A method according to claim 10 or claim 11 wherein the stack of sheets formed in step d1) or step e) of cutting the stack of coils undergoes entanglement to form a stack of entangled sheets. A method as claimed in claim 11 wherein the stack of coils formed in step d2) undergoes an entangling step prior to the step of cutting the stack of coils to form a stack of entangled sheets.