GB2319511A - Packaging of smoking articles - Google Patents

Abstract

A pack for smoking articles has a barrier layer 21 rupturable by a tear strip 23 which has a cover 27 overlying the barrier layer 21 at both sides of the strip 23. The cover 27 is attached to the barrier layer 21 by permanently tacky adhesive and after opening, may be re-attached to the barrier layer 21 to reseal the pack.

Description

PACKAGING OF SMOKING ARTICLES The present invention relates to the packaging of smoking articles such as cigarettes, cigars and cigarillos, for convenience collectively known herein as cigarettes.

A co-pending application of ours, number 9624275.5 ('275), filed on 21 November 1996, concerns resealable barrier layers for the packaging of cigarettes. An access aperture is defined in the barrier layer and a cover is provided which may extend over the aperture and engage the barrier layer adjacent all sides of the aperture. The cover has a permanently tacky surface for engaging the barrier layer, allowing the packaging to be resealed after accessing the cigarettes through the aperture.

The resealable barrier layers of '275 may be provided in conjunction with the semi-rigid packs described in our co-pending application number 9624274.8 also filed 21 November 1996.

The present application provides improvements to these two prior inventions.

Resealable barrier layers according to '275 may be provided with tear strips, which are described in '274. In the present invention, a permanently tacky adhesive cover overlies the barrier layer in the region of the tear strip and extends to both sides of the strip. As the tear strip is pulled, a narrow strip of barrier layer is torn away from the remainder of the barrier layer, causing it to be parted, and the adhesive cover is peeled off the barrier layer. The two cut surfaces of the barrier layer can then be rejoined with the adhesive cover. The tear strip preferably does not extend all the way around the pack, so that the barrier layer is not completely parted and the cut edges are easily repositionable for resealing.

The adhesive cover preferably extends beyond the ends of the tear strip to ensure complete resealing. In this case, the cover would need to be partially removed prior to opening the pack, in order to expose the end of the tear strip.

As described in '275, it is desirable in resealable packs that a tab, lacking adhesive, is present at one edge of the adhesive cover, to aid opening and reopening of the pack.

It is preferable that the tab does not lie flush with the barrier layer, so that it may be more easily gripped when opening/reopening the pack. This may be achieved by various means, for example by folding in the region where the tab joins the adhesive portion of the cover, by applying inks or other media which upon drying distort the material of the cover, or by distorting the cover by embossing. More preferably, the tab is folded back to lie against (the non-adhesive surface of) the cover and then releasably held in place by minor amounts of an adhesive.

It may be desirable to include a resealable pack in a Laubé, or flat, box. Such boxes are well known in the art and are generally rigid, being made of thick card or similar material, and hinged along a minor edge of a major face, or along a major midline of a minor face. In such embodiments, the aperture in the barrier layer is preferably located on the front surface of the pack (that is, the major surface that is revealed when the Laub box is opened) and the top surface (that is, the surface which is furthest from the hinge of the Laub box). It may be desirable for the cover to have a tab at the top of the pack, which tab may be arranged to protrude between the lips of the Laub box. The barrier layer may be placed around the bundle of cigarettes either to produce a side-seamed enclosure or one seamed over the front and/or back major faces of the bundle.

According to a further aspect of the invention, flavourant may be in the permanently tacky adhesive or may be added to the packaging in the form of so-called "scratch and sniff" panels or in a card or a frame of card. That is, the flavourant may be coated on the packaging in a form (for example micro-encapsulated) which allows release of the flavourant when abraded or in the adhesive so that microcapsules are ruptured.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described in greater detail, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 shows a resealable tear strip in combination with a sheet of barrier material; and Fig. 2 shows the combination of Fig. 1, with the barrier material partially parted.

An inner frame of a cigarette pack is principally intended to be overwrapped with a barrier layer and most preferably to form a resealable semirigid pack. The major face forms the front of the pack, with the aperture for cigarette access overlying the recess in the major face and the gap in the top face between the two flaps. The two flaps, when supported by cigarettes remaining in the pack, provide an anvil against which the adhesive cover of the resealable barrier layer may be pressed to ensure good resealing. When the inner frame is overwrapped with a barrier layer, a flavourant-bearing integer can be included within the barrier layer, for example a sachet, capsule or porous sheet. Alternatively the inner frame can be made of card on which is coated or in which is included a flavourant, e.g. menthol.

A barrier sheet 21 having a resealable tear strip is shown in Fig. 1. The tear strip 23, which underlies the barrier sheet, is shown in short dashed lines. Two parallel lines of weakening 25 in the barrier sheet (which may be produced e.g. by laser scoring as described in '274) are shown in long dashed lines. Overlying the barrier sheet and adhered to it is a cover 27, having a permanently tacky adhesive surface as described in '275. The width of the cover is greater than the distance between the lines of weakening, so that the cover overlies the barrier layer outside both lines of weakening.

For convenience, a pull tab 29 of the tear strip is shown to protrude beyond the side of the barrier sheet. However, when used for cigarette packaging it may be desirable to cover the pull tab with the cover to prevent accidental opening of the packaging.

The packaging is opened by pulling the pull tab 29 out of the plane of the barrier sheet, thus forcing the tear strip against the barrier sheet. This has the twin effects of separating the barrier sheet along the lines of weakening and lifting the cover off the barrier sheet, as shown in Fig. 2. Since the cover is wider than the narrow strip 31 of barrier sheet which is torn away with the tear strip, the cover may be re adhered to the two separated, remaining parts of the barrier sheet. When such a barrier sheet used to produce a barrier layer surrounding a charge of cigarettes, this allows resealing of the pack.

Microcapsules bearing flavourant can be included in the permanently tacky adhesive used on the cover in this embodiment, so that flavourant is released each time the cigarettes are accessed. A suitable adhesive is available from Sessions of York, Huntington Road, York YO3 9HS, England.

Claims (2)

1. A pack for smoking articles including an enclosure of barrier layer with a tear strip for breaking the enclosure, a permanently tacky adhesive cover overlying the barrier layer in the region of the tear strip and extending to both sides of the strip.

2. Packaging for a pack of smoking articles substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.