JPWO2014203341A1 - Tobacco raw material manufacturing method - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided is a method for producing a tobacco raw material with enhanced flavor components. A method for producing a tobacco raw material, comprising a step of smoking a dried tobacco leaf, a step of adding alcohol to the smoked dried tobacco leaf, and a step of storing the tobacco leaf added with the alcohol.

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for producing tobacco raw materials.

Attempts have been made to improve the flavor of raw tobacco leaves. For example, Patent Document 1 describes a method in which ethyl alcohol is added to leaf tobacco before the ripening step of smoking tobacco.
According to this technology, due to the chemical action of ethyl alcohol adsorbed on leaf tobacco, oxidation reaction, decomposition, deamination, etc. of protein-based polymer compounds, nitrogen-containing compounds, sugars, etc. in leaf tobacco become active. Ripening proceeds while releasing a large amount of. And it is described that the smoke at the time of smoking of the cigarette using the leaf tobacco obtained through such fermentation contains many organic acids such as formic acid and acetic acid. In addition, it is described that acetaldehyde, acetone, acrolein, acetol and the like that cause odor and irritation during smoking have been reduced.

JP-A-56-51976

According to the method described in Patent Document 1, it is described that by adding ethyl alcohol to leaf tobacco, it is possible to increase the content of organic acid contained in smoke during cigarette smoking using the attached leaf tobacco. However, the increased compounds are only related to organic acids.
On the other hand, in the present invention, attention is focused on ester compounds as components for imparting a flavor to tobacco materials. And the method of increasing the flavor of a tobacco raw material by increasing such a flavor ingredient in a tobacco raw material is provided.

  As a result of intensive studies by the inventor, the present invention has been obtained by a production method including a step of smoked dry tobacco leaves, a step of adding alcohol to smoked dry tobacco leaves, and a step of storing alcohol-added tobacco leaves. In the cigarette raw material obtained, the present inventors have found that the content of an ester that enhances the flavor is increased, and the present invention has been achieved.

That is, the present invention is as follows.
[1] A method for producing a tobacco raw material, comprising a step of smoke-treating dried tobacco leaves, a step of adding alcohol to smoked and dried tobacco leaves, and a step of storing tobacco leaves added with alcohol.
[2] The production method according to [1], further including a step of adding a polyol to the tobacco leaf after the storing step.
[3] The production method according to [1] or [2], wherein the storing step is performed at room temperature to 70 ° C., and the period is one week or more.
[4] The production method according to any one of [1] to [3], wherein the storing step is performed under sealed conditions.
[5] The production method according to any one of [1] to [4], wherein the smoking process is performed by a cold chilling method.
[6] A tobacco product including a tobacco raw material produced by the production method of any one of [1] to [5].

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the method of manufacturing the tobacco raw material in which content of the ester compound which is a flavor component is reinforced is provided.

It is a figure which shows the relationship between the frequency | count of the smoked process of tobacco leaf, and organic acid content. (A) Content of acetic acid. (B) Content of isobutanoic acid, butanoic acid, isovaleric acid, 2-methylbutanoic acid, valeric acid. It is a figure which shows the difference in the organic acid composition obtained when changing the kind of wood used when smoking a tobacco leaf. In the case of only the step of performing the smoke treatment, the case of passing the step of adding ethanol after the step of the smoke treatment, the case of passing the step of adding menthol after the step of the smoke treatment, and the ethanol after the step of the smoke treatment It is a figure which shows content of the organic acid in each tobacco raw material at the time of passing through the process of adding menthol. After the step of adding alcohol to smoked dried tobacco leaves (1 on the horizontal axis in the figure) and after storing the alcohol-added tobacco leaves one week at a time (2 on the horizontal axis in the figure) It is a figure which shows the variation | change_quantity of the organic acid ester in a tobacco raw material when propylene glycol is added to 4) at each density | concentration.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to embodiments, examples, etc., but the present invention is not limited to the following embodiments, examples, etc., and can be arbitrarily set within the scope of the present invention. Can be changed and implemented.

The method for producing a tobacco raw material of the present invention includes a step of smoking a dried tobacco leaf, a step of adding alcohol to the smoked dried tobacco leaf, and a step of storing the tobacco leaf to which the alcohol has been added.
Tobacco leaves subjected to smoke treatment in the production method of the present invention are those that have been dried. A known method can be used as the drying treatment. As used herein, the dried tobacco leaf refers to a product that has been dried until the moisture content of the tobacco leaf is generally less than 15% by weight.
About a drying process, a well-known method can be used without a special limitation.
Tobacco leaves to be used are not particularly limited and belong to the genus Nicotiana, and include yellow and burley species of Nicotiana tabacum, brasilia species of Nicotiana narstica and the like.
These tobacco leaves are cut by a known method to produce tobacco cuts.

<Smoked process>
As a method for smoking the tobacco leaf, a known method can be exemplified, and for example, a hot cocoon treatment, a hot potato treatment, and a chilling treatment can be exemplified.
The hot-bath treatment is a treatment for dripping tobacco leaves at a product temperature of about 60 to 120 ° C. Although processing time can be arbitrarily set based on the application amount of the required organic acid, it is, for example, about 10 minutes to 1 hour.
The warm cocoon treatment is a treatment for smoking tobacco leaves at a product temperature of about 30 to 60 ° C. Although processing time can be arbitrarily set based on the application amount of the required organic acid, it is, for example, about 10 minutes to 1 day.
The cold chilling process is a process of smoking tobacco leaves at a product temperature of about 15 to 30 ° C. The treatment time can be arbitrarily set based on the required amount of organic acid applied, and is, for example, about 10 minutes to 4 weeks.
The kind of wood used for generating smoke is not particularly limited, and examples include white oak, cherry, walnut, apple, beach beech, oak, and hickory. Moreover, wood may be burned or heated to generate soot. The heating temperature can be 350 ° C. to 650 ° C., preferably 450 ° C. to 500 ° C.
Any of the smoking processes can be performed using a known smoking apparatus.
By applying the smoke treatment to tobacco leaves, organic acids such as acetic acid, butanoic acid, isobutanoic acid, valeric acid, isovaleric acid, and 2-methylbutanoic acid are imparted to the tobacco leaves.
The organic acid can be imparted to the tobacco leaf using any of the above-described smoked treatments. The smoke treatment can include an embodiment in which the smoke treatment is performed from the viewpoint of handling of the production apparatus (easiness of cleaning). The smoke treatment time at this time is preferably 10 minutes to 1 day, more preferably 1 hour to 3 hours.

<Step of adding alcohol>
Alcohol added to the tobacco leaf obtained through the smoked treatment is not particularly limited, and ethanol, 1-propanol, 2-propanol, 1-butanol, 2-butanol, 2-methyl-1-propanol, Monohydric alcohols having aromatic substituents such as monovalent aliphatic alcohols such as 2,2-dimethylethanol and cyclohexanol, benzyl alcohol and phenylethyl alcohol, sorbitol, maltitol, xylitol, erythritol, lactitol, sorbitan And sugar alcohols such as xylose, arabinose, mannose and trehalose.
These alcohols may be used alone or in combination of two or more.
The smoked tobacco leaf is provided with an organic acid as described above. Alcohol is added to the tobacco leaf and then stored, whereby the organic acid reacts with the alcohol to cause esterification. Thereby, content of the ester compound in the tobacco raw material obtained is strengthened.
The alcohol added to the tobacco leaf can be added at a ratio of 0.000001 to 0.1 with respect to the weight 1 of the tobacco leaf.
Alcohol is added using a general method such as spraying so that it is applied as uniformly as possible to the tobacco leaves.
Moreover, in the process of adding alcohol, you may add not only said alcohol but another fragrance | flavor. Examples of such a fragrance may include one or more selected from essential oils such as menthol, rum, peppermint oil, spearmint oil, mint oil, rosemary oil, licorice extract, St. John's extract, cocoa and the like.
The fragrance | flavor added to a tobacco leaf can be added in the ratio of 0.000001-0.1 with respect to the weight 1 of a tobacco leaf.

<Process to store>
The step of storing the tobacco leaf to which alcohol has been added is preferably performed under conditions such that the ester compound produced during storage does not volatilize. Examples of such conditions include sealed conditions.
Examples of the sealed condition include a condition formed by using a sealed container. Moreover, as sealed conditions, the conditions of the grade which a volatile component like a low molecular ester compound does not volatilize can be mentioned.
The storage period is not particularly limited as long as it is a sufficient period for producing the ester compound, but it is preferably 1 week or longer in order to cause a sufficient reaction.
Although the upper limit of the period when storing is not fundamentally limited, about 30 weeks can be given in consideration of the period until shipment of the manufactured tobacco raw material.
The temperature at the time of storage is preferably a temperature at which the ester compound is sufficiently generated.
Such a temperature is preferably a temperature at which an enzyme that promotes an esterification reaction contained in tobacco leaves is activated and a temperature at which a chemical esterification reaction is likely to occur.
As specific temperature, the aspect adjusted suitably in the range of room temperature-70 degreeC is mentioned, The aspect set suitably in the range of 30-80 degreeC can also be mentioned.

In addition to the organic acid imparted by the smoke treatment, the tobacco leaves also contain organic acids originally contained, such as myristic acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid, oleic acid, linoleic acid, linolenic acid and the like. From this, the ester of the organic acid originally contained in these tobacco leaves and the added alcohol is also produced by passing through the steps of adding the alcohol and storing it.
Moreover, tobacco leaves also contain methanol, benzyl alcohol, and phenylethyl alcohol as alcohols, and it is considered that these alcohols also contribute to the formation of esters by obtaining the above-described process of the present invention.
Examples of the organic acid ester enhanced in the tobacco raw material obtained through the production method of the present invention include, for example, ethyl acetate, ethyl valerate, ethyl crotonic acid, ethyl hexanoate, ethyl myristate, ethyl palmitate, ethyl stearate, Mention may be made of ethyl oleate and ethyl succinate.

The production method of the present invention may include a step of adding a polyol to the tobacco leaf after the storing step. As the polyol, propylene glycol, glycerin, or a mixture thereof can be used. The polyol can be added in an amount of 0.1 to 5% by weight based on the tobacco leaf.
It is preferable to add the polyol by a general method used in the tobacco production process such as spraying so that the polyol is distributed throughout the entire tobacco leaf.
The polyol has a function of suppressing the esterification reaction between the added alcohol and the organic acid, as shown in the experimental examples described later. For this reason, by adding a polyol after the storing step, it is possible to suppress the formation of an ester compound that is generated when the added alcohol causes a further reaction. Thus, the present invention is a storing step. The composition of the produced ester compound is less likely to change over time.
This is considered because the added polyol preferentially forms an organic acid and an ester over alcohol.
After passing through the step of adding a polyol, it is preferable to store it for about one week or more from the viewpoint of sufficiently suppressing the esterification reaction between the added alcohol and the organic acid. The storage is preferably performed under sealed conditions.

  In the production method of the present invention, additives such as the above-described essential oil and extract fragrance can be added in an arbitrary amount in an arbitrary step.

<Tobacco products>
When the tobacco raw material of the present invention is an oral tobacco product, for example, snus can be cited as an example. In this case, the tobacco raw material produced by the above-described production method is obtained by filling a packaging material using a raw material such as a nonwoven fabric by a known method. For example, the amount of tobacco material is adjusted and filled, and sealed by means such as heat sealing to obtain snus.
The packaging material can be used without any particular limitation, but a cellulose-based nonwoven fabric is preferably used.
For example, when the gum is used as the oral tobacco product, it is obtained by mixing the tobacco raw material obtained using the production method of the present invention with a known gum base and a known method. A chewing tobacco, a hooked tobacco, and a compressed tobacco can also be obtained using a known method except that the tobacco raw material obtained using the production method of the present invention is used. Moreover, an edible film can also be obtained using a known material or method except that the tobacco raw material obtained using the production method of the present invention is used.

The cigarette raw material of the present invention may be mixed with a normal cigarette at an arbitrary ratio to produce a cigarette. Moreover, you may arrange | position the tobacco raw material of this invention in the filter part of a well-known cigarette. As an arrangement of the filter portion, for example, an arrangement in the cavity or an arrangement in which the filter portion is dispersed in the filter fiber can be used.
The tobacco raw material of the present invention can also be used for warming or non-heating type cigarette substitute products.

  According to the production method of the present invention, it is possible to supply a tobacco raw material with enhanced flavor components. In addition, the tobacco raw material produced by the method of the present invention may be used as all of the tobacco raw material in the tobacco product, or may be used as a part of the tobacco raw material in the tobacco product. The tobacco raw material obtained by this invention can be used in arbitrary ratios, when used as a part of tobacco raw material in tobacco products.

  Examples The present invention will be described more specifically with reference to examples. However, the present invention is not limited to the description of the following examples unless it exceeds the gist.

<Experimental example 1>
Addition of short chain fatty acids by smoked tobacco leaves (detailed smoked process)
20 g of white oak wood chips were weighed on an aluminum foil and laid on the bottom of the smoker.
20 g of tobacco was placed on the net in the smoker. The lid of the smoker was closed and the heater was turned on (600W). Heating was continued at 600 W for 5 minutes after smoke began to be emitted, and the heater power was turned off. The time until smoke began to be emitted was approximately 6-7 minutes. It was left for 30 minutes with the lid of the smoker closed (cooling).
When the treated tobacco was further smoked, the above operation was repeated.
In the above treatment, the product temperature was about 100 ° C., and the temperature of the wood chip was about 600 ° C.

(Analysis method)
The concentration of acetic acid contained in the smoked tobacco leaves was measured by the following procedure.
10 mL of ultrapure water was added to 0.5 g of smoked tobacco, and extraction was performed by shaking for 30 minutes.
The extract was subjected to ultrafiltration (molecular weight fraction 3000), and the filtrate was recovered. The filtrate was diluted with ultrapure water so that it was within the range of the calibration curve, and quantitative analysis was performed by capillary electrophoresis (DAD detector).
Next, other organic acids were analyzed by SPE-GCMS.
50 mL of ultrapure water was added to 0.5 g of smoked tobacco, and extraction was performed by shaking for 30 minutes.
The extract was filtered and collected, and then adjusted to pH 2 with hydrochloric acid.
The extract was passed through a solid phase extraction cartridge (OasisHLB) conditioned with about 20 mL each of diethyl ether, methanol, and 0.01N hydrochloric acid aqueous solution, and then the cartridge was dried with a nitrogen stream. The organic acids adsorbed on the cartridge were eluted with diethyl ether and quantified by GCMS analysis.
Comparison data of organic acid analysis values before and after the smoke treatment are shown in FIG.
From the result of FIG. 1, it was confirmed that the content of the organic acid contained in the tobacco leaf was increased by applying the smoke treatment to the tobacco leaf. Moreover, it has also confirmed that the quantity of the provided organic acid increased by increasing the frequency | count of smoke processing.

In addition, the difference in the concentration of acetic acid obtained when the wood material used for smoking was changed was investigated.
The procedure performed for each material was the same as that for the above white oak.
The results are shown in FIG.
From the results of FIG. 2, it was found that the content of organic acid in tobacco leaves increased even if the type of wood used for the smoke treatment was changed.

<Experimental example 2>
Change in organic acid composition accompanying esterification treatment <Esterification treatment operation>
Put 10g of tobacco leaf and various alcohol materials (0.5g ethanol, 0.5g menthol, 0.5g ethanol + 0.5g menthol) into a 50mL capacity screw tube that has been smoked 8 times with white oak. Sealed. This was stored while heating in a sealed container at a predetermined temperature (70 ° C.) for a predetermined period (one week).
For the above esterification treatment, only the smoke treatment (white oak smoked 8 times), ethanol addition after smoke treatment, menthol addition after smoke treatment, ethanol and menthol addition after smoke treatment, were examined respectively. The results are shown in FIG.
The organic acid content was measured by the same method as in Experimental Example 1 above.
From the result of FIG. 3, it can be inferred that the esterification reaction occurred in the case where alcohol was added and the mixture was heated in a sealed container because the content of the organic acid was reduced.

<Experimental example 3>
Formation of various esters accompanying esterification treatment <Equation of ethyl esterification and quenching by adding polyol>
Esterification and quenching conditions Ethanol (5% with respect to the weight of tobacco after smoked processing) was added, sealed in a screw tube at 40 ° C for 1 week, and stored for 1 week. It was added at a concentration (1% by weight, 2% by weight, 5% by weight with respect to tobacco leaves).
After each week of 0 weeks (untreated), when ethanol was added for 1 week (before addition of propylene glycol), and thereafter (after addition of propylene glycol), after 1 week, each organic acid ester was Analysis was carried out.

The analysis of the ester compound was performed as follows.
0.5 g of tobacco was accurately weighed into an SPME vial (20 mL capacity), sealed with a vial cap, and analyzed by GCMS with SPME automatic introduction device.
Moreover, the sample which added 25 microliters of acetonitrile solutions (1 mg / mL) of p-bromophenethyl alcohol to another SPME vial was analyzed similarly, and the ratio of the peak area of an analysis object ingredient and p-bromophenethyl alcohol was calculated | required and calculated | required. By value, the amount of analysis target component contained in each sample was compared.
<Analysis conditions>
Instrument: Agilent gas chromatograph analyzer (6890A)
Agilent mass detector (5973N)
Injection volume: 1 μL (injected in pulsed splitless mode)
Column: INNOWAX
Oven: 40 ° C. → 250 ° C. (3 ° C./min)
Mass detector: TIC mode (mass number 29-550)
<Analytical components>
Ester compound: ethyl acetate, ethyl valerate, ethyl hexanoate, ethyl crotonic acid, ethyl hexanoate, ethyl myristate, ethyl palmitate, ethyl stearate, ethyl oleate

The results of Experimental Example 3 are shown in FIGS. In addition, the numerical value of the vertical axis | shaft in FIG. 4 shows the peak area value obtained by analysis of GCMS instead of the density | concentration of organic acid ester. Also, the numerical values on the horizontal axis in FIG. 4 indicate the number of weeks that have passed.
As can be seen from FIG. 4, organic acid esters were produced in the case where the tobacco leaves to which alcohol was added were stored for one week. Moreover, it turned out that the production | generation of organic acid ester was suppressed when time passed compared with what did not add with what added propylene glycol after that.

  According to the production method of the present invention, it is possible to provide a tobacco raw material with enhanced flavor components such as organic acid esters.

Claims (6)

  A method for producing a tobacco raw material, comprising a step of smoking a dried tobacco leaf, a step of adding alcohol to the smoked dried tobacco leaf, and a step of storing the tobacco leaf added with the alcohol.   The manufacturing method of Claim 1 which further includes the process of adding a polyol to a tobacco leaf after the process of storing.   The manufacturing method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the storing step is performed at room temperature to 70 ° C, and the period is one week or more.   The manufacturing method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the storing step is performed under sealed conditions.   The manufacturing method as described in any one of Claims 1-4 whose said smoke processing is based on the cold-cooling method.   A tobacco product comprising a tobacco raw material produced by the production method according to claim 1.

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