NO129278B - - Google Patents

Description

Smoke material mixture.

The present invention relates to a smoking material mixture containing natural or reconstituted tobacco or the mixture thereof to be used in smoking articles such as cigarettes, cigars, smoking tobacco and the like.

A number of attempts have been made to reduce the amount of smoke components that occur when, for example, smoking cigarettes. Filters have been used and inert substances have been added to the tobacco materials which act as diluents, e.g. non-combustible glass or asbestos fibres. However, such fiber additions have undesirable effects on the ash, as they can be easily separated from it.

It is one purpose of the present invention to provide a smoke material mixture containing a filler which results in reduced production of unwanted smoke components. Thus, according to the invention, a filler is used which in itself is non-combustible but which will pyrolyze together with the tobacco material. Furthermore, it is an object to provide a filler which acts as a diluent but produces a tobacco-like ash.

According to the present invention, a smoking material mixture is thus provided consisting of a combustible tobacco material and a filler comprising calcium carbonate and an organic compound as binder, and this mixture is characterized by the binder being sodium carboxymethyl cellulose, the ratio between the calcium carbonate and the binder in the filler, which is in itself non-combustible, is at least 90:10 calculated, on a dry weight basis.

The filler can e.g. produced in sheet form, which can then be cut and mixed with cut tobacco, or the mixture can be carried out before the cutting of the tobacco.

By the term "non-flammable" is meant: if a "cigarette" made in the usual way from the filler alone, must be lit several times when the cigarette is smoked to a stub length of 23 mm under standard smoking conditions, i.e. a puff of 35 ml volume and 2 seconds duration per minute. Thus, if it takes a total of ten puffs to smoke such a cigarette to a stub length of 23mm, and the cigarette has to be relighted a total of 6 times or more, then the filler is considered to be "non-combustible" according to the above definition.

The filler used produces a minimum of pyrolysis products and consequently has little or no effect on the overall taste of the smoke.

If the filler easily separates out in a cigarette, e.g. by its whiteness, it may be advantageous to add a smaller amount of tobacco solubles to produce a tobacco-like color. In this way, the filler can also be made softer, which means that it can be more easily processed in sheet form without excessive breakage losses. Depending on the filler's final composition, up to 20% by weight of tobacco soluble substances can be added without impairing the non-combustibility.

It has also been found advantageous to add a smaller amount of glycerol, propylene glycol or another suitable wetting agent, in amounts from 0.1 to 10% by weight, all depending on the filler's final composition, in order to further improve the filler's general mechanical properties.

The amount of filler in the mixture must not be so high that the mixture will no longer burn satisfactorily for a smoking article, e.g. like a, cigarette. More - especially - the quantity must not be so high that the mixture does not glow between the dragons. The exact amount will depend on the nature of the non-combustible filler.

The filler can be suitably cut into strips of such a thickness that there are from 1 to 50 strips per cm, so that the strips easily: can . mixed, with a cut tobacco-.

The filler is produced by using an aqueous solution of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose containing a uniform dispersion of finely divided lime. The solutions are spread on glass plates into thin films, which are then dried in a stream of hot water. air ;and be cut, up; i. strips in the usual way....

The shredded fillers are then processed into "cigarettes" with a length of 70 mm and a circumference of 25 mm and a weight that varied from 950 to 1050 mg. These cigarettes are "smoked" by using a smoking machine which gave one puff per minute, with a duration of .2 seconds and a volume of 35 ml.

It was found that the fillers did not burn alone at and above Q0% lime. Cigarettes of the same dimensions were then produced by using the filler containing 90% calcium carbonate and mixed with Uke large amounts by weight of shredded tobacco. It was found that these cigarettes burned satisfactorily with the following residue of total particulate matter (T.P.M.) compared to a control cigarette without - some filler.

sodium carboxymethylcelluiose

control cigarette (no filler)

The filler thus produced a reduction of particulate residue of approx. 50$ compared to the control cigarette.

Oén''reduced amount of residues of particulate substances that were effected

obtained above^that the filler acted as a tobacco diluent. "It was found that the ash was of the same type as that found in a cigarette made from pure tobacco, and that the smoke flavor was not affected by the special aftertaste that occurs together with certain processed tobaccos and

synthetic textile materials containing cellulose derivatives as binders.

The following examples illustrate the invention.

Example 1

Finely divided calcium carbonate was dispersed in a solution of sodium carboxymethylcellulose (viscosity of 60-90 centipoise for a 1% solution)-, so that a slurry with a viscosity of more than 10 poise was obtained. The suspension was dried to a thin film yielding a white plate with a thickness of approx. 1/100 mm, and a dry weight sum-

sentence consisting of 90 '% lime. The plate was cut into strips

about. 2.5 cm, using a sharp knife, and these were again cut crosswise: so that thin strips with a width of approx. 0.8" mm.

These strips were mixed as filler with equal parts'cut

tobacco, and the mixture was processed into cigarettes, 70 m<m>Alan<ge>,

25 mm in circumference and an average weight of approx. 1 g. The particulate residue from such cigarettes smoked under standard conditions on 1

drag per minute with a volume of 35 ml and a duration of 2 seconds, was 19 mg/cigarette compared to a residue of 30 mg/cigarette for cigarettes containing only tobacco. "Cigarettes" made from pure filler had to be lit for every single puff.

Example 2

The procedure from example 1 was used except that in the preparation of the slurry aqueous extract of tobacco stalks was used to dissolve the sodium carboxymethyl cellulose. Up-

the slime also contained a small percentage amount of glycerol to

improve the flexibility of the film or sheet. The final tobacco colored dry plate consisted of 78 parts lime, 5 parts sodium carboxymethylcellulose, 14 parts tobacco solubles and 3 parts glycerol. Cigarettes weighing 1.3 g and containing equal parts of cut sheet and cut tobacco produced a particulate solids residue of 22 mg/cigarette when smoked under standard conditions.

Claims (2)

1. Smoking material mixture consisting of a combustible tobacco material and a filler comprising calcium carbonate and an organic compound as binder, characterized in that the binder is sodium carboxymethyl cellulose, the ratio between the calcium carbonate and the binder in the filler, which is itself non-combustible, being at least 90:10 calculated on dry weight 2. Mixture according to claim 1, characterized in that up to 20 percent by weight and preferably between 10 and 20 percent by weight of tobacco extract is added to the filler.