Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A24—TOBACCO; CIGARS; CIGARETTES; SIMULATED SMOKING DEVICES; SMOKERS' REQUISITES
  • A24B—MANUFACTURE OR PREPARATION OF TOBACCO FOR SMOKING OR CHEWING; TOBACCO; SNUFF
  • A24B3/00—Preparing tobacco in the factory
  • A24B3/18—Other treatment of leaves, e.g. puffing, crimpling, cleaning
  • A24B3/182—Puffing
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
  • Y10S—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10S131/00—Tobacco
  • Y10S131/903—Fixing the product after puffing

Definitions

• This invention relates to a method of making a tobacco product. More particularly, the present invention relates to an improved method for making a tobacco product adapted to be included in reconstitutedtobacco sheets.
• the present invention it has been found that by slicing or shaving the puffed tobacco stem, a product is obtained which has better cutting and blending characteristics andclosely approximates the natural tobacco leaf in physical and chemical properties.
• the invention 'entails slicing the tobacco stem much as alog is cut into board length.
• the puffed stem yields a product with vastly increased filling power.
• puffed stems, sliced or shaved on any suitable equipment'into thin baconlike slices do not shrink onexposure to moisture during cutting. They maintain their flexibility and exhibit -improved pyrolytic properties. These "slices are leaflike and therefore can be blended like leaf with tobacco "strips.
• the stem when cut into strip filler, the stem is 'in the form of long'flexible fibers, shows a small amount of dust, and contains no chunks.
• the flexibility of the shaved puffed stem is of considerable import'ance in tobacco manufacturing because there are no hard portions to tear holes in the cigarette paper or wrapper.
• the product containing sliced puffed stems does not expand or swell upon burning. No blossoms or swelled spots result. The fire coal is normal and holds fire well.
• Tobacco stems either puffed or unpuffed, but preferably puffed by any of the known methods or methods described in the above-mentioned copending application No. 516.1 12 and US. Pat. Nos. 3,409,022 and 3,409,023 are brought to a moisture content of about 4 percent to 10 percent for puffed stems 'or 6 percent to 30 percent for unpuffed stems. They are then sliced or shaved preferably in a direction parallel to their longitudinal axes to obtain long slices. The slicing or shaving operation may be accomplished by any machine suitable for the purpose such as a meat slicer, vegetable slicer, bread slicer, ice shaving machine, paper cutting machine, extruder and the like.
• the preferred slicing blade opening varied from about 0.020 to about 0.050 inches, the optimum being about 0.040 inches and the preferred speed of the slicing blade in lineal "feet per minute is about 1,9002,000 f.p.m. for any cutting head, the optimum being about 1,960 f.p.m.
• the sliced puffed stems are discharged into a sifter. 1n the sifter, Large Slice, e. g., +8 mesh particle size, and Presized Fiber,"'e.g., +20 mesh particle size, strips are separated and deposited into suitable containers. The smaller of the two sizes is the result of the stems breaking in the cutter. Presized stems are so called because it is necessary to feed them separately into the tiller.
• the +8 mesh strip is fed in before cutting the leaf, and the +20mesh strip is fed in after the leaf has been cut into filler. Smaller fibers than +20 mesh and dust are collected by the dust collector and deposited and suitable containers to be reused.
• stem feed rate 200 to 225 pounds per hour
• dwell time of to seconds at 360 to 380 F.
• a slicing blade opening of 0.020 to 0.050 inches, preferably about 0.040 inches at 1,900- -2,000 f.p.m., preferably about 1,960 f.p.m.
• the ratio of the Large Slices" to the Presized Fibers varies from about 1.3-1.4 to l to 0.5- '0.7 to 1. This ratio can be increased about 15 to 30 percent by raising the puffing temperature to 400 F., but at this temperature the stem color may be dark and undesirable.
• the thickness of the sliced strip may vary from about 0.002 inch to 0.060 inch but is preferably about 0.016 inch in thickness.
• the area of the sliced strip isequal to or less than about 1 square inch, preferably equal to or less than about one half square inch.
• the machines may of course be powered by any suitable means, for example electricity or manual power.
• the slicing technique described herein may be readily adapted to production line techniques by a suitable arrangement which will feed prepuffed tobacco stemsso as to shave baconlike strips from them.
• EXAMPLE 1 One-pound samplesof mixed bright stems puffed radiantly and by a microwave process were moistened slightly to raise their moisture content from 4-4.5 percent to 79 percent in order to prevent dusting and breakage on slicing of puffed stems.
• the radiantly puffed stems were prepared by exposing them to two 1,000-watt G.
• E. Type T quartz lamps at a distance of 3 inches for 38 seconds and the microwave puffed stems'were prepared by placing them in a Raytheon Mark V magnetron oven for 30 seconds. These stems were then cut manually with razor blades into fine slices not exceeding 0.035 inches in thickness.
• EXAMPLE 2 A l-pound sample of mixed bright stems, unpuffed and puffed by high frequency electrostatic field and radiant energy and moisturized as in example 1, were sliced on the Globe Slicing Machine (Model 610) to a thickness ranging from 0.006 inch-0.060 inch, leaving corresponding controls unsliced. All samples were placed in a humidity cabinet (75 F 60 percent and 70 percent R.H.), and examined for volume changes daily. At the end of the -day period, all samples were compared and little or no shrinkage was evident in the puffed stems which had been sliced, but the unsliced puffed stems, whether puffed by high frequency electrostatic field or by radiant energy, decreased in volume. The results are shown in table 1.
• EXAMPLE 4 A l-pound sample of mixed bright stems, puffed, and moisturized as in example I was sliced to a thickness of 0.0 l 2 inch and blended with bright strip and a known cigarette blend. These were compared against rolled stems and reconstituted sheets. In each of these samples of tobacco, it was found that the sliced puffed stems blended exactly like leaf and considerably better than rolled stems. In the other methods of processing puffed stems, namely the microwave and radiant processes as described in example 1, materials which had simply been cut could not, due to their physical structure, be blended uniformly with any of these tobaccos. Also, it was discovered that puffed stems processed by slicing would receive flavoring and casings more readily and uniformly due to their physical nature whereas unsliced puffed stems would not, thus causing flavor spots and modified flavors.
• EXAMPLE 5 A l-pound sample of mixed bright stems, puffed and moisturized as in example 1, were sliced on a Globe Slicing Machine (Model 610) to a thickness of 0.020 inch. These shaved puffed stems were blended with bright strip and a known cigarette blend. These samples were cut approximately 35 cuts/inch as in cigarette manufacturing. The resulting filter after sieve analysis showed that sliced puffed stems which had been cut exactly like tobacco strip were uniformly distributed in the tiller. When compared to the rolled stems the instant method of slicing eliminated all the disadvantages which are rejected by cigarette making machines, such as chunks, birds eyes, or cross sections.
• EXAMPLE 6 A 5-pound sample of mixed bright stems (puffed, moisturized, and sliced as in example 5) was blended with bright strip and a known cigarette blend so as to produce samples containing 10, 20, and 30 percent sliced puffed stems. Control samples containing rolled stems and homogenized leaf (reconstituted sheet) were prepared. These samples were then shredded as in cigarette manufacturing and made into cigarettes according to regular production specifications. On examination of the smoke compositions by gas chromatography, colorimetry and gravimetry, it was observed that cigarettes containing puffed stems delivered less organic gas phase, total particulate matter, and nicotine than all of the controls (table 3).
• a method for producing a filler for a tobacco product which comprises puffing tobacco stems, slicing said puffed tobacco stems in a plane substantially parallel to said stem axes into strips of less than or equal to about 1 square inch in area and from about .002 inch to about .060 inch in thickness.

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• Manufacture Of Tobacco Products (AREA)
• Manufacturing Of Cigar And Cigarette Tobacco (AREA)

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Cited By (10)

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Citations (3)

• 1969
  • 1969-04-10 US US815205A patent/US3556112A/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
• 1970
  • 1970-04-08 GB GB1290254D patent/GB1290254A/en not_active Expired

Patent Citations (3)

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