AU2013324682B2 - Smoking article - Google Patents

Abstract

A smoking article (1) comprises a smokable tobacco rod (2), which includes tobacco and a wrapper, and a filter (3) having a first end (4) and a second end (5). The filter (3) comprises a first filter segment (11) extending to the first end (4) of the filter (3) and placed at an end of the tobacco rod (2) and a second filter segment (12) extending to the second end (5) of the filter (3). The first filter segment (11) comprises cut or shredded plant material. The second filter segment (12) comprises a cellulose material as filtering material and has a length in the range of from 3 mm to 12 mm. The filter (3) is bio-degradable according to OECD 301 B.

Description

1 Smoking article The invention relates to a smoking article with a biodegradable filter. 5 Smoking articles, such as cigarettes, usually comprise a smokable tobacco rod wrapped in a wrapper (such as a cigarette paper) and a filter attached to that rod by means of a tipping paper. A perforation of the layers that surround the filter 10 material can be applied to achieve a filter ventilation that dilutes the mainstream smoke with air. Filters for smoking articles often consist of two or more segments that are axially aligned to achieve special filter 15 characteristics. Depending on the number of filter segments, such filters are known as dual, triple, etc. filters. Cellulose acetate is the most commonly used filter material for smoking articles. However, cellulose acetate has a poor 20 biodegradability either in composting environments or in standardised tests like OECD 301 B. Filter materials with improved biodegradability are also known, such as paper, other non-woven (e.g. air-laid) cellulose fibres, or regenerated cellulose like lyocell or viscose. 25 The problem of the latter filter materials is that they have a much higher filtration efficiency for the particulate matter ("tar") of the mainstream smoke than cellulose acetate. Since the amount of carbon monoxide in the mainstream smoke is not 30 influenced by filtration, the ratio between the yield of carbon monoxide (in mg per smoking article) and the yield of particulate matter (in mg per smoking article) increases with increasing filtration efficiency. Here and in the following, particulate matter is measured as PMWNF ("particulate matter 35 (water and nicotine free) ") . As there exist upper limits on 2 the yield of carbon monoxide and the yield of PMWNF in regulations of numerous countries and of the EU, such filter materials restrict PMWNF levels. The use of so-called LIP ("low ignition propensity") papers has further attributed to 5 this situation because these papers tend to increase CO yields at constant PMWNF levels. Using tobacco as a filter material is known from prior art, e.g. from FR 1 270 093 or from cigarettes of the brand 10 "Gitanes Mais". Tobacco filters are mainly used to influence the taste of the smoking articles or to achieve a special appearance of the cigarette mouth end that resembles a filter less cigarette. With the increasing use of filter cigarettes, however, consumers' preference has nowadays switched towards a 15 white colour of the visible filter end. WO 02/45531 Al discloses a smoking product comprising a tobacco filter with a hollow mouthpiece. Optionally, a cellulose-based filter section can be placed between the 20 tobacco rod of the smoking product and the tobacco filter. Any discussion of documents, acts, materials, devices, articles or the like which has been included in the present specification is not to be taken as an admission that any or 25 all of these matters form part of the prior art base or were common general knowledge in the field relevant to the present disclosure as it existed before the priority date of each claim of this application. 30 Throughout this specification the word "comprise", or variations such as "comprises" or "comprising", will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated element, integer or step, or group of elements, integers or steps, but not the exclusion of any other element, integer or step, or group of 35 elements, integers or steps.

3 According to a first aspect, the present invention provides a smoking article, comprising a smokable tobacco rod, which includes tobacco and a wrapper, and a filter having a first 5 end and a second end, wherein the filter comprises: - a first filter segment extending to the first end of the filter and placed at an end of the tobacco rod, wherein the first filter segment comprises cut or shredded plant material, and 10 - a second filter segment extending to the second end of the filter, wherein the second filter segment comprises a cellulose material as filtering material, - the second filter segment comprising at least one of the cellulose materials selected from the following group: 15 paper, paper containing an adsorbent, paper containing activated carbon, air-laid cellulose, regenerated cellulose, lyocell, viscose, wherein - the constitution of the second filter segment is largely 20 homogeneous, - the second filter segment has a length in the range of from 3 mm to 12 mm, and - the filter is bio-degradable according to OECD 301 B. 25 According to a second aspect, the present invention provides a smoking article filter tube for the self-production of a smoking article according to the first aspect, comprising a wrapper adapted to accommodate tobacco to provide a smokable tobacco rod, and a filter having a first end and a second end, 30 wherein the filter comprises: - a first filter segment extending to the first end of the filter and placed at an end of the tobacco rod, wherein the first filter segment comprises cut or shredded plant material, and 35 - a second filter segment extending to the second end of 4 the filter, wherein the second filter segment comprises a cellulose material as filtering material, - the second filter segment comprising at least one of the cellulose materials selected from the following group: 5 paper, paper containing an adsorbent, paper containing activated carbon, air-laid cellulose, regenerated cellulose, lyocell, viscose, - the constitution of the second filter segment being largely homogeneous, 10 - the second filter segment having a length in the range of from 3 mm to 12 mm, and - wherein the filter is bio-degradable according to OECD 301 B. 15 The smoking article comprises a smokable tobacco rod, which includes tobacco wrapped in a wrapper, and a filter having a first end and a second end. Preferably, the smoking article is a cigarette and the wrapper is a cigarette paper, but other kinds of smoking articles, e.g. a cigarillo, are conceivable 20 as well. The filter comprises a first filter segment extending up to the first end of the filter and placed at an end of the tobacco rod (rod-sided filter segment), as well as a second filter segment extending up to the second end of the filter (mouth-sided filter segment). The first filter segment 25 comprises cut or shredded plant material. The second filter segment comprises a cellulose material as filtering material. A cellulose material in the sense of the invention is a material based on natural cellulose or regenerated cellulose, but not a cellulose derivate like cellulose acetate. The 30 length of the second filter segment is in the range 3 mm to 12 mm. Moreover, the filter of the smoking article is bio degradable according to OECD 301 B. An embodiment of the present invention may provide a smoking 35 article with a biodegradable filter, which has an acceptable 5 white appearance at its mouth-sided end and which provides a filtration efficiency for particulate matter that is low enough to resemble that of the usual cellulose acetate filters. 5 OECD 301 is an OECD guideline for testing chemicals (adopted by the Council on 17 July 1992) and describes several methods that permit the screening of chemicals for ready biodegradability in an aerobic aqueous medium. One of these 10 methods is referred to as OECD 301 B. In this test, the CO 2 evolution due to a test sample in an aqueous medium under aerobic conditions is measured and related to the theoretical

CO

2 production of the test compound assuming full degradation. Roughly, the test will be considered as passed if the ratio of 15 measured CO 2 to theoretical CO 2 increases from 10% to 60% or more within a period of 10 days. For detailed information, see the OECD 301 guideline, which includes the description of OECD 301 B. 20 Since the second or mouth-sided filter segment comprises a cellulose material, its appearance is generally white or whitish, similar to the mouth-sided end of an ordinary cigarette with a cellulose acetate filter. This filter segment is rather short so that the generally high filtration 25 efficiency per unit length of cellulose materials does not result in an overall filtration efficiency of the second filter segment which is too high. The first or rod-sided filter segment generally does not add much to the overall filtration efficiency of the filter, but it adds some length 30 to the filter so that the total length of the filter looks familiar to the consumer and facilitates the handling of the filters during production. Moreover, the cut or shredded plant material of the first filter segment may influence the taste of the smoking article. 35 6 Preferably, the filter is a dual filter. That means, it does not comprise further segments in addition to the first filter segment and the second filter segment, wherein each filter segment is considered as having a generally non-variable 5 constitution along the longitudinal axis of the smoking article. Generally, the constitution of each filter segment can be largely homogeneous, i.e. non-variable along the longitudinal 10 axis and across cross-sectional areas. Examples for the cellulose material of the second filter element are paper, air-laid cellulose or regenerated cellulose like lyocell or viscose. Mixtures or blends of such materials 15 are also possible. Moreover, the second filter element may contain an admixture of an adsorbent to reduce gas-phase constituents of the main stream smoke, preferably as a constituent of a paper material, e.g. a paper containing activated carbon. 20 In advantageous embodiments of the invention, the first or rod-sided filter segment comprises cut tobacco or cut (or shredded) herbs, e.g. mint, eucalyptus, and/or tea. Mixtures or blends of tobacco and cut or shredded herbs (like mint, 25 eucalyptus, and/or tea) are conceivable as well. There are multiple ways of influencing the overall taste of the smoking article by selecting an appropriate plant material, e.g. an appropriate blend, for the first filter segment. 30 The first filter segment may have a density in the range of from 0.20 g/cm 3 to 0.35 g/cm 3 . This is generally somewhat greater than the density of the tobacco in the tobacco rod of the smoking article. By adjusting the density, the filtration efficiency and the taste provided by the first filter segment 35 can be influenced. Moreover, a denser filter feels harder, 7 more like a usual cellulose acetate filter, and a denser filter is more rigid during the manufacturing process, wherein the tendency of losing plant particles from the end sides of the first filter segment is decreased. 5 In accordance with recent regulations, and in particular if the smoking article is a cigarette, the wrapper of the smoking article can be a cigarette paper, which comprises at least one zone having a permeability less than a basic permeability of 10 the cigarette paper. That means, the original or basic permeability of the cigarette paper is decreased in certain zones, e.g. by applying a coating. The low-permeability zones can be arranged, e.g., in a ring pattern. In this way, a low ignition propensity ("LIP") of the smoking article is achieved 15 so that the smoking article, preferably, fulfils the requirements of ASTM E2187 and/or EN 16156:2010. Generally, low-ignition propensity smoking articles are well known in the art. 20 As already mentioned further above, the CO yield or level of a smoking article is hardly influenced by the filter (except for by ventilation), whereas the PMWNF yield (level) can be controlled via the filter. In the present invention, the latter can be accomplished, e.g., via the density or kind of 25 the cellulose material in the second filter segment or via the length of the second filter segment. If the smoking article has a PMWNF level of more than or equal to 8 mg, the ratio of CO/PMWNF is preferably less than 1.3, when smoked according to ISO conditions. If the smoking article has a PMWNF level of 30 less than 8 mg, the ratio of CO/PMWNF is preferably less than 1.1, when smoked according to ISO conditions. Here, CO/PMWNF is expressed as the total yield of CO in mg per smoking article divided by the total yield of PMWNF in mg per smoking article. The relevant norm is ISO 4387. 35 8 The filter explained so far can also be used with a filter tube for the self-production of a smoking article, which comprises a wrapper adapted to accommodate tobacco. The only difference between a smoking article and such smoking article 5 filter tube is that, in the latter, the tobacco is missing in the rod in the state to be marketed, wherein the consumer fills in the tobacco by herself or himself. The filter of the smoking article filter tube can have all the properties of the filter of the smoking. 10 A smoking article can be manufactured, e.g., in the following way: Filter base rods for the second filter segments are 15 manufactured on a standard paper filter maker from a paper web, a plug wrap and glue. As known to a skilled person, the pressure drop and retention of this element can be controlled through the width of the paper web and an optional embossing or crimping of that web. Depending on the intended type of 20 filter ventilation, the plug wrap can either be porous or non porous. Tobacco filter base rods for the first filter segments are manufactured on a standard cigarette maker from a cut or 25 shredded tobacco blend, a wrapper and glue. Such tobacco blends usually comprise cut Virginia, Burley and/or Oriental tobacco leaf. The tobacco blend can further comprise cut tobacco stems. All tobacco materials can be expanded using processes that are familiar to a skilled person. The wrapper 30 can be a porous or non-porous filter plug wrap paper. From those filter base rods, a dual filter rod can be manufactured with a standard filter combining machine using a second porous or non-porous wrapper and glue. 35 9 The combustible tobacco rod is produced on a standard filter cigarette maker from tobacco, cigarette paper and glue. The dual filters are attached to that rod by a tipping paper that covers the filter as well as a part of the smokable tobacco 5 rod. Thus, in this example, each filter segment comprises a plug wrap, both filter segments are combined by means of an additional wrapper, and the resulting dual filter is attached 10 to the smokable tobacco rod by means of a tipping paper. In the following, the invention is further described by means of embodiments. The drawings shows in 15 Figure 1 a schematic view of an embodiment of the smoking article and Figure 2 a graphical representation of the degradation of cigarette filter segments of paper, tobacco and 20 cellulose acetate as a function of time, when measured as described in OECD 301 B. Figure 1 illustrates an embodiment of a smoking article in a schematic view. The smoking article is a cigarette 1 25 comprising a smokable tobacco rod 2 (tobacco wrapped in a cigarette paper) and a dual filter 3. The dual filter 3 is attached to the smokable tobacco rod 2 by means of a tipping paper (not shown in Figure 1) . The dual filter 3 has a first end 4 adjacent to the tobacco rod 2 and a second end 5 as the 30 mouth-sided filter end. The dual filter 3 comprises a rod-sided first filter segment 11 and a mouth-sided second filter element 12. The first filter segment 11 contains cut or shredded plant material (in 35 the embodiment tobacco), whereas the second filter segment 12 10 contains a cellulose material as filtering material (in the embodiment paper). Each filter segment 11, 12 comprises a plug wrap, and both filter segments 11, 12 are combined by means of an additional wrapper (not shown in Figure 1). 5 In the embodiment, the dual filter 3 is ventilated by a circumferentially extending row of ventilation holes placed in the area of the first filter segment 11. 10 As examples, cigarette samples were produced with the parameters indicated below and listed in Table 1. The columns "Reference" and "Reference II" relate to samples having a conventional filter of cellulose acetate ("Mono-AC") or a paper filter, respectively, for comparison purposes. The 15 remaining four columns ("Tobacco-Paper Filter Samples") relate to samples. All cigarettes included in Table 1 are standard king size cigarettes with a total length of the filter of 21 mm, a total 20 length of the smokable tobacco rod of 62 mm and a diameter of 7,88 mm. In all cases, the tipping length (length of the tipping paper) is 25 mm. In the tobacco rod, all cigarettes of Table 1 contain a standard American blend with a rod weight of 670 mg. In all ventilated samples, the filter ventilation is 25 positioned 13 mm from the mouth-sided end of the filter. Moreover, all samples contain a LIP cigarette paper with a base porosity of 70 CU (Coresta units) . The smoke yields of the cigarettes in Table 1 were tested according to ISO 4387. For the measurements of the pressure drop ("PD") , the 30 ventilation perforations were open; 1 mmWG = 9.8 Pa. In the samples, the tobacco used for the tobacco filter segment (tobacco filter plug) is a dark air-cured blend containing 60% of expanded stems. 35 11 The last column ("+25% mint") in Table 1 relates to a sample including mint leaf within the tobacco filter segment. In this case, 25% of the lamina part of the tobacco blend in the filters of samples 1 to 3 has been replaced by threshed mint 5 leaf. The aim of providing CO/NFDPM ratios of below 1.3 is achieved by all samples. 10 The biodegradability of the paper filter segment, the tobacco filter segment and the cellulose acetate filter of the samples according to Table 1 was tested according to the OECD 301 B method. The results are shown in Figure 2. The graphical representations display the amount of degradation during 15 progress of time. The degradation is expressed as the ratio of

CO

2 production due to the respective test sample to the theoretical CO 2 production of the test sample assuming full degradation, as described in detail in the OECD 301 guideline. 20 As is evident from Figure 2, tobacco and paper passed the test whereas cellulose acetate failed.

Claims (15)

1. Smoking article, comprising a smokable tobacco rod, which includes tobacco and a wrapper, and a filter having a 5 first end and a second end, wherein the filter comprises - a first filter segment extending to the first end of the filter and placed at an end of the tobacco rod, wherein the first filter segment comprises cut or shredded plant material, and 10 - a second filter segment extending to the second end of the filter, wherein the second filter segment comprises a cellulose material as filtering material, - the second filter segment comprising at least one of the cellulose materials selected from the following group: 15 paper, paper containing an adsorbent, paper containing activated carbon, air-laid cellulose, regenerated cellulose, lyocell, viscose, wherein - the constitution of the second filter segment is largely 20 homogeneous, - the second filter segment has a length in the range of from 3 mm to 12 mm, and - the filter is bio-degradable according to OECD 301 B. 25

2. Smoking article according to claim 1, wherein the filter is a dual filter.

3. Smoking article according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the first filter segment comprises cut tobacco. 30

4. Smoking article according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the first filter segment comprises at least one of the materials selected from the following group: cut or shredded herbs, cut or shredded mint leaves, eucalyptus, 35 tea. 13

5. Smoking article according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the first filter segment has a density in the range of from 0.20 g/cm 3 to 0.35 g/cm 3 . 5

6. Smoking article according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the wrapper is a cigarette paper comprising at least one zone having a permeability less than a basic permeability of the cigarette paper and is adapted to provide low-ignition propensity to the smoking article. 10

7. Smoking article according to claim 6, wherein the smoking article fulfils the requirements of ASTM E2187 and/or EN 16156:2010. 15

8. Smoking article according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the smoking article has a PMWNF level of more than or equal to 8 mg and a ratio of CO/PMWNF of less than 1.3 when smoked according to ISO conditions. 20

9. Smoking article according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the smoking article has a PMWNF level of less than 8 mg and a ratio of CO/PMWNF of less than 1.1 when smoked according to ISO conditions. 25

10. Smoking article filter tube for the self-production of a smoking article according to claim 1, comprising a wrapper adapted to accommodate tobacco to provide a smokable tobacco rod, and a filter having a first end and a second end, wherein the filter comprises: 30 - a first filter segment extending to the first end of the filter and placed at an end of the tobacco rod, wherein the first filter segment comprises cut or shredded plant material, and - a second filter segment extending to the second end of 35 the filter, wherein the second filter segment comprises a 14 cellulose material as filtering material, - the second filter segment comprising at least one of the cellulose materials selected from the following group: paper, paper containing an adsorbent, paper containing 5 activated carbon, air-laid cellulose, regenerated cellulose, lyocell, viscose, - the constitution of the second filter segment being largely homogeneous, - the second filter segment having a length in the range 10 of from 3 mm to 12 mm, and - wherein the filter is bio-degradable according to OECD 301 B.

11. Smoking article filter tube according to claim 11, wherein 15 the filter is a dual filter.

12. Smoking article filter tube according to claim 10 or 11, wherein the first filter segment comprises cut tobacco. 20

13. Smoking article filter tube according to anyone of claims 10 to 12, wherein the first filter segment comprises at least one of the materials selected from the following group: cut or shredded herbs, cut or shredded mint leaves, eucalyptus, tea. 25

14. Smoking article filter tube according to anyone of claims 10 to 13, wherein the first filter segment has a density in the range of from 0.20 g/cm 3 to 0.35 g/cm 3 . 30

15. Smoking article filter tube according to anyone of claims 10 to 14, wherein the wrapper is a cigarette paper com prising at least one zone having a permeability less than a basic permeability of the cigarette paper and is adapted to provide low-ignition propensity to the smoking article. 35