JPH0740906B2 - How to puff tobacco material - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a method for expanding a tobacco raw material.

[Conventional technology and problems]

Tobacco puffing is an important technology indispensable for manufacturing tobacco products in order to reduce the amount of raw materials used for tobacco products and to reduce the flavor and taste.

As a conventional method for expanding a tobacco raw material, a method using an organic solvent as a expanding agent is known. (For example,
47-22800, 49-1879, 52-30600, and JP 61-15676). These methods are satisfactory with respect to the swelling effect of cigarettes, but depending on the solvent used, there are problems in cost, safety, etc., and there is a risk of adversely affecting the flavor and taste of cigarettes.

As a swelling aid, a method using an inert gas such as nitrogen or argon is also known. (For example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 59-29230,
59-33346, JP-A-59-205971). In these methods, the treatment pressure differs depending on the heat treatment method after the nitrogen and argon treatments, but in the case of nitrogen, a high pressure treatment of about 800 kg / cm ² is practically necessary.

Also, the heat treatment after nitrogen gas treatment is preferably 200 to 300 ° C.
If it is not treated for a short time at high temperature or with saturated steam, a sufficient expansion effect cannot be obtained. Further, the tobacco material to be puffed is mainly a leaf with deteriorated quality in terms of flavor and taste, and these methods cannot positively improve flavor and taste.

Therefore, the main object of the present invention is to swell a tobacco raw material in which the nitrogen gas treatment pressure is relatively low and the heat treatment can obtain a sufficiently high puffing effect by air drying at a relatively low temperature, and can also improve the flavor and taste of cigarettes. To provide.

[Means for solving problems]

In the present invention, the tobacco raw material is first impregnated with ethanol, and then the tobacco raw material is impregnated with nitrogen gas in the pressure vessel. Then, the pressure vessel is opened, and the obtained ethanol-nitrogen gas-impregnated tobacco raw material is subjected to heat treatment to remove ethanol and nitrogen, so that the tobacco raw material swells.

The present inventors have developed a method for puffing a tobacco raw material that can obtain a sufficiently high puffing effect even with relatively low nitrogen gas pressure and heat treatment and air drying at relatively low temperature, and can also improve the flavor and taste of tobacco. I did my best to study. As a result, when the tobacco raw material is first treated with ethanol having a high affinity for water and a higher solubility of nitrogen gas than water, the amount of nitrogen gas dissolved in ethanol in the tobacco tissue and impregnated increases. In addition, since the jacket temperature of the pressure vessel can be set to a temperature lower than the freezing point due to the action of lowering the freezing point by adding ethanol, the impregnated amount of nitrogen gas can be further increased. Therefore, even if the nitrogen gas treatment is performed at a low pressure and / or the subsequent heat treatment is also performed in low-temperature air, a higher expansion effect than ethanol alone or nitrogen gas alone can be achieved, which adversely affects the flavor and taste of the tobacco raw material. However, the present invention has been completed by finding that it can be improved rather.

The tobacco raw material to be expanded by the method of the present invention is deboned leaves, cut bone leaves, etc., and the water content is usually 5% by weight to 30%.
Practically, it is preferably 8% by weight to 20% by weight.

In the method of the present invention, ethanol is first sprayed onto a tobacco raw material, and the tobacco raw material is stored at room temperature for several minutes to several hours, preferably one hour or less, and allowed to penetrate into the tobacco tissue.

Ethanol is preferably impregnated at a rate of 10% DB to 30% DB with respect to the weight of the dry tobacco raw material, considering the ratio up to 100% DB (dry base), economy, flavor and the like.

The ethanol impregnated tobacco raw material is then transferred to the nitrogen gas impregnation step. An ethanol-impregnated tobacco raw material is charged into a pressure vessel having an outer jacket. When impregnating with nitrogen gas, a refrigerant of -40 to 0 ° C is circulated in the jacket of the pressure vessel in order to increase the amount of impregnated nitrogen.

The temperature of the refrigerant is desired to be slightly higher than the freezing point of the aqueous ethanol solution in the tobacco tissue, and is usually in the range of -20 to -10 ° C.

The desired impregnation can be achieved by supplying nitrogen gas to the above conditions and contacting the ethanol-impregnated tobacco raw material for about 10 minutes.

After impregnation with nitrogen gas, the pressure is released for 1 second to 10 minutes, and the ethanol-nitrogen gas-impregnated tobacco raw material is taken out.

Then, the ethanol-nitrogen gas-impregnated tobacco is subjected to heat treatment to rapidly remove ethanol and nitrogen gas to expand the tobacco raw material. This swelling heat treatment step is usually performed by an airflow dryer at 100 ° C or higher, preferably 140 to 200 ° C.
It can be done most conveniently in seconds to 10 seconds.

As described above, when the tobacco raw material is first impregnated with ethanol, the pressure at the time of nitrogen gas impregnation is as low as 100 to 300 Kg / cm ² ,
Moreover, the impregnation pressure of only nitrogen gas is 80 by normal air flow drying.
The maximum swelling effect equivalent to 0 kg / cm ² can be obtained.
Moreover, the flavor and taste of the tobacco raw material can be improved by adding alcohol.

The puffing effect is expressed as a puffing rate (ρ ₀ / ρ) obtained by dividing the apparent density (ρ ₀ ) of the tobacco raw material to be puffed by the apparent density (ρ) of the tobacco raw material after the puffing.

The apparent density was measured by storing the tobacco raw material in a constant temperature and humidity chamber at 22 ° C. and a relative humidity of 60% for 1 week and harmonizing it, and then measuring it by a mercury injection method (measurement pressure 250 g / cm ² abs).

In addition, the flavor and taste evaluation was carried out by a specially trained expert panel of 10 people, each of which was made of rolled up tobacco material and wrapped in a cigarette. In this sensory test, ethanol or nitrogen gas was not impregnated, and the product was heated and expanded at a temperature of 140 ° C., rolled up in harmony, and then cigarettes were used as a control product.
The flavor and aroma are the same as those of the control product, 0, slightly superior, +1, fairly excellent, +2, extremely superior, +3, slightly inferior, -1, considerably inferior Was evaluated as -2, and extremely inferior was evaluated as -3.

(Example 1) A raw material for shredded tobacco of yellow type having an apparent density of 0.830 g / cm ³ and a water content of 14%.
30% by weight of ethanol was sprayed on 300 g and stored for 10 minutes. This ethanol-impregnated tobacco raw material was charged into a pressure vessel having an internal volume of 0.5 l, which was maintained at -20 ° C by circulating a heat exchange medium in the outer jacket, and nitrogen gas was introduced to pressurize it to the pressure shown in Table 1. Under this condition, the pressure was released after impregnating with nitrogen gas for 10 minutes. The pressure release time was about 20 seconds. Remove the ethanol-nitrogen gas-impregnated tobacco raw material from the pressure vessel and immediately add it to heated air at 140 ° C (expansion temperature) at 20 m /
It was put in an airflow dryer flowing at a flow rate of 2 seconds and taken out in 7 seconds. Table 1 also shows the results of the expansion rate of each expanded tobacco raw material obtained in this way.

As is clear from the results of Table 1, the tobacco raw material impregnated with ethanol-nitrogen gas exhibits an excellent expansion rate at any impregnation pressure, as compared with the tobacco raw material impregnated with only nitrogen gas.

Also, a sufficiently satisfactory expansion rate can be obtained even under a low impregnation pressure of about 250 kg / cm ² .

(Example 2) The same tobacco raw material as in Example 1 was charged in a pressure vessel and the pressure was adjusted.
Impregnation with nitrogen gas was performed for 10 minutes under the conditions of 250 Kg / cm ² and a temperature of −20 ° C. Then, the pressure was released, the tobacco raw material was taken out of the pressure vessel, and immediately put in an air flow dryer in which heated air having a temperature (expansion temperature) shown in Table 2 flows at a flow rate of 20 m / sec, and taken out in 7 seconds. . Table 2 shows the swelling rate of each puffed tobacco raw material thus obtained and the result of the flavor and taste evaluation.
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As is clear from the results in Table 2, the ethanol-nitrogen gas-impregnated tobacco raw material exhibits an excellent expansion rate at any heating and expansion temperature as compared with the nitrogen gas-impregnated tobacco raw material.

In addition, the tobacco raw material impregnated only with nitrogen gas has a heating and expansion temperature.
When the temperature is higher than 180 ° C, a dark odor is exhibited in the aroma and taste. On the other hand, the ethanol-nitrogen-impregnated tobacco showed a high expansion rate even at a relatively low heat expansion temperature, and no dark odor was observed even when the heat expansion temperature was 180 ° C to 220 ° C.

It is considered that this is because the latent heat of vaporization of ethanol can lower the product temperature as compared with a cigarette impregnated with only nitrogen gas. Furthermore, the flavor and taste of the tobacco raw material impregnated with ethanol-nitrogen gas for puffing has a characteristic that the flavor is bright, and it was found that this method is a very excellent method for puffing a tobacco raw material.

(Example 3) The yellow tobacco material used in Example 1 was sprayed with the amount of ethanol shown in Table 3 and stored for 10 minutes, and then charged in a pressure vessel under the conditions of a pressure of 250 Kg / cm ² and a temperature of -20 ° C. Impregnation with nitrogen gas was performed for 10 minutes. Thereafter, the pressure was released, and the tobacco impregnated with ethanol-nitrogen gas was taken out from the pressure vessel, and immediately placed in an airflow dryer in which heated air at 140 ° C. flows at a flow rate of 20 m / sec, and taken out for 7 seconds. Table 3 also shows the results of the expansion rate of the expanded tobacco raw material thus obtained.

As is clear from the results shown in Table 3, the tobacco raw material impregnated with ethanol-nitrogen gas exhibited an excellent expansion rate at any ethanol addition amount as compared with the tobacco raw material impregnated with only nitrogen gas.

(Example 4) The same yellow seed tobacco material as that used in Example 1 was impregnated with ethanol, impregnated with nitrogen gas, and heat-expanded under the conditions shown in Table-4. The swelling rate of each obtained tobacco raw material is also shown in Table-4.

As is clear from the results shown in Table 4, the tobacco raw material impregnated with ethanol-nitrogen gas showed an excellent expansion rate at any impregnation temperature, as compared with the tobacco raw material impregnated with only nitrogen gas. The point to be especially noted is that when the impregnated tobacco raw material containing only nitrogen gas is tried to lower the impregnation temperature to increase the impregnated amount of nitrogen, the water in the tobacco tissue coagulates at the impregnation temperature of about -40 to -20 ° C. Therefore, impregnation with nitrogen gas can be prevented, and the swelling rate decreases as compared with the impregnation temperature of 0 ° C to 20 ° C. On the other hand, the ethanol-nitrogen-impregnated tobacco raw material cannot prevent the impregnation of nitrogen gas even when the impregnation temperature is about -40 ° C to -20 ° C due to the freezing point lowering effect of ethanol, and the impregnation temperature is 0 to 0 ° C.
As compared with 20 ° C, the amount of impregnated nitrogen gas increases and a high expansion rate can be obtained.

(Example 5) The same yellow seed tobacco material as that used in Example 1 was impregnated with ethanol, impregnated with nitrogen gas, and heat-expanded under the conditions shown in Table-5. The swelling rate of each obtained tobacco raw material is also shown in Table-5.

As is clear from the results shown in Table 5, the tobacco raw material impregnated with ethanol-nitrogen gas shows an excellent expansion rate at a nitrogen gas impregnation time of about 10 minutes, whereas the tobacco raw material impregnated with only nitrogen gas requires a nitrogen gas impregnation time. Even if it is carried out for a long time of 40 minutes, a sufficient expansion rate cannot be obtained.

Example 6 Using a Burley-type tobacco raw material, ethanol impregnation, nitrogen gas impregnation, and heat expansion were performed under the conditions shown in Table-6. The expansion rate of each expanded tobacco is also shown in Table-6.

As is clear from the results shown in Table 6, the method of the present invention also exhibits excellent effects on Burley seeds.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, according to the method for expanding a tobacco raw material of the present invention, ethanol treatment is also used. Therefore, nitrogen gas impregnation pressure and nitrogen gas even under heat expansion at relatively low air temperature can be used. It is possible to obtain a high swelling rate equivalent to that obtained by impregnating with a mere pressure of 800 kg / cm ² and swelling with saturated steam treatment, and it is also possible to improve the flavor and taste of cigarettes.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A tobacco raw material impregnated with ethanol is charged into a pressure vessel, nitrogen gas is introduced into the pressure vessel, nitrogen gas is impregnated into the ethanol raw material impregnated with ethanol under pressure, and then the pressure of the pressure vessel is adjusted. A method for expanding a tobacco raw material, which comprises opening and then subjecting the tobacco raw material to heat treatment to expand the tobacco raw material.