Patent Application
20250049093
The following disclosure invention is directed to a pouch made of a nonwoven containing a tobacco material and/or another nicotine-containing material, hereinafter also termed a snus pouch, oral pouch or oral tobacco packet, wherein these terms apply both to pouches containing tobacco material as well as other nicotine-containing material.
Oral tobacco or smokeless tobacco is a tobacco product or nicotine-containing tobacco substitute (hereinafter also: nicotine-containing substitute, nicotine-containing substrate, other nicotine-containing material or tobacco substitute) which enables a quick absorption of nicotine through the oral mucosa. Tobacco smoke is not thereby released. Oral tobacco packets are known which contain a usually moist tobacco composition in a pouch consisting of a nonwoven. Moreover, comparable products are also known which, instead of the moist tobacco, contain a dry, frequently not brownish but rather a white nicotine substitute.
Snus is a form of oral tobacco that is especially widespread in Scandinavia which is produced from dried, ground tobacco provided with water, salt and aromas. Snus is generally packaged in small pouches of cellulose and consumed as portion snus. With white portion snus, the pouch is dry in order to improve the storage properties. Sometimes for white portion snus, a nicotine-containing substitute is used instead of tobacco. With original portion snus, the pouch is moist. The snus pouch is placed behind the upper lip or lower lip. Within 15 to 60 minutes, it releases tobacco flavor and nicotine. Then the pouch is removed from the mouth.
With respect to the use of oral tobacco, the following challenges for the pouches and the nonwovens used therefore exist:
Nonwovens of viscose fibers that are chemically bonded with binders (chembound) substantially satisfy these different requirements and are established in the market as a standard material for oral tobacco packets. The use of a suitable binder permits a thermal seal of the non-thermoplastic nonwovens of viscose fibers which are advantageous due to their spontaneous wettability with saliva and their softness. It is important in this case for the binder to be selected such that no sharp edges arise when sealing the pouch.
In particular, the following patent publications address the optimization of the property profile of the nonwoven:
EP 3 223 636 B1 describes the use of a chemically bonded nonwoven of viscose fibers with a certain share of viscose fibers with a multilobal (trilobal) cross-section for optimizing the feel, in particular in oral use and for rapid wetting. The share of multilobal fibers increases the visual transparency of the nonwoven, accelerates the wetting by an increased capillary effect of the channels formed by the multilobal fibers, and offers a pleasant surface roughness upon oral contact. The multilobal fibers are relatively expensive. Such cellulosic fibers with a multilobal cross-section are manufactured by Kelheim Fibres and marketed under the name of Galaxy Fiber.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,913,491 B2 describes the use of a nonwoven for the production of a snus pouch. For this purpose, preferably a perforated, hydroentangled nonwoven of viscose fibers is additionally treated with a chemical binder to obtain the desired material properties. The permeability of the nonwoven to saliva and flavorings is increased and its bending stiffness is decreased by the perforation.
In addition to the conventional snus pouches which contain tobacco particles, there are increasingly snus products that contain different powdered, generally nicotine-containing substrates which sometimes differ greatly in terms of particle size, flavor intensity and speed of the transfer of flavorings through the nonwoven. With the conventional nonwovens which are used for snus pouches, a suitable fiber and pore structure would have to be developed for optimum performance which would be expensive and lead to the provision of very different nonwovens for the production of snus pouches with different powdered substrates.
In addition to the adaptation of the properties of the nonwovens, the greater number of different substrates makes it seem desirable to identify the products with respect to their particular properties, and to attractively present the diversified product portfolio to the customer. This would be desirable directly on the product in addition to the conventional advertising options on packaging containing the product.
Against this backdrop, the object of the invention is to provide an oral tobacco packet which makes it possible to more easily adjust the properties of the nonwoven to the particular substrate.
Furthermore, a method is disclosed for producing the pouch from a nonwoven containing a tobacco material and/or another nicotine-containing material is to be provided. An embodiment of the pouch according to the invention includes a nonwoven that contains a tobacco material and/or a different nicotine-containing material, wherein the nonwoven comprises fibers based on cellulose, a binder on the surface of the fibers, and compacted zones and non-compacted zones or zones which are compacted to a lesser extent, and the binder keeps the compacted zones in the compacted state.
Nonwovens suitable for snus pouches (e.g. consisting of chemically bound fibers containing viscose) are distinguished by their thermal sealability or sealability under high pressure. Conventionally for snus pouches, nonwovens with a maximum permeability to flavorings are used. Such a material has a relatively open pore structure. By locally pressing (embossing) the material, the nonwoven can be compacted in one or more defined zones in a simple calendering process using an engraving roller (embossing roller) and a smooth roller, and thereby more or less closing the pore structure in the region of the one or more compacted zones and, if applicable, closing it to a lesser extent in the zones compacted to a lesser extent than in the compacted zones. In the zones compacted to a lesser extent, the nonwoven is compacted to a lesser extent than in the compacted zones. The nonwoven is a textile fabric, and the compacted zones are formed by compacting the nonwoven in a perpendicular direction to the two main directions of extension of the nonwoven. The binder binds the fibers of the nonwoven in the compacted zones and, if applicable, in the zones compacted to a lesser extent by adhesion, mechanical hooking or other interactions, whereby these zones are secured, or respectively fixed in the particular compacted state. The adhesion of the fibers can be achieved in that, when compressing the nonwoven, the binder is at least partially crosslinked in the compacted zones because of an increase in pressure and temperature. The crosslinking can be brought about by an increase in the temperature of the rollers from the heat released by means of the rollers while pressing, and/or by the specific supply of heat. The adhesion of the fibers can furthermore be achieved by heating and cooling thermoplastic binders, or by compressing pressure-sensitive binders. The nonwoven is lastingly compacted in the compacted zones and kept closed. The compacted and closed zones stay mostly compacted and closed even in a wet state during oral use. Accordingly, the compacted zones have a lesser permeability (passage of the substance saliva with flavorings of the tobacco material) compared to the non-compacted zones or zones compacted to a lesser extent of the nonwoven. The permeability of the nonwoven in the compacted zones can be negligibly low. In the non-compacted zones or zones compacted to a lesser extent, the permeability is however not or only partially decreased by compaction of the fibers so that the nonwoven is able to retain its original, or respectively only partially reduced permeability there.
By a specific selection of the compacted zones and zones compacted to a lesser extent, the overall permeability of the nonwoven in comparison to the employed starting material can be reduced and adapted to the particular tobacco materials or tobacco substitutes contained in the snus pouch. By a specific selection of the structure of the compacted zones and to the zones compacted to a lesser extent (embossed structure), not only can the permeability to flavorings be adjusted, but the flexural rigidity, elongation, and strength in the longitudinal and transverse direction can also be influenced and, by the adjustment of the three-dimensional surface structure, the roughness and therefore the feel of the pouch upon removal from the pack and during oral use can be specifically modeled.
The specific adjustment of the cited nonwoven properties by local compaction and solidifying of the nonwoven can also be used to specifically influence the visual appearance of the nonwoven and therefore produce visually diversified snus pouches. To influence the permeability, basically only the proportions of compacted and non-compacted zones or zones compacted to a lesser extent in the total area of the nonwoven are decisive. This leaves a lot of design leeway to emboss different structures in the nonwoven in a given surface of compacted and non-compacted zones or zones compacted to a lesser extent and therefore create products with a tailored look (e.g. textile look, perforated look, look of leather or other materials) or embossing the manufacturer's name, the brand, a logo, a club crest, or another identification.
It is very advantageous that the diversified properties of the nonwoven can be adjusted in a subsequent, less complex processing step, wherein the same nonwoven can always be used as the starting product.
According to one embodiment, the nonwoven is a chemically bonded nonwoven. In the chemically bonded nonwoven, the fibers are bound to each other at contact points by a binder applied thereto. The chemically bonded nonwoven includes a chemical binder. The chemical binder is an at least partially crosslinkable binder. When crosslinking the binder, long-chain molecules, which can be crosslinked to each other and form a polymer, are formed from monomers or short-chain molecules. According to one embodiment, the compacted zones are permanently fixed in the compacted state by the same binder. For this purpose, during the production of the nonwoven, a binder can be used, which chemically crosslinks to become a thermoset while drying and binds the fibers to each other at the contact points, wherein however the crosslinking is only partial, so that still crosslinkable components remain. When compacting the nonwoven by embossing, the pressure and the temperature can be locally increased so that the binder crosslinks in the region of the embossing zones and forms a permanently compacted structure that possesses a certain wet strength.
For example, the nonwoven product marketed by the company pely-tex & Co. KG, Willy-Pelz-Str. 2-4, 23812 Wahlstedt under the product name “Nonwova CV 29/viv” can be used as the starting material for the nonwoven. Compacted zones and non-compacted zones or zones compacted to a lesser extent are produced in the starting material by local pressing (embossing).
According to another embodiment, the nonwoven is a mechanically bonded nonwoven. According to another embodiment, the nonwoven is mechanically bonded by needling or by water jets. The mechanically bonded nonwoven is also provided with the binder. The compacted zones are permanently held in the compacted state by interactions between the binder and the fibers.
According to one embodiment, the pouch has sealing seams in which mutually overlapping regions of the nonwoven are interconnected by the binder. For this purpose, pressure and/or temperature is exerted on the regions of the nonwoven to be connected when sealing the sealing seams. Non-adhered binder of the nonwoven can be used to produce the sealing seams. These can be non-adhered parts of the binder in the compacted and/or the non-compacted zones.
According to one embodiment, the nonwoven comprises fibers of one or more of the following types of cellulosic fibers: Viscose fibers, Lyocell fibers or cotton fibers.
For the sake of simplified expression, one of the claimed devices indicates that the pouch comprises
According to one embodiment, the nonwoven comprises a plurality of mutually separated compacted zones within a contiguous non-compacted zone or in a zone compacted to a lesser extent. In this embodiment, the non-compacted zone or zone compacted to a lesser extent forms a contiguous main surface in which the mutually separated compacted zones are arranged.
According to one embodiment, the nonwoven comprises a plurality of separate non-compacted zones or zones compacted to a lesser extent within a contiguous non-compacted zone. In this embodiment, the contiguous compacted zone forms a main surface in which the separate non-compacted zones or zones compacted to a lesser extent are arranged.
According to another embodiment, the nonwoven comprises a plurality of compacted zones and a plurality of non-compacted zones or zones compacted to a lesser extent between the compacted zones. For example, the compacted zones and the non-compacted zones or zones compacted to a lesser extent are arranged like a chessboard, wherein the compacted zones are arranged like the dark areas, and the non-compacted zones or zones compacted to a lesser extent are arranged like the light areas of the chessboard pattern.
According to another embodiment, different sections of the nonwoven have compacted and non-compacted zones or zones compacted to a lesser extent formed in various above-described ways. For example, the one side of the pouch is formed in a different way than the other side.
According to another embodiment, the compacted zones and/or the non-compacted zones or zones compacted to a lesser extent have one or more of the following shapes: polygonal, circular, oval, cruciform, strip-shaped, wavy (e.g. in the form of a sinusoidal, rectangular, triangular or sawtooth oscillation).
According to another embodiment, the pouch has a sealing seam running in the longitudinal direction on one large-area side in an overlap region of the nonwoven, and sealing seams running in the transverse direction on the two transverse sides in the overlap regions of the nonwoven. At the sealing seams running in the longitudinal and in the transverse direction, the pouch can be produced with high output quantities as a tubular pouch.
According to another embodiment, the pressed zones occupy 5% to 95% of the surface area of the nonwoven, and the non-compressed zones occupy 95% to 5% of the surface area of the nonwoven.
According to another embodiment, the dry nonwoven, in the machine direction, has a strength of 10 to 100 N/50 mm, and/or in the transverse direction, a strength of 5 to 50 N/50 mm. The strengths refer to a determination according to EDANA WSP 110.4.
According to another embodiment, the dry nonwoven has, in the machine direction, an elongation of 5 to 50%, and transverse to the machine direction, an elongation of 10 to 100%.
The elongations refer to a determination according to EDANA WSP 110.4.
According to an additional embodiment, the dry nonwoven has a permeability, measured as the air permeability of a test surface of 5 cm2, of 1,000 to 2,250, preferably of 1,400 to 2,000 L/m2/s, to which normal pressure is applied on one side, and to which an overpressure of 125 Pa is applied on the other side.
In this case, the air permeability is measured according to the EDANA standard NWS 070.1 R0.
The air permeability is a good measure of the permeability of the nonwoven because the compacted zones, the non-compacted zones and the zones compacted to a lesser extent are largely held in the same state by the binder as is the case with dry nonwoven even upon moistening the nonwoven.
An embodiment of a method for producing a pouch consisting of a nonwoven containing a tobacco material and/or another nicotine-containing material is disclosed. In an embodiment, the pouch comprises a web material comprised of a nonwoven containing fibers based on cellulose and a binder is moved between a rotatable engraving roller having one or more projections on the outer periphery and a rotatable smooth roller, the engraving roller and the smooth roller are pressed against the web material from different sides and run in the circumferential direction on the web material. The web material is compacted in zones between the engraving roller and the smooth roller by means of the one or more projections. The web material is not compacted or is compacted to a lesser extent in zones between the regions of the engraving roller that have no projections and the smooth roller, and in the compacted zones, the fibers of the web material are interconnected by the binder in the compacted state, and pouches are formed from portions of the tobacco material and/or another nicotine-containing material and severed sections of the web material.
The engraving roller and the smooth roller are rollers of a calender with which the nonwoven is provided with compacted and non-compacted zones or zones compacted to a lesser extent. The engraving roller and the smooth roller are pressed with their axes of rotation in the same plane from different sides against the web material in order to provide it with compacted zones and non-compacted zones or zones compacted to a lesser extent. According to an embodiment, a gap is set between the engraving roller and the smooth roller to a defined value.
According to one embodiment, the engraving roller and the smooth roller run on the web material without a relative movement to each other in the throughput direction of the web material. This prevents the web material from being torn by the relative speed in the surfaces of the rollers.
According to another embodiment, the engraving roller and/or the smooth roller are driven. Preferably, the engraving roller and the smooth roller are driven to avoid relative movements between the surfaces of the rollers in the throughput direction of the web material.
According to another embodiment, the engraving roller has an exchangeable embossing sleeve having one or more projections on the outer periphery. When using a calender with an exchangeable embossing sleeve, the desired material properties such as permeability, bending stiffness, roughness, elongation, strength, haptics and visual appearance can be adjusted with relatively slight effort when using a uniform nonwoven as the starting material. This makes product diversification easy by using a suitable standard nonwoven.
According to another embodiment, portions of the tobacco material and/or another nicotine-containing material are fed onto the web material, the web material above the portions is folded up, a sealing seam that extends in the longitudinal direction is introduced in overlapping edge regions of the web material, transverse sealing seams are introduced in the overlapping regions of the web material on both sides of each portion of the tobacco material and/or the other nicotine-containing material, and the web material is cut into individual pouches within the transverse sealing seams. This makes it possible to produce the pouches as a tubular pouch at a high speed.
The invention will be further explained below with reference to the accompanying drawings of exemplary embodiments.
According to
The pouch 2 is configured as a tubular pouch. A strip of the nonwoven 3 is folded onto itself at the longitudinal edges and bonded to itself by a longitudinal sealing seam 5. The tobacco material 4 is, for example, snus. Furthermore, the two transverse edges of the pouch 2 are interconnected by transversely oriented sealing seams 6, 7.
During use, the snus pouch 1 is placed behind the lower lip and the upper lip. Saliva from the oral cavity penetrates and releases nicotine and other flavorings from the tobacco material 4.
According to
Accordingly, by means of the selected embossing structure, the permeability of the nonwoven 3 of the snus pouch 1 can be adjusted to the particular tobacco material 4. In the production of the snus pouches 1 with different tobacco materials 4, the same nonwoven 3 can always be started with which is provided with an individual emboss depending on the tobacco material 4. Different embossing cylinders with which the engraving cylinder of the calender is equipped can be used for this purpose.
According to
According to
According to
In the following tables, measurements of the strength, the elongation and the stiffness are shown, in each case in the machine running direction and transversely thereto, as well as static friction forces, static friction coefficients, sealing strengths, sliding friction forces and sliding friction coefficients, as well as air permeabilities, in each case for a conventional nonwoven (standard) and a nonwoven according to the invention provided with compacted and non-compacted zones (embossed pattern), each weighing 29 gsm. The embossed pattern is the nonwoven depicted in
According to the measurements, the embossed pattern has weaker MD and CD strengths than the standard. Furthermore, the embossed pattern has less MD and CD elongation than the standard. This is because when embossing of the embossed pattern, bonds of the chemically bonded nonwoven are destroyed, and this is only partially compensated for by the crosslinking of binder in the compressed zones.
Furthermore, according to the measurements, the embossed pattern manifests greater static friction and dynamic friction forces than the standard. This is based on the greater structuring of the surface from the embossings.
Finally, in the embossed pattern, the air permeability is reduced compared to the standard. This is due to the fact that the surface of the embossed pattern is closed in the region of the embossing, and this reduces the air permeability in comparison to the standard. Corresponding to the reduction of the air permeability, the flavoring permeability for flavorings in saliva is also reduced.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21183302.5 | Jul 2021 | EP | regional |
This application is a national state application pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 371 of International Application No. PCT/EP2022/067686, filed on Jun. 28, 2022, which claims priority to and the benefit of European Patent Application No. 21183302.5, filed on Jul. 1, 2021, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2022/067686 | 6/28/2022 | WO |
