Patent Application
20240245100
The present disclosure relates to a smoking article, and an aerosol generating system including the smoking article.
Recently, demands for alternative ways to overcome disadvantages of general cigarettes have increased. For example, there is a growing demand for a method of generating an aerosol by heating an aerosol generating material included in a cigarette rather than by burning the cigarette.
Accordingly, the present inventors developed a smoking article including a medium accommodation portion that includes general cut leaves, expanded tobacco leaves, and a slurry-type reconstituted tobacco sheet, thereby accomplishing the present disclosure.
A technical goal to be achieved by the present disclosure is to provide a smoking article including a medium accommodation portion that includes general cut leaves, expanded tobacco leaves, and a slurry-type reconstituted tobacco sheet.
In addition, the present disclosure provides an aerosol generating device that may provide an aerosol that is inhalable by a user by heating an aerosol generating material stored in the smoking article.
In addition, the present disclosure provides an aerosol generating system including the smoking article and the aerosol generating device.
However, goals to be achieved are not limited to those described above, and other goals not mentioned above are clearly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art from the following description.
To achieve the above goals, the present disclosure provides a smoking article including a medium accommodation portion that includes general cut leaves, expanded tobacco leaves, and a slurry-type reconstituted tobacco sheet.
In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the smoking article may include a medium accommodation portion filled with cut tobacco leaves, a moisturizer accommodation portion disposed on one side of the medium accommodation portion and including an aerosol generating material, and a filter portion disposed on another side of the medium accommodation portion.
In another embodiment of the present disclosure, the cut tobacco leaves may include about 50 parts by weight to about 70 parts by weight of general cut leaves, about 10 parts by weight to about 30 parts by weight of expanded tobacco leaves, and about 10 parts by weight to about 30 parts by weight of a slurry-type reconstituted tobacco sheet. Desirably, the cut tobacco leaves may include about 60 parts by weight of general cut leaves, about 20 parts by weight of expanded tobacco leaves, and about 20 parts by weight of a slurry-type reconstituted tobacco sheet.
In another embodiment of the present disclosure, the general cut leaves may have a width of about 0.9 millimeters (mm) to about 1.6 (mm), desirably about 1.4 mm.
In another embodiment of the present disclosure, the slurry-type reconstituted tobacco sheet may be coated with an aerosol generating material. Specifically, the slurry-type reconstituted tobacco sheet may contain a high amount of a moisturizer, and may desirably include about 23 parts by weight to about 27 parts by weight of glycerin.
In another embodiment of the present disclosure, the slurry-type reconstituted tobacco sheet may have a thickness of about 180 micrometers (μm) to about 220 μm, and a basis weight of about 165 grams per square meter (g/m2) to about 185 g/m2.
In another embodiment of the present disclosure, the cut tobacco leaves may be arranged in the same direction (i.e., arranged in parallel).
In another embodiment of the present disclosure, the aerosol generating material may include at least one selected from a group consisting of glycerin (Gly), propylene glycol (PG), and nicotine.
In another embodiment of the present disclosure, the filter portion may include a first filter portion including a cavity therein, and a second filter portion filled with a filtration material.
In another embodiment of the present disclosure, at least one segment selected from a group consisting of the medium accommodation portion, the moisturizer accommodation portion, and the filter portion may be wrapped with a segment wrapper.
In another embodiment of the present disclosure, the segment wrapper may include a medium accommodation portion wrapper, and at least one wrapper selected from a group consisting of a moisturizer accommodation portion wrapper, a first filter portion wrapper, and a second filter portion wrapper.
In another embodiment of the present disclosure, the medium accommodation portion wrapper wrapped around the medium accommodation portion may be two-ply paper or three-ply paper (laminated paper) including aluminum (Al), desirably three-ply paper including aluminum (Al).
In another embodiment of the present disclosure, a plurality of segments wrapped with the segment wrapper may be wrapped with a total wrapper.
The present disclosure also provides an aerosol generating device that is configured to provide an aerosol inhalable by a user by heating an aerosol generating material stored in the smoking article.
In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the aerosol generating device may be configured to receive the smoking article.
In another embodiment of the present disclosure, the aerosol generating device may include an elongated cavity configured to accommodate the smoking article, a heater configured to heat at least a part or all of each of the medium accommodation portion and the moisturizer accommodation portion of the smoking article, and a controller electrically connected to the heater.
In addition, the present disclosure provides an aerosol generating system including the smoking article and the aerosol generating device.
According to embodiments, a smoking article, an aerosol generating device, and an aerosol generating system may include a medium accommodation portion filled with cut tobacco leaves that include general cut leaves, expanded tobacco leaves, and a slurry-type reconstituted tobacco sheet, and thus it is possible to increase an amount of migration of glycerin and enhance filing power.
According to embodiments, a smoking article, an aerosol generating device, and an aerosol generating system may form a medium accommodation portion by arranging cut tobacco leaves in parallel, and thus it is possible to secure an airflow channel and increase an amount of atomization.
According to embodiments, a smoking article, an aerosol generating device, and an aerosol generating system may increase a width of general cut leaves, and thus it is possible to reduce a resistance to draw and increase a proportion of relatively long cut leaves.
According to embodiments, a smoking article, an aerosol generating device, and an aerosol generating system may be easily inhalable by a consumer and be excellent in taste and flavor.
The effects of the smoking article, the aerosol generating device and the aerosol generating system according to an embodiment are not limited to the above-mentioned effects, and other unmentioned effects can be clearly understood from the following description by one of ordinary skill in the art.
Hereinafter, embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, various alterations and modifications may be made to the embodiments. Here, the embodiments are not construed as limited to the disclosure. The embodiments should be understood to include all changes, equivalents, and replacements within the idea and the technical scope of the disclosure.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. The singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises/comprising” and/or “includes/including” when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components and/or groups thereof.
Unless otherwise defined, all terms including technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which the embodiments belong. Terms defined in dictionaries generally used should be construed to have meanings matching with contextual meanings in the related art and are not to be construed as an ideal or excessively formal meaning unless otherwise defined herein.
When describing the embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, like reference numerals refer to like constituent elements and a repeated description related thereto will be omitted. In the description of embodiments, detailed description of well-known related structures or functions will be omitted when it is deemed that such description will cause ambiguous interpretation of the present disclosure.
Also, in the description of the components, terms such as first, second, A, B, (a), (b) or the like may be used herein when describing components of the present disclosure. These terms are used only for the purpose of discriminating one component from another component, and the nature, the sequences, or the orders of the components are not limited by the terms. It should be noted that if one component is described as being “connected,” “coupled” or “joined” to another component, the former may be directly “connected,” “coupled,” and “joined” to the latter or “connected”, “coupled”, and “joined” to the latter via another component.
A component, which has the same common function as a component included in any one embodiment, will be described by using the same name in other embodiments. Unless disclosed to the contrary, the configuration disclosed in any one embodiment may be applied to other embodiments, and the specific description of the repeated configuration will be omitted.
In the present disclosure, the terms “upstream” and “downstream” are used to indicate relative positions of segments of a smoking article based on a direction in which a user inhales air using the smoking article. The smoking article may include a downstream end (that is, a portion into which air flows) and an upstream end (that is, a portion from which air flows out) opposite to the downstream end. When using the smoking article, a user may bite the downstream end of the smoking article. The downstream end may also be referred to as a mouth end (ME) and the upstream end may also be referred to as a tobacco end (TE). The term “end” may also be described as an “end portion”.
Referring to
According to an embodiment, the medium included in the medium accommodation portion 110 may be a solid material that is based on tobacco raw materials, such as reconstituted tobacco sheets, cut tobacco leaves, reconstituted tobacco, or the like, and/or a liquid composition that is based on glycerin, propylene glycol, nicotine, menthol, caffeine, γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), taurine, vitamin, or flavoring agents. However, embodiments are not limited thereto.
For example, the medium accommodation portion 110 may be filled with a plurality of tobacco sheets, cut tobacco leaves, or tobacco granules. Cut tobacco leaves 112 may refer to a solid material based on tobacco raw materials. The medium accommodation portion 110 may be formed by combining a plurality of cut tobacco leaves randomly or in the same direction. Desirably, the plurality of cut tobacco leaves may be arranged in parallel in the medium accommodation portion 110, to secure an airflow path. Thus, an amount of atomization may be increased.
Examples of the cut tobacco leaves 112 may include, but are not limited to, general cut leaves, expanded tobacco leaves, a slurry-type reconstituted tobacco sheet, and a combination thereof.
A non-limiting example of the general cut leaves may include leaf tobacco, for example, flue-cured tobacco, air-cured tobacco, sun-cured tobacco, and the like. The general cut leaves may have a width greater than 0.9 mm that is a width of cut leaves according to a related art. For example, the general cut leaves may have a width of about 1.3 millimeters (mm) to about 1.6 (mm), desirably about 1.4 mm.
The expanded tobacco leaves may refer to cut leaves prepared by expanding general cut leaves. In an example, general cut leaves may be expanded using various types of solvents or gases, such as organic solvents, carbon dioxide gas, argon, nitrogen, and the like. In another example, after increasing a volume of general cut leaves by absorbing moisture, the general cut leaves may be rapidly frozen, the moisture may be sublimated, and the general cut leaves may be dried, so that the general cut leaves are expanded. However, embodiments are not limited thereto.
The slurry-type reconstituted tobacco sheet may be generated by finely cutting a reconstituted tobacco sheet prepared using a slurry. The slurry may be prepared by pulverizing a tobacco raw material and mixing an aerosol generating material, a flavoring liquid, a binder (e.g., guar gum, xanthan gum, carboxymethyl cellulose, etc.), water, and the like. Desirably, the slurry-type reconstituted tobacco sheet may contain about 23 parts by weight to about 27 parts by weight of glycerin. The slurry-type reconstituted tobacco sheet according to an embodiment may contain a high amount of glycerin to assist in increasing the amount of atomization.
The cut tobacco leaves according to an embodiment may include about 50 parts by weight to about 70 parts by weight of general cut leaves, about 10 parts by weight to about 30 parts by weight of expanded tobacco leaves, and about 10 parts by weight to about 30 parts by weight of a slurry-type reconstituted tobacco sheet. Desirably, the cut tobacco leaves may include about 60 parts by weight of the general cut leaves, about 20 parts by weight of the expanded tobacco leaves, and about 20 parts by weight of the slurry-type reconstituted tobacco sheet. Also, the slurry-type reconstituted tobacco sheet may have a thickness of about 180 μm to about 220 μm, and a basis weight of about 165 g/m2 to about 185 g/m2.
In addition, the medium accommodation portion 110 may further contain other additives such as a moisturizer, a flavoring agent, and/or an organic acid. The moisturizer may be, for example, glycerin, propylene glycol, ethylene glycol, dipropylene glycol, diethylene glycol, triethylene glycol, tetraethylene glycol, or oleyl alcohol, but is not limited thereto. The flavoring agent may be, for example, licorice, sucrose, fructose syrup, isosweet, cocoa, lavender, cinnamon, cardamom, celery, fenugreek, cascarilla, sandalwood, bergamot, geranium, honey essence, rose oil, vanilla, lemon oil, orange oil, mint oil, cinnamon, caraway, cognac, jasmine, chamomile, menthol, cassia, ylang-ylang, sage, spearmint, ginger, coriander, or coffee, but is not limited thereto.
In the present disclosure, the moisturizer accommodation portion 120 may contain an aerosol generating material, desirably a moisturizer. The moisturizer may include glycerin and propylene glycol, and may further include at least one of ethylene glycol, dipropylene glycol, diethylene glycol, triethylene glycol, tetraethylene glycol, oleyl alcohol, and water. In an embodiment, the moisturizer accommodation portion 120 may further include nicotine. However, materials included in the moisturizer accommodation portion 120 are not limited thereto. The moisturizer may maintain an appropriate level of moisture in an aerosol generated when a smoking article is heated, thereby mellowing a unique taste of tobacco and enriching an amount of atomization. The moisturizer accommodation portion 120 may include a slurry-type reconstituted tobacco sheet coated with an aerosol generating material.
In the present disclosure, the filter portion 130 may include one or more segments, and may include, for example, at least one of a tube filter, a cooling structure, and a recess filter. Desirably, the filter portion 130 may include a first filter portion 132 including a cavity therein, and a second filter portion 134 filled with a filtration material. The filtration material may include a cellulose-based material (e.g., acetate, paper, etc.).
In the present disclosure, the segment wrapper 140 may include at least one of a medium accommodation portion wrapper 142, a moisturizer accommodation portion wrapper 141, a first filter portion wrapper 146, and a second filter portion wrapper 148. The segment wrapper 140 may include water-proof paper with water resistance, oil-proof paper with oil resistance, water- and oil-proof paper with water and oil resistance, or paper coated with a material with water resistance and/or oil resistance. For example, the segment wrapper 140 may include aluminum having waterproofing and heat-resistant properties. In an embodiment, the segment wrapper 140 may be two-ply paper formed of outer wrapping paper and aluminum positioned between the outer wrapping paper and a segment (e.g., the medium accommodation portion 110, the moisturizer accommodation portion 120, or the filter portion 130). In another embodiment, the segment wrapper 140 may be three-ply paper formed of outer wrapping paper, inner wrapping paper, and aluminum positioned between the outer wrapping paper and inner wrapping paper. In this case, aluminum may have a thickness of about 15 micrometers (μm) to about 25 μm, desirably about 20 μm. Here, the outer wrapping paper and the inner wrapping paper may be 100% of wood pulp. Based on induction heating characteristics, it may be desirable to apply three-ply paper containing aluminum to the medium accommodation portion wrapper 142.
To measure a resistance to draw of a smoking article according to an embodiment, analyze aerosol components, and perform sensory evaluation, a smoking article was manufactured as shown in Table 1 below. Here, the medium accommodation portion of the smoking article comprises one-sixth of the cigarette rod. The cigarette rod is one long cigarette having the same components as those of the medium accommodation portion as shown below.
Table 2 shows results of a comparison of physical properties between the experimental group corresponding to 20 parts by weight of expanded tobacco leaves and the control group corresponding to a medium accommodation portion with 100 parts by weight of general cut leaves.
As a result, by applying expanded tobacco leaves with good filing power, the weight of cut leaves was reduced when the similar resistance to draw is applied.
In addition, Table 3 shows results obtained by analyzing components of an aerosol generated by 9 puffs and pack diffusion conditions using a Health Canada (HC) method that is an internationally recognized analysis method for general tobacco.
As a result of increasing the proportion of expanded tobacco leaves, the aerosol of the experimental group showed an increase in an amount of migration of glycerin by 16% in comparison to the aerosol of the control group. This indicates that a smoking article according to an embodiment has a greater amount of atomization and is excellent in taste and flavor.
To measure a resistance to draw of a smoking article according to an embodiment, analyze aerosol components, and perform sensory evaluation, a smoking article was manufactured as shown in Table 4 below.
Table 5 shows results of a comparison of physical properties between the experimental group corresponding to 60 parts by weight of general cut leaves, 20 parts by weight of expanded tobacco leaves, and 20 parts by weight of a slurry-type reconstituted tobacco sheet and the control group corresponding to a medium accommodation portion with 80 parts by weight of general cut leaves and 20 parts by weight of expanded tobacco leaves.
As a result, by applying the slurry-type reconstituted tobacco sheet with a high specific gravity, the weight of cut leaves slightly increased when the similar resistance to draw is applied. However, the degree of loose end of the cigarette was reduced by about 2.2 times, and thus a quality of the manufactured smoking article was significantly increased.
In addition, Table 6 shows results obtained by analyzing components of an aerosol generated by 9 puffs and pack diffusion conditions using the HC method described above.
As a result of increasing the proportion of the slurry-type reconstituted tobacco sheet, it is confirmed that the aerosol of the experimental group contains a significantly large amount of total particulate matter (TPM), nicotine, propylene glycol, glycerin, and water, in comparison to the aerosol of the control group. In particular, an amount of migration of glycerin, which is an index to determine the amount of atomization, increased by 0.86 mg, which is a value increased by 13.5% in comparison to the control group.
To measure a resistance to draw, analyze aerosol components, and perform sensory evaluation of a smoking article according to an embodiment, a smoking article was manufactured as shown in Table 7 below.
Table 8 shows results of a comparison of physical properties of a cigarette rod and a smoking article between the experimental group corresponding to a medium accommodation portion including 100 parts by weight of general cut leaves with a cut width of 1.4 mm and the control group corresponding to a medium accommodation portion including 100 parts by weight of general cut leaves with a cut width of 1.2 mm.
As a result of increasing the cut width of the cut leaves to 1.4 mm, a resistance to draw of the medium accommodation portion was reduced. More specifically, in the case of the cigarette rod, the experimental group showed a reduction in an encapsulated pressure drop (EPD) by 25.4% in comparison to the control group. In the case of the smoking article, the experimental group showed a reduction in an unencapsulated pressure drop (UPD) by 6.4% and a reduction in the EPD by 7% in comparison to the control group.
In addition, as a result of a comparison of physical properties of cut leaves only, a proportion of relatively long cut leaves with a size (i.e., a shred length) of 1.25 mm or greater is 83% in the control group, whereas a proportion of relatively long cut leaves is 90.9% which was increased by 9.5% in the experimental group. This indicates that it is possible to reduce the resistance to draw, improve a suction performance of the smoking article, and increase the amount of atomization, when the smoking article includes a high proportion of the relatively long cut leaves. In addition, in the smoking article according to an embodiment, the size of cut leaves was entirely increased, and thus the degree of loose end of a cigarette was reduced, and the smoking article has a good manufacturing quality (Table 9).
In addition, Table 10 shows results obtained by analyzing components of an aerosol generated by 9 puffs and pack diffusion conditions using the HC method described above.
As a result of increasing the cut width of general cut leaves, the aerosol of the experimental group showed an increase in an amount of migration of glycerin by 0.48 mg, that is, 7.5% in comparison to the aerosol of the control group.
Referring to
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While the embodiments are described with reference to drawings, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that various alterations and modifications in form and details may be made in these embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the claims and their equivalents. For example, suitable results may be achieved if the described techniques are performed in a different order, and/or if components in a described system, architecture, device, or circuit are combined in a different manner, and/or replaced or supplemented by other components or their equivalents.
Therefore, other implementations, other embodiments, and equivalents to the claims are also within the scope of the following claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2022-0031670 | Mar 2022 | KR | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/KR2023/002625 | 2/23/2023 | WO |
