Patent Grant
9961935
Not applicable
Not applicable
Smoking articles with tube-shaped sleeves are generally known as cigars, cigarillos and cigarettes. Cigars generally consist of a tobacco filler material, a surrounding wrapper holding the tobacco filler material together and an exterior cover or wrapper. Generally, machined-manufacture cigars and cigarette are distinguished from hand rolled. Machine manufactured are generally referred to as cigarillos and short cigars and can be produced continuously as strands and cut to length. Cigarettes generally consist of fine tobacco cuttings in a tube-shaped paper sleeve.
Apart from machine manufactured cigarettes, cigarette tobaccos and cigarette papers are available for the smoker to roll his own cigarettes by hand and in some cases with the aid of simple assisting devices. By this means the smoker rolls a portion of the cigarette tobacco in a rectangular cigarette paper and then glues the paper along its lengthwise edge. For such products a long-standing and important question is whether the self-rolled cigarettes provide the individual with smoking pleasure comparable to the ready-made cigarettes in packages and also do they offer considerable price value?
Generally, “hand rolled” items are produced using individual rolling sheets and filler material. Conventionally, rolling sheets or cigarette rolling papers are made from thin, tissue-like paper having a rectangular shape with sides of between one and four inches in length, and usually between 2.5 to 3.5 inches in length. Rolling sheets can also be made from tobacco leaves and/or homogenized tobacco paper.
When using such conventionally shaped cigarette rolling paper to make or roll a cigarette by hand, the paper is first folded, bent or held in somewhat of a V-shape or U-shape with one of the sides of the “V” or “U” being longer than the other. An amount of smoking filler material, such as tobacco or the like, is distributed substantially over the entire length of the rolling paper in the bottom of the V- or U-shaped pouch formed by the rolling paper. The longer portion of the rolling paper, being free of any of the smoking material, is then bent or rolled over the portion of the rolling paper covered with the tobacco and is rolled over upon itself to form a substantially cylindrical shape. The longer end of the rolling paper is wrapped around itself as far as possible and overlaps an underlying layer to form part of the wall of the cylinder.
The rolling process, when performed by hand, requires a keen eye, a steady hand, and a high degree of finger digital dexterity, since the rolling paper is not very large compared to a human hand and fingers, because the particles of smoking filler materials tend to roll or slide off the small rolling paper, and because the rolling paper itself is very thin and easily ripped or torn. A critical step of rolling a cigar or cigarette by hand is using fingers to both form the “V” or “U” shaped pouch for the smoking material, and to roll the longer portion of the rolling paper around itself. During the process of rolling the longer portion of the paper around itself, the user depends on the trapped smoking material to provide the generally cylindrical shape to guide placement of the longer portion around itself to produce a generally cylindrical cigarette.
Oftentimes, however, the use of smoking filler material to guide placement of the longer portion around itself does not aid in producing a cylinder due to either poor distribution of smoking material along the V- or U-shaped pouch, causing the longer portion to be rolled too tight or too loose around itself, with respect to the majority portion of the smoking material, or due simply to the user's inability to correctly manipulate or spiral the cigarette rolling paper around itself between their fingers. The result of either of these situations can be an unsmokable cigar or cigarette or one that falls apart or is torn.
Cigarettes and cigars that are rolled using conventional rolling sheets generally do not permit complete use of the smoking material disposed within because the cigarette and cigar can only be smoked until the lit end approaches the user's fingers or lips during holding or smoking, the cigarette must be dispensed, and at which time a user's fingers or lips may be burned.
It is, therefore, desirable that a rolling sheet be constructed in a manner that assists the user in rolling a cigarette or cigar by hand. It is desirable that the cigarette rolling paper be constructed in a manner that prevents smoking material from being drawn from the cigarette into a smoker's mouth. It is also desirable that the cigarette rolling paper be constructed in a manner that permits the entire smoking material to be smoked without the risk of burned fingers or burned lips. It is further desirable that the cigarette rolling paper be constructed from conventional materials using conventional techniques.
The present invention relates to prepared materials for an article for smoking which is hand rolled by the smoker and includes a sleeve section rolled into a tube-shaped sleeve and a filler made of tobacco.
The following U.S. Patents are incorporated herein by reference: U.S. Pat. No. 6,526,986.
While certain novel features of this invention shown and described below are pointed out in the annexed claims, the invention is not intended to be limited to the details specified, since a person of ordinary skill in the relevant art will understand that various omissions, modifications, substitutions and changes in the forms and details of the device illustrated and in its operation may be made without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention. No feature of the invention is critical or essential unless it is expressly stated as being “critical” or “essential.”
The apparatus of the present invention solves the problems confronted in the art in a simple and straightforward manner. What is provided in one embodiment is a new sheet for hand rolling cigars and cigarettes. Provided in another embodiment is a method of making a hand rolled cigar or cigarette.
In one embodiment disclosed is a sheet having a substantially rectangular base for receiving a smoking filler material and an irregular shaped wrapper section for wrapping about the rectangular part. The length of the base portion can determine the length of the cigar or cigarette created by hand rolling the sheet.
In various embodiments different shaped wrapper portions are disclosed.
Smokers can more easily hand roll custom cigars and cigarettes without the finger dexterity demanded by prior systems. Custom rolled cigar and cigarette stability can be achieved through an irregularly shaped portion of the rolling sheet. This prevents the intake of “false air” and guarantees smooth burning during smoking of the custom rolled cigar or cigarette.
The invention additionally makes possible the individual, pure tobacco smoking of self rolled smoking articles. From combinations of tobacco types dictated for the sleeve section and for the filler, the smoker selects and varies the desired aroma and obtains the sought after repeatability better than through mixing various types of tobacco in the filler alone. If desired a simple assisting device can also be employed (similar to those used with cigarette rolling); however, the rolling is accomplished free hand without more, that is, without support.
The drawings constitute a part of this specification and include exemplary embodiments to the invention, which may be embodied in various forms.
For a further understanding of the nature, objects, and advantages of the present invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description, read in conjunction with the following drawings, wherein like reference numerals denote like elements and wherein:
Detailed descriptions of one or more preferred embodiments are provided herein. It is to be understood, however, that the present invention may be embodied in various forms. Therefore, specific details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but rather as a basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to employ the present invention in any appropriate system, structure or manner.
The procedure of “hand rolling” a smoking article 10 is shown in
Angle 80 is preferably an acute angle; angle 80 preferably ranges between 15 and 75 degrees, more preferably between 25 and 60 degrees, and most preferably between 30 and 45 degrees.
The person custom rolling his cigar can spread smoking filler material 50, such as tobacco filler material, on rectangular portion 30. Then he begins to roll filler material 50 on rectangular portion 30 into a cylindrical form that can be accomplished freehand between the fingers of both hands. With continued rolling irregular shaped portion 40 also overlies filler material 50 placed in rectangular portion 30. Through such process sheet 20 can rolled into a tube shaped cigar or cigarette smoking article 10.
When finished the area adjacent to side 22 in rolled article 10 forms mouthpiece end of article 10. Smoking article 10 can be held together without mechanical fasteners or adhesives by users gripping point 43. However, adhesives or mechanical fasteners can be used if desired. End 90 can be used to light smoking article 10. Irregularly shaped portion 40 can provide stability during rolling and during smoking.
The overall length 60 of smoking article 10 will generally be equal to length 35 of rectangular portion 30. Width 36 of rectangular portion 30 can generally correspond to the circumference 70 of smoking article 10. However, circumference 70 can vary with rolling according to the amounts of filler and its density. For example, rectangular portion 30 can be rolled onto itself during the above described rolling process.
Generally, it is preferred that a length 35 of approximately 60-100 mm and a width 36 of of approximately 25-35 or 40 mm is found to produce smoking article 10.
In an alternative embodiment rolling of smoking filler material 50 simultaneously with a filter tip 85 (not illustrated) can be performed.
The following is a list of reference numerals:
All measurements disclosed herein are at standard temperature and pressure, at sea level on Earth, unless indicated otherwise. All materials used or intended to be used in a human being are biocompatible, unless indicated otherwise.
It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together may also find a useful application in other types of methods differing from the type described above. Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the present invention that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features that, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention set forth in the appended claims. The foregoing embodiments are presented by way of example only; the scope of the present invention is to be limited only by the following claims.
This is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/388,758, filed Feb. 19, 2009 (issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,113,658 on Aug. 25, 2015), which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/139,432, filed May 27, 2005, which is incorporated herein by reference, which application claimed priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/575,473, filed May 28, 2004, which is also incorporated herein by reference. Priority of all of the above applications is hereby claimed.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 191501 | Willis | May 1877 | A |
| 200889 | Bishop | Mar 1878 | A |
| 389975 | Riedel | Sep 1888 | A |
| 1289975 | Waddell | Dec 1918 | A |
| 3580433 | Kastner | May 1971 | A |
| 5632287 | Hayworth | May 1997 | A |
| 5645089 | Burger | Jul 1997 | A |
| 5762074 | Garner | Jun 1998 | A |
| 5782246 | Axelrod | Jul 1998 | A |
| 6164443 | Mitchell | Dec 2000 | A |
| 6321755 | Sinclair, Jr. | Nov 2001 | B1 |
| 6357448 | Sinclair, Jr. | Mar 2002 | B1 |
| 6526986 | Sinclair, Jr. | Mar 2003 | B1 |
| 6854471 | Sinclair, Jr. | Feb 2005 | B1 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60575473 | May 2004 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 12388758 | Feb 2009 | US |
| Child | 14835159 | US | |
| Parent | 11139432 | May 2005 | US |
| Child | 12388758 | US |
