Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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Smoking object, packet that contains one or several of the
smoking objects, and system for the user-production
of cigarettes
The present invention concerns a smoking object in non-smokable
form that includes a wrapping-material sheet made of cigarette
paper, tobacco foil, or reconstituted tobacco, and a tobacco layer
applied to one surface of the wrapping-material sheet, and
concerns a packet that contains one or several of the smoking
objects. The smoking object in non-smokable form can be converted
by the consumer into a smokable smoking object, in particular a
cigarette, by rolling up or twisting.
Various systems for the user-production of cigarettes are known.
For example, DE-C-34 07 461 describes so-called tobacco rolls,
i.e. tobacco cartridges, that are not in themselves smokable,
owing to their highly porous wrapping. The consumer can put these
tobacco rolls into a filter-cigarette-paper sleeve and in this way
obtain a finished cigarette.
A similar system is described in EP-A-0 632 967, which reveals a
tobacco column whose wrapping projects beyond one end of the
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column and in this way forms a hollow space. The projection is so
shaped that it is compressed by the pressure exerted by the mouth
of a smoker, so that the product is smokable only after the
insertion of a filter cartridge into the hollow space.
US-A-3 385 302 describes a small rectangular cigarette sheet that
is covered on one side with a thin tobacco layer, with a narrow
adhesive strip along a long side, and, if required, with filtering
material, as well as a packet that contains several of these small
covered cigarette sheets. The consumer can make a finished
cigarette for himself by rolling up in a spiral manner the small
covered sheet.
Known from GB-A-2 275 410 is a tobacco plate, covered on both
sides with cigarette paper or tobacco foil, that can be processed
into hollow tobacco cords. Various materials such as, for example,
tobacco or plugs can be introduced into the hollow space. The
user-production of cigarettes with the tobacco plates provided
with wrapping material on both sides is not described.
Known from DE-A-41 13 252 is a cigarette formed from a zigzag-
shaped, rolled-up tobacco plate with an outer wrapping. The
cigarette has a higher bending resistance or bending strength than
a conventional pressed tobacco rod. The user-production of the
cigarette is not described.
Rolled filters are known from US-A-3 744 497 and JP 62-171 664.
The known systems for user-production of cigarettes have various
disadvantages. Thus, the thin, porous wrapping of the tobacco
cartridges of DE-C-34 07 461 is easily torn. Beyond that, the
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empty filter-cigarette-paper sleeve is delicate and is easily
crushed or damaged prior to use. Also disadvantageous here - just
as with the system in EP-A-O 632 967 - is the fact that the
consumer must always combine two different components in order to
be able to produce a finished cigarette. The cigarettes produced
with the small sheets of US-A-3 385 302 have, by reason of the
spiral rolling-up, a high cigarette-papes content. This detracts,
on the one hand, from the taste of the cigarette, and on the other
hand causes an additional main- and secondary-stream smoke.
The problem of the invention is therefore to make available a
simple and, to the extent possible, one-piece system for user-
production of smoking objects, in particular cigarettes, with a
low filter-cigarette-paper content.
This problem is solved according to the invention by the fact that
the wrapping-material sheet consists of cigarette paper and has
the form of a parallelogram with corners unequal to 900 , and that
the depth of the tobacco layer approximately corresponds to the
radius of a smokable smoking object obtained through a rolling up
of the smoking object or runs in a wave-like manner perpendicular
to the long sides of the smoking object according to the
invention.
The parallelogram form of the wrapping material sheet has the
advantage that a finished, smokable smoking object can be formed
very simply from this smoking object according to the invention,
since the diagonally-adjacent, acute-angled corners of the smoking
object according to the invention are grasped and twisted against
each other. Preferably the angles of the acute-angled corners are
45-85 , especially 65-80 .
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If the depth of the tobacco layer approximately corresponds to the
radius of the finished, smokable smoking object or the length of
the short side of the smoking object according to the invention
approximately corresponds to the circumference of the circle of
the finished, smokable smoking object, then the paper content is
as low as possible. Yet the length of the short sides of the
smoking object according to the invention is in most cases
somewhat (e.g. 1-3 mm) greater than the circumference of the
circle of the finished, smokable smoking object, since a narrow
adhesive strip for closing is provided on the long sides of the
smoking object according to the invention.
A wave-like cross-section of the short sides of the tobacco layer,
i.e. the tobacco layer is applied with uneven depth perpendicular
to the long sides of the smoking object according to the invention
and has a hill-and-valley form, has the advantage that with the
rolling up of the smoking object according to the invention the
individual tobacco segments join together without the danger
arising of a hollow-space formation. With this implementation
example it is possible to lack the wrapping-material sheet and in
spite of this to obtain a smokable product after the rolling up -
and closing.
The wrapping material sheet can be formed out of conventional
cigarette paper or even out of tobacco leaf (or tobacco leaves),
tobacco foil, or reconstituted tobacco. This latter has the
advantage that the entire smoking object then consists of tobacco
material. A further-advantage of the use of tobacco foil as the
wrapping material is that the tobacco covering can clearly be less
thick than when cigarette paper is used. Also, a spiral rolling up
is possible right away, since no additional main- or secondary-
stream smoke is formed through the tobacco foil. Here too it is
again preferable that the wrapping-material sheet have the form of
a parallelogram with corners unequal to 90 , that the depth of the
tobacco layer approximately corresponds to the radius of a
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smokable smoking object obtained through a rolling of the smoking
object according to the invention or is formed wave-like
perpendicular to the long sides of the smoking object according to
the invention.
The smoking objects according to the invention are especially
suitable for the user-production of cigarettes. Nevertheless,
depending upon the wrapping material used and the tobacco
(mixture) employed, besides cigarettes, cigarillos or cheroots,
for example, can also be produced. The lengths of the long and
short sides of the smoking object according to the invention are
chosen in accordance with the product to be produced. Thus the
long sides are, for example, 70-100 mm long and the short sides,
for example, 10-35 mm. For thin cigarettes, so-called slim
cigarettes, the short sides are preferably 10-20 mm long, for
normal cigarettes preferably 20-28 mm.
Finished, smokable smoking objects can be easily formed from the
smoking objects according to theinvention through rolling up
(usually along their short sides) or twisting. These can, if need
be, be inserted into known filter-cigarette-paper sleeves or
wrapped with small cigarette-paper sheets. Suitable for this are,
for example, smoking objects according to the invention that
contain a wrapping-material sheet of cigarette paper whose long
sides have no adhesive strip, and a tobacco layer applied to one
surface of the wrapping-material sheet. Preferably, however, the
smoking objects according to the invention have along an outer
edge of one of their long sides a narrow (e.g. 2-4 mm wide) strip
preferably coated with adhesive. The adhesives normally used for
small cigarette-paper sheets can be employed for this. After the
rolling up or twisting of the smoking objects, the product can be
fixed through, for example, a moistening of the adhesive strip.
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Alternatively, however, the smoking objects according to the
invention can as well have on both long sides a narrow, tobacco-
free strip, one or both of which are capable of adhering.
An uncoated strip, for example 2-3 cm wide, can be planned along
an outer edge of one of the narrow sides of the wrapping-material
sheet. The product produced from this then has a hollow space at
one of its ends, which enables the consumer to put in a filter,
together with, if required, further materials such as additives
containing aromatic material, and so to vary the taste and
strength of the cigarette.
Preferably, however, the wrapping-material sheet has on one of its
narrow sides a strip with an applied filter-material layer or with
a fixed filter plug, since these one-piece smoking objects make
possible the simple production of a filter cigarette and the fixed
filter-plug facilitates the rolling up of the smoking object
according to the invention.
The conventional materials (cellulose, acetate, crepe paper, or
activated carbon filters) can be employed as filter materials or
filters. Preferably, however, the filter material or the filter
plug consists of reconstituted tobacco or of a tobacco mixture
usually used for cigarette production, since then the finished
cigarette consists of tobacco materials to the greatest possible
extent.
Reconstituted or homogenized tobacco is a mixture of tobacco
materials, for example tobacco dust, very fine tobacco particles,
stalks and leaves of tobacco plants, middle ribs of the leaves,
which mixture, after being cut up, if required, by known methods
(see, for example US-A-4 182 349 or EP-A-O 495 567), can be
processed into tobacco foils.
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Hence, the tobacco foils as well as filters employed preferably
consist exclusively of tobacco. If need be, however, they can also
contain additives, for example cellulose or wood fibres, that
however should not amount to more than 25% by weight of the
tobacco foils or tobacco filters. A further additive material can
be a binder, which can be a matter of a binder made from the
middle ribs of the tobacco leaves. The additives here can be
either added to the mixture that is processed into the tobacco =
foils or filters, or attached to the tobacco foil or filter. In
general, all additives can be employed that can also be contained
in conventional tobacco used for cigarette production.
Tobacco foil normally has a brownish colouring, corresponding to
the natural colour of tobacco. Hence, for consumers who prefer a
white product, the tobacco foil (and if need be also the filter)
is bleached. Colour gradations are possible here, according to the
intensity of the bleaching process. Preferably, bleaching leads to
tobacco foils whose appearance largely corresponds to that of
normal cigarette paper.
The invention further concerns a packet that contains one or
several of the smoking objects according to the invention and, if
need be, also filter plugs or filters separately, as well as a
system for the user-production of cigarettes that comprises a
smoking object according to the invention and a small cigarette-
paper sheet, a cigarette-paper sleeve, or a filter cigarette-paper
sleeve.
The smoking objects according to the invention can be produced in
the following manner. First, the cigarette paper or the tobacco
foil, both of which are produced in known manners, or the tobacco
leaf is cut so as to correspond to the desired form of the smoking
object.
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Then the tobacco or the tobacco mixture is laid onto the wrapping
material. Conventional cigarette tobacco, reconstituted or
homogenized tobacco, or mixtures of these, for example, can be
employed here as tobacco. The fixing of the tobacco to the wrapping
material is achieved through application of a foam (for example by
spraying on), which foam can contain, besides foaming materials,
binders and, if need be, aromatic additive materials. An excellent
foaming material is licorice powder. Plant extracts, pectin,
maltodextrin, or gums, for example, can be used as binders.
Particularly preferable is gum arabic, which is an exceptional
combination of a foaming material and a binder. The taste of the
cigarette can be varied through the introduction of conventional
aromatic substances, for example licorice, sugar, or cocoa extract
(i.e. taste and release can be suited to the consumer's desires
through the choice of the tobacco mixture and additive materials).
Subsequently, the tobacco layer is dried.
The depth of the tobacco layer can be determined through the
amount of the tobacco applied at the start and with even
distribution of the tobacco on the wrapping-material sheet amounts
to, for example, 0.05 - 0.5 cm, in particular approximately 0.35
cm. If need be the depth can be adjusted before the drying by a
light compressing. Normally the tobacco is evenly applied, so that
a rectangular lateral cross-section of the tobacco layer results.
However, the upper long edge of the tobacco layer can also be
beveled; the lateral cross-section is then trapezoidal. This
facilitates the rolling up along the short sides and the closing
of the smoking object according to the invention. Insofar as a
hill-and-valley layering of tobacco is desired, this can can come
about before the drying through a compressing of the appropriate
spots, so that the depth of the tobacco layer varies from, for
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example, 0.05 - 0.1 cm for the depressions to 0.03 - 0.5 cm, in
particular 0.35 cm, for the elevations.
If desired, an adhesive strip, e.g. a gum, can be attached in a
conventional manner along one of the outside edges of the long
sides, a strip of filter material along one of the outside edges
of the short sides (for example through gluing on), or a filter
plug before or after the application of the tobacco layer.
Preferably, the strip of filter material is reconstituted tobacco
or a tobacco mixture attached in the same way as the tobacco
layer.
Obviously, the cutting of the smoking article according to the
invention can also take place after the layering with tobacco,
etc., starting from a larger, covered sheet.
An implementation example of the invention is shown in the
drawings and will be described in more detail in the following.
Shown are:
Fig. 1: a smoking object according to the invention;
Fig. 2: an additional smoking object according to the invention in
top view in the form of a parallelogram with corners unequal
to 90 ;
Fig. 3: a cigarette produced from the smoking object of Fig. 2;
Fig. 4: a smoking object according to the invention with a strip
of filter material, in top view;
Fig. 5: an intermediate stage in the production process of a
cigarette from the smoking object of Fig. 4;
Fig. 6: an additional smoking object according to the invention in
top view;
Fig. 7: a smoking object according to the invention with a filter
plug attached to it;
Fig. 8: a lateral cross-section of a smoking object according to
the invention with wave-like tobacco layering;
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Fig. 9: an intermediate stage in the production of a cigarette
from the smoking object according to Fig. 8;
Fig. 10: the intermediate stage according to Fig. 9 from the
f ront ;
Fig. 11: the finished cigarette produced from the smoking object
according to Fig. 8, in front view.
Fig. 1 shows an implementation example of a smoking object 10
according to the invention with a wrapping-material sheet 12 that
is covered with a tobacco layer 14 and is provided with two short
sides 16, 18 and two long sides 22, 24. On the outside edge 20 of
the long side 22, a narrow strip of the wrapping-material sheet 12
is not covered with tobacco. Rather, an adhesive strip 36 is
provided for here. A cigarette, for example, can be easily
produced from the smoking object 10 through rolling up, a
reopening being prevented by the adhering of the adhesive strip 36
to the outer side of the wrapping-material sheet 12. The tobacco
layer 14 is here applied evenly, so that the lateral cross-section
is rectangular.
Fig. 2 shows an additional implementation form of a smoking object
10 according to the invention. It is to be perceived that the
wrapping-material sheet 12 is cut in the form of a parallelogram
and that the angle of the acute-angled corners 21, 23 is
approximately 80 . Fig. 2 shows further the tobacco layer 14, here
shown hatched, as well as the adhesive strip 36.
Fig. 3 shows a cigarette 40 that can be produced from the smoking
object 10 of Fig. 2. For this the acute-angled corners 21, 23 of
the wrapping-material sheet are grasped and, when viewed along the
double arrow of Fig. 2, the corner 23 is twisted clockwise and the
corner 21 counterclockwise, as is shown in Fig. 2 by the two
arrows. After the
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closing of the cigarette by means of the adhesive strip 36, one
obtains the finished cigarette 40 of Fig. 3.
Shown in Fig. 4 is a further implementation example of the present
invention. The smoking object 10 shows once again a wrapping- -
material sheet 12 with a tobacco layer 14 affixed to it. A strip
with filter material 30 is applied along an outside edge 28 of one
narrow side 16 of the smoking object 10. As is to be gathered from
Fig. 4, this filter-material strip 30 does not extend over the
entire width of the smoking object 10, but rather ends, just as the
tobacco layer 14 does, shortly before the outer edge 20 of the long
side 22. The narrow strip remaining free along the outer edge 20
forms the adhesive strip 36 that is used to close the cigarette.
For the production of a cigarette, the smoking object 10 is rolled
up, i.e. the consumer must move the two opposite long sides 22 and
24 towards each other. Fig. 5 shows an intermediate stage in the
production of a finished cigarette 40 from the smoking object 10
of Fig. 4, the smoking object 10 being already rolled up into a
cylinder. Fig. 5 shows, besides the wrapping material 12, the
tobacco layer 14, and the filter-material layer 30, that the long
side 24 lies just in front of the adhesive strip 36. In order to
produce the finished cigarette, the consumer need yet only bring
the long side 24 fully up to the adhesive strip 36, and the latter
e.g. moisten, wrap around, and lightly press fast to the outer
side of the wrapping-material sheet 12 along the long side 24, in ,
order to prevent the cigarette from opening up again. Finally,
Fig. 5 shows that the outside of the wrapping-material sheet 12
can be marked in the region 25 of the filter-material strip 30, so
that the filter end of the cigarette can be easily recognized by
sight and has, for example, the appearanceof a conventional cover
sheet.
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12
Shown in Fig. 6 is an additional preferred smoking object 10 that
has, in addition to the wrapping-material sheet 12 and the tobacco
layer 14, an uncoated lateral strip 32 along the outside edge 28
and an adhesive strip 36 running along the outside edge 20 over
the whole length of the long side 22. The cigarette produced from
this smoking object 10 has a hollow space at one end, which space
can, according to the desires of the consumer, be filled with e.g.
filter plugs or supplementary pieces giving off aromatic
materials.
The smoking object 10 of Fig. 7 shows once again the wrapping
material sheet 12, the tobacco layer 14, the uncoated strip 32, and
the adhesive strip 36 running over the entire length of the long -
side 22. In addition, a filter plug 34 is here provided for on the
uncoated lateral strip 32, which plug is, for example, glued on.
Hence the smoker obtains a filter cigarette after rolling up the
smoking object 10 of Fig. 7.
Figs. 8 through 12 show the preferred implementation form, that
the tobacco layer is applied wave-like perpendicular to the long
sides 22, 24, as well as a cigarette produced therefrom. First of
all, shown in Fig. 8 is a lateral cross-section, for example along
the short side 18. The tobacco layer 14 is applied to the
wrapping-material sheet 12 in the form of waves, i.e. the tobacco
layer has elevations 27 and depressions 29 and thus forms tobacco
segments 26. Beyond that, the marginal regions along both long
sides 22 and 24 of the smoking object 10 are free of tobacco.
The production of a cigarette 40 from the smoking object 10 of
Fig. 8 is shown in Figs. 9 and 10, wherein it is to be perceived
that the different tobacco segments 26 come together easily and
that the peaks of the elevations 27 form the longitudinal axis of
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the resulting cigarette 40. Figs. 9 and 10 show further that the
long sides 22 and 24 free of tobacco come to rest against each
other. One or both of the marginal regions free of tobacco can be
coated with an adhesive material, so that the cigarette is closed
and forms a tongue 31. This tongue 31 has an adhesive coating on
one of its outer sides, so that the tongue can be turned down and
affixed to the finished cigarette 40, as shown in Fig. 11.
