Tobacco – Product or device having identifiable constituent to flavor...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-25
2004-02-24
Walls, Dionne A. (Department: 1731)
Tobacco
Product or device having identifiable constituent to flavor...
C131S276000, C131S275000, C131S309000, C131S310000, C131S364000, C127SDIG001, C426S658000, C426S661000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06695924
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention generally relates to smoking articles such as cigarettes, and in particular to smoking articles with improved flavor and aroma and process for making same.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Popular smoking articles, such as cigarettes, have a substantially rod shaped structure and include a charge of smokable material such as strands or shreds of tobacco (e.g., tobacco cut filler) surrounded by a paper wrapper thereby providing a so-called “tobacco rod.”
During smoking, the tobacco cut filler in the tobacco rod is heated and burned producing smoke. The flavor and aroma of the smoke are important characteristics of smoking articles. In conventional cigarette manufacturing processes, a large amount of sugar is typically applied as a casing ingredient to tobacco leaf blends, especially air-cured blends, before cutting. Conventionally, this casing process involves applying sugar as a solution and then heating the sugar-treated tobacco at a relatively high temperature. Normally a portion of the sugar is caramelized, i.e., undergoes Browning reactions, during the heating step, thus generating caramel-like compounds. Some of these caramel compounds exhibit flavors which are believed to be important in masking the bitterness in the smoke and improving the flavor of the smoking article.
The term “caramel” is generally used to designate a group of a large number of complex molecules with different chemical properties. Several types of caramel are known in the art including plain caramel, caramel produced by ammonia process or caustic process, and caramel produced by an ammonium sulphite process. The color and flavor can vary somewhat with the different types of caramel. Caramel normally exhibits a brown color and the darkness of the brown color of a particular caramel preparation can vary depending on the caramel preparation process. Normally, caramel produced by either the ammonia process, the caustic process, or the ammonium sulphite process, exhibits darker colors and is especially suited as coloring agent.
Various caramel compositions have been used or proposed for use as components of cigarettes. For example, caramel has been used as a coloring agent for cigarette wrappers. See U.S. Pat. No. 5,284,166. Caramel has also been used in the substitute fillers of substitute cigarettes as a coloring agent and to simulate natural tobacco material. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,934,594 and 3,929,141, and France Patent No. 2,767,649.
Although it is conventionally understood that sugar is incorporated into tobacco as a casing component, it is caramelized during the manufacturing process and during smoking. In many cases, the complex chemistry of tobacco can interfere with the caramelization process. In particular, the sugar can react with other components of the tobacco materials in the smoking article including carboxylic acids and nitrogen sources. As a result, the yield of the desirable sweet and caramel-like flavor materials generated in situ by sugar caramelization is usually low. Moreover, since the conventional casing heating step does not caramelize or otherwise convert all of the applied sugar into flavorant compounds, the remaining sugar is heated during smoking in the smoking article, but the heating process applied to tobacco during smoking is not optimum for increasing the yield of desirable caramel-like flavorants.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides for a method of improving the flavor and aroma characters of a smoking article by heating a sugar optionally in admixture with a hydroxide to generate a flavorful caramel which is essentially free of any nitrogen-containing caramel compounds, and the caramel composition is applied to tobacco materials that are used to provide a smoking article.
In particular, in accordance with the present invention, a mixture is provided containing a reducing sugar and optionally a hydroxide. Typically, the mixture is in an aqueous form. A hydroxide of an alkali metal including sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, and the like is preferably included in the mixture. Normally, the mixture does not contain any significant amount of amino or other components that are capable of reacting with the reducing sugar so as to substantially interfere or compete with the caramelization of the reducing sugar or to generate a substantial amount of non-caramel flavor substances.
The mixture is exposed to a temperature sufficiently high and for a period of time sufficiently to provide a flavorful caramel composition. Normally, heat treatment is conducted at a temperature of at least about 90° C., preferably at least about 100° C., more preferably at least about 120° C. The resultant flavorful aqueous composition contains a substantial amount of flavorful caramel compounds including furaneol, maltol, cyclotene, &agr;-Angelica lactone, and the like. In addition, the flavorful caramel composition also contains unreacted reducing sugar.
The flavorful caramel composition can be employed in improving the flavor characteristics of smoking articles such as cigarettes. In particular, the flavorful composition is applied directly to tobacco materials as a casing component or top dressing ingredient. The flavorful composition is especially suited for application to tobacco leaves or tobacco cut fillers. Smoking articles made from the tobacco leaves or tobacco cut fillers exhibit significantly improved flavor that are pleasant, sweet, and caramel-like.
In the method of the present invention, the caramelization of sugars is conducted externally from the tobacco, and in a controlled environment that can be optimized for the caramelization reaction, preferably in an enclosed environment under pressure, and in the absence of interference from other chemical compounds such as nitrogen sources. As a result, a greater amount of caramel-like flavorants can be generated from a relatively small amount of sugar. In addition, the flavorful caramel composition employed in this invention is essentially free of nitrogen-containing substances and therefore exhibits desirably pure pleasant, sweet, and caramel-like flavor. In addition, the caramel composition contains a lower content of undesirable caramel species and solid carbon precipitates and black pigments, and thus exhibits improved color properties. The flavorful caramel composition can be applied to tobacco materials as a casing or top dressing ingredient, so that other materials typically used in conventional casing can be reduced or even omitted from the smoking article of the present invention. The resultant smoking article exhibits unique pleasant flavor.
The foregoing and other advantages and features of the invention, and the manner in which the same are accomplished, will become more readily apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
This invention provides for a method of improving the flavor characters of a smoking article by heating an essentially nitrogen-free mixture containing a reducing sugar and optionally a hydroxide-containing base compound to generate a flavorful composition and applying the composition to tobacco materials in the smoking article.
Suitable reducing sugars that can be used in the invention include, but are not limited to, glucose, fructose, sucrose, mannose, galactose, rhamnose, and mixtures thereof. The reducing sugar can be in a pure form or in unrefined form, e.g., high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) which has a high content of fructose. Other derivatives of reducing sugars can also be used, e.g., phosphate-substituted reducing sugars (e.g., glucose-6-phosphate, fructose-6-phosphate, and fructose-1,6-diphosphate). Reducing sugars can also be provided in the form of precursors that can readily release reducing sugars under the reaction conditions employed in the method of this invention. Examples of suitable precursors can include disaccharides and polysacchrides, and derivatives thereof. In such cases, reducing sugars can be generated by the hyd
Coleman, III William Monroe
Dominguez Luis Mayan
Dube Michael Francis
Shu Chi-Kuen
Smith Kenneth Wayne
Alston & Bird LLP
Walls Dionne A.
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