Tobacco – Tobacco or tobacco substitute product or component part thereof – Cigar or cigarette
Reexamination Certificate
2000-05-24
2003-06-17
Griffin, Steven P. (Department: 1731)
Tobacco
Tobacco or tobacco substitute product or component part thereof
Cigar or cigarette
C131S360000, C162S139000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06578584
ABSTRACT:
The present invention relates to smoking articles, and in particular to smoking articles which have an other than conventional structure and combustion regime, yet which have the outward appearance similar to a conventional smoking article.
Many attempts have been made to produce a smoking article which provides the smoker with an aerosol which is similar to tobacco smoke. Some ideas have centred on generating an aerosol vapour from an aerosol generating means by heating the aerosol generating means with a surrounding fuel source, such as cut tobacco. Smoke from the fuel source is prevented by a smoke barrier from reaching the smoker's mouth, whilst the aerosol vapour can pass to the smoker. These can be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,258,015 (Ellis) and 3,356,094 (Ellis). The first of these proposed a smoking article having an outer cylinder of fuel with good smouldering characteristics, preferably cut tobacco or reconstituted tobacco, surrounding a metal tube containing tobacco, reconstituted tobacco or other source of nicotine and water vapour. A substantial disadvantage of this article was the ultimate protrusion of the metal tube as the tobacco fuel was consumed. Other disadvantages include the formation of substantial tobacco pyrolysis products and substantial tobacco sidestream smoke. This design was later modified in the second patent mentioned above by employing a tube made out of a material such as inorganic salts or an epoxy bonded ceramic, which became frangible on heating and was discharged as an ash by the smoker. In this invention also there are substantial tobacco pyrolysis products and, because of the combustion of tobacco, visible sidestream smoke.
Aerosol inhalation devices such as European Patent Applications, Publication Nos. 0 174 645 and 0 339 690 describe means of using heat transfer from a fuel element to physically separate aerosol generating means. The main feature of these inventions is that the aerosol generating means is always physically separate from the fuel element and is always heated by heat transfer from a heat conducting member, never burned. To this end the fuel element is always short, located to one end of the smoking article and kept out of direct contact with the aerosol generating means.
Other and mainly more recent devices have included GB 1 185 887 (Synectics), U.S. Pat. No. 5,060,667 (Strubel) and EPA 0 405 190 (R. J. Reynolds). In all of these devices the patentee has arranged the fuel element as an annulus around aerosol generating means.
GB 1 185 857 provided a substantially inorganic smoke of readily absorbable salts to the smoker and produced an ash which could be removed in normal fashion by the smoker. However, the smoking article is presumed to have given off an amount of visible sidestream smoke because of the cellulosic components within individual items of the smoking article.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,060,667 provided a co-axially arranged tobacco-containing fuel element encircled by a metallic heat transfer tube with a flange portion at the end to be lit in order to prevent smoke from the burning tobacco from passing through the flavour source material circumscribing the heat transfer tube. Only aerosol from the flavour source material passes to the smoker. The device does not burn down and tobacco material is combusted, as well as providing the flavour source material, thereby producing visible sidestream smoke and utilising a high percentage of a costly item such as tobacco.
EPA 0 405 190 seeks to provide a smoking article which provides the user with the pleasures of smoking by heating without burning tobacco. Most of the articles comprise an annular carbonaceous fuel segment, a physically separate aerosol generating means disposed concentrically within the fuel segment, a barrier member between the fuel segment and the aerosol generating means, which substantially precludes fluid flow radially therethrough and which is disposable as the smoking article is smoked, and a mouthend segment. As the fuel source is disposed annularly around the aerosol generating means it is advantageous to surround the fuel source longitudinally with an insulating sleeve which may then be wrapped with a conventional wrapper. One alternative embodiment is postulated which comprises a co-axial carbonaceous fuel source of slow burning rate encircled along its longitudinal length by an insulation member, which in turn is encircled along its length by tobacco wrapped in a paper wrapper. The tobacco is only heated and not burnt, as in the other embodiments, but unlike the other embodiments of EPA 0 405 190 the device cannot burn down as tobacco would then be burnt. No actual practical embodiment is described and thus this embodiment appears to be an armchair, or paper, proposal. The patentees appear to have had some difficulty in reducing to practice this particular concept. This concept also utilises considerable amounts of expensive tobacco, to provide the aerosol source material, which the smoker never truly experiences.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,998,012 discloses a smoking article having a non-combustible wrapper of woven, glass fibres with one or more adhesive materials, calcium carbonate to prevent flaming, propylene glycol as a plasticiser and a diatomaceous earth to render the wrapper impermeable and cooler to the touch. A disadvantage of this construction is that the wrapper still maintains a predominantly fibrous characteristic of woven glass fibres. Such a wrapper would be unacceptable for a commercial smoking article. U.S. Pat. No. 4,961,438 discloses a smoking device which does not burn down along its length which by means of a smouldering heat source heating air drawn into the device liberates aerosol from an aerosol forming material disposed on a substrate. The wrapper of the device is a non-combustible tube having high heat conductivity. Such high heat conductivity is undesirable for a commercial smoking article. The wrapper of the present invention seeks to overcome these deficiencies.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a smoking article which does not produce substantial tobacco pyrolysis products.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a smoking article which exhibits very little visible sidestream smoke, and considerably less visible sidestream smoke than prior proposed conventional smoking articles comprising tobacco rods of cut tobacco wrapped in a paper wrapper containing a visible sidestream reducing compound or being a visible sidestream reducing paper.
It is another object of the invention to fulfil the above objectives whilst maintaining a substantially conventional outward appearance of a smoking article as we know the same today.
It is also an object of the invention to preserve the physical elements of the smoking process, including the ashing of a cigarette to produce an ash which can be removed by the smoker in the normal way.
The present invention provides a smoking article having a smoking material rod comprising a substantially non-combustible wrapper extending substantially along the length of the smoking material rod and enwrapping a combustible fuel source extending substantially along the length of the smoking material rod and aerosol generating means extending substantially along the length of the smoking material rod.
As used herein the terms ‘smoking material rod’ or ‘smoking material’ are merely intended to mean that part of the smoking article which is contained within the substantially non-combustible wrapper and should not have imported therein any association as to the combustibility or otherwise of individual components of the rod of the smoking material.
The present invention further provides a smoking article having a smoking material rod comprising a substantially non-combustible wrapper extending substantially along the length of the smoking material rod and enwrapping a combustible fuel source extending substantially along the full length of the smoking material rod, and aerosol generating means being disposed between the fuel source and the wrapper and extending substantia
Beven John Lawson
Dittrich David John
Greig Colin Campbell
Hook Richard Geoffrey
McAdam Kevin Gerard
British American Tobacco (Investments) Limited
Griffin Steven P.
Pitney Hardin Kipp & Szuch LLP
Walls Dionne A.
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