Smoking Article Wrapper

Abstract

A smoking article wrapper includes at least one coated surface area and at least one non-coated surface area, wherein the smoking article wrapper is combustible and provides a mean volumetric flow rate of at least 40 CU, wherein the at least one coated surface area provides a glossiness of at least 4 GU, the at least one non-coated surface area provides a glossiness of less than 4 GU and the difference of glossiness between the at least one coated surface area and the at least one non-coated surface area is more than 2 GU. A smoking article includes such a smoking article wrapper. A method for producing a smoking article includes such a smoking article wrapper by printing a polymer on parts of the smoking article wrapper by flexography.

Claims

1. A smoking article wrapper, such as a cigarette paper, comprising at least one coated surface area and at least one non-coated surface area, wherein the smoking article wrapper is combustible and provides a mean volumetric flow rate of at least 40 cm.sup.3min.sup.−1 air passing through a sample of 1 cm.sup.2 of the smoking article wrapper at an applied pressure difference of 1 kPa, the at least one coated surface area of the smoking article wrapper provides a glossiness of at least 4 GU according to DIN EN ISO 2813:2015, the at least one non-coated surface area provides a glossiness of less than 4 GU according to DIN EN ISO 2813:2015 and a difference of glossiness between the at least one coated surface area and the at least one non-coated surface area is more than 2 GU according to DIN EN ISO 2813:2015.

2. The smoking article wrapper according to claim 1, wherein: the glossiness of the at least one coated surface area of the smoking article wrapper is between 4-10 GU, according to DIN EN ISO 2813:2015.

3. The smoking article wrapper according to claim 1, wherein: the glossiness of the at least one non-coated surface area is between 1-4 GU according to DIN EN ISO 2813:2015.

4. The smoking article wrapper according to claim 1, wherein: a difference of opacity between the at least one coated surface area and the at least one non-coated surface area of the smoking article wrapper is less than 2%.

5. The smoking article wrapper according to claim 1, wherein: an opacity of the at least one coated surface area of the smoking article wrapper is more than 70%.

6. The smoking article wrapper according to claim 1, wherein: a percentage of the at least one coated surface area is less than 80% of a total surface area of the smoking article wrapper.

7. The smoking article wrapper according to claim 1, wherein: the at least one coated surface area comprises a coating of 0.5 to 20 g/m.sup.2.

8. The smoking article wrapper according to claim 1, wherein: the at least one coated surface area comprises a polymer as a coating agent, wherein the polymer is at least one of EVA, PVA, any other copolymer of ethylene, any other copolymer of propylene, PE, or any other film forming polymer.

9. The smoking article wrapper according to claim 1, wherein: the at least one non-coated surface area of the smoking article wrapper provides a volumetric flow rate in a range of 20-120 cm.sup.3min.sup.−1 air passing through a sample of 1 cm.sup.2 of the smoking article wrapper at an applied pressure difference of 1 kP.

10. The smoking article wrapper according to claim 1, wherein: the at least one coated surface area of the smoking article wrapper provides a volumetric flow rate in a range of 5-80 cm.sup.3min.sup.−1 air passing through a sample of 1 cm.sup.2 of the smoking article wrapper at an applied pressure difference of 1 kP.

11. A smoking article comprising the smoking article wrapper according to claim 1.

12. The smoking article according to claim 11, further comprising: a mouthpiece and an aerosol generating substrate, wherein the aerosol generating substrate is wrapped in the smoking article wrapper.

13. A method for producing a smoking article comprising a smoking article wrapper having a glossiness of at least 4 GU according to DIN EN ISO 2813:2015 in first parts of a surface of the smoking article wrapper and a glossiness of less than 4 GU according to DIN EN ISO 2813:2015 in other second parts of the surface, wherein a difference of glossiness between the first and second parts is more than 2 GU according to DIN EN ISO 2813:2015, the method comprising: printing a polymer on areas of the smoking article wrapper by flexography.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein: the polymer is at least one of EVA, PVA, any other copolymer of ethylene, any other copolymer of propylene, PE, or any other film forming polymer.

15. The method according to claim 13, wherein the step of printing includes printing the polymer as emulsion, suspension or in molten form, and the method further comprises drying the polymer after the step of printing.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the step of drying is performed under at least temporally increased pressure.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0034] The figures show:

[0035] FIG. 1a an image of a tobacco stick, surrounded by a cigarette paper with coated and non-coated surface areas according to the invention;

[0036] FIG. 1b a schematic illustration of the tobacco stick of FIG. 1a;

[0037] FIG. 2a a detailed image of the tobacco stick of FIG. 1a with coated and non-coated surface areas;

[0038] FIG. 2b a schematic illustration of the tobacco stick of FIG. 1b;

[0039] FIG. 3 an image of a cigarette paper according to the invention with a stripped pattern coated on the paper;

[0040] FIGS. 4 and 5 images of possible forms of the coated surface on the cigarette paper.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0041] FIG. 1a shows an image of a tobacco stick 1, surrounded by a cigarette paper 10 with coated 11 and non-coated 12 surface areas according to the invention. The cigarette paper 10 surrounds the lateral area of a cylinder 2 (geometrically in more detail: a right circular cylinder) made of tobacco (not shown).

[0042] The cigarette paper 10 is partially, namely in the coated areas 11, coated with a glossy coating 13. In the illustrated embodiment, this coating is applied in crossing stripes onto the planar cigarette paper 10, which is then wound around the tobacco cylinder 2. In this curved form of the cigarette paper 10, the coated areas 11 have a helical shape.

[0043] This embodiment is further illustrated by the schematic illustration of FIG. 2b. In this illustration, it can be seen that two stripes of coating intersect each other and form a checkered pattern on the cigarette paper 10 and/or the tobacco stick 1.

[0044] FIG. 3 shows a further embodiment of the cigarette paper 10. The pattern 14 of the coated areas 11 are stripes. A base paper was coated locally with a polymer. In this embodiment, a polymer was used, which was previously used in the tobacco industry as glue for attaching overlapping ends of a cigarette paper onto each other. The application was performed by printing, in this case by flexography. The polymer was applied at an amount of about 6 g/m.sup.2 per printed area. In this embodiment about 43% (preferably between 40-50%) of the total upper surface of the cigarette paper 10 was coated with the polymer.

[0045] In the embodiment of the cigarette paper 10 shown in FIG. 3, an increased glossiness of 5.46 GU (5.46 Gloss Unit according to ISO 2813) of the coated area 11 could be determined. In contrast thereto, the glossiness of the non-coated area 12 was measured to be only 2.68 GU. As it can be derived from FIG. 3, the difference between the above-mentioned values for the glossiness of the coated 11 and the non-coated area 12 could easily be noticed by the human eye. The opacity of the coated 11 and the non-coated 12 area was measured, too. The difference between the measured opacity of these areas was very low. The opacity of the coated area 11 was determined to be 74.9% and the opacity of the non-coated area 12 was measured to be 75.6%.

[0046] The combustion properties of the cigarette paper 10 shown in FIG. 3 have been determined. It has been found that at a coating ratio of 43% of the total upper surface of the cigarette paper 10, the cigarette paper 10 is still combustible and no negative effect on the LIP effect (Lower Ignition Propensity) and burning rate was determined. In contrast thereto, it was found, that very high coating ratio of up to 100% of the total upper surface of the cigarette paper 10 could result in reduced combustibility. A coating ratio of 100% results to 0 in a FASE test. Furthermore, the porosity was decreased dramatically for such a highly coated base paper from about 80 to only 5 CU. In contrast thereto, the coating ratio of 43% of the cigarette paper 10 as illustrated in FIG. 3 results in a porosity of about 45 CU.

[0047] FIGS. 4 and 5 show images of possible embodiments of the coated surface 11 on the cigarette paper 10. Both cigarette papers differ on the pattern 14 of the coating. In both embodiments, the pattern forms letters and/or other symbols. A base paper providing a permeability of about 60 CU was coated locally with e polymer. The application was performed by printing, in this case by flexography. The polymer was applied at an amount of about 4.3 g/m.sup.2 per printed area. While the local coating 12 of the cigarette paper 10 shown in FIG. 4 indicates the supplier of the cigarette paper 10, the pattern 14 of the local coating 12 of the cigarette paper 10 shown in FIG. 4 indicates special proprieties of the paper as such and/or the tobacco to be enclosed.

[0048] The applicant reserves his right to claim all features disclosed in the application document as being an essential feature of the invention, as long as they are new, individually or in combination, in view of the prior art. Furthermore, it is noted that in the figures features are described, which can be advantageous individually. Someone skilled in the art will directly recognize that a specific feature being disclosed in a figure can be advantageous also without the adoption of further features from this figure. Furthermore, someone skilled in the art will recognize that advantages can evolve from a combination of diverse features being disclosed in one or various figures.

LIST OF REFERENCE SYMBOLS

[0049] 1 tobacco stick

[0050] 2 cylinder

[0051] 10 cigarette paper

[0052] 11 coated surface area

[0053] 12 non-coated surface area

[0054] 13 coating

[0055] 14 pattern