HIGH VISCOSITY NICOTINE FORMULATION

Abstract

A nicotine formulation for an aerosol-generating system is provided, the nicotine formulation including: one or more water-miscible polyhydric alcohols, the nicotine formulation having a water-miscible polyhydric alcohol content of greater than or equal to about 40 percent by weight, the nicotine formulation being solid at 25° C. or having a viscosity at 25° C. of greater than or equal to about 100 Pa.Math.s, the one or more water-miscible polyhydric alcohols including glycerine and propylene glycol, and a ratio of the weight percent glycerine content to the weight percent propylene glycol content of the nicotine formulation is greater than or equal to about 1.5. An aerosol-generating article and an aerosol-generating system are also provided.

Claims

1.-15. (canceled)

16. A nicotine formulation for an aerosol-generating system, the nicotine formulation comprising: one or more water-miscible polyhydric alcohols, wherein the nicotine formulation has a water-miscible polyhydric alcohol content of greater than or equal to about 40 percent by weight, wherein the nicotine formulation is solid at 25° C. or has a viscosity at 25° C. of greater than or equal to about 100 Pa.Math.s, wherein the one or more water-miscible polyhydric alcohols comprise glycerine and propylene glycol, and wherein a ratio of the weight percent glycerine content to the weight percent propylene glycol content of the nicotine formulation is greater than or equal to about 1.5.

17. The nicotine formulation according to claim 16, further comprising one or more metal salts.

18. The nicotine formulation according to claim 17, wherein the one or more metal salts are selected from the group consisting of metal alginates, metal benzoates, metal cinnamates, metal cycloheptanecarboxylates, metal levulinates, metal propanoates, metal stearates, and metal undecanoates.

19. The nicotine formulation according to claim 18, wherein the one or more metal salts are selected from the group consisting of metal benzoates, metal cinnamates, metal cycloheptanecarboxylates, metal levulinates, metal propanoates, metal stearates, and metal undecanoates.

20. The nicotine formulation according to claim 19, wherein the one or more metal salts are selected from the group consisting of metal cinnamates, metal cycloheptanecarboxylates, metal stearates, and metal undecanoates.

21. The nicotine formulation according to claim 20, wherein the one or more metal salts comprise metal stearates.

22. The nicotine formulation according to claim 17, wherein the one or more metal salts comprise sodium stearate.

23. The nicotine formulation according to claim 17, wherein the nicotine formulation has a metal salt content of between about 0.5 percent by weight and about 15 percent by weight

24. The nicotine formulation according to claim 16, further comprising one or more polymers selected from the group consisting of polyvinyl acetate (PVA), polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH), polyethylene glycol (PEG), polyglycolic acid (PGA), polylactic acid (PLA), polydioxanone (PDO), polycaprolactone (PCL), polyethylene (PE), and low density polyethylene (LDPE).

25. The nicotine formulation according to claim 16, further comprising water.

26. The nicotine formulation according to claim 25, wherein the nicotine formulation has a water content of less than or equal to about 10 percent by weight.

27. The nicotine formulation according to claim 16, further comprising one or more organic acids, wherein the nicotine formulation has an organic acid content of between about 0.5 percent and about 4 percent by weight.

28. The nicotine formulation according to claim 16, wherein the nicotine formulation has a viscosity at 25° C. of greater than or equal to about 1000 Pa.Math.s.

29. An aerosol-generating article for an aerosol-generating system, the aerosol-generating article containing a nicotine formulation according to claim 16.

30. An aerosol-generating system, comprising: a nicotine formulation according to claim 16; and an atomiser configured to generate an aerosol from the nicotine formulation.

Description

[0170] Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the following examples and accompanying drawings, in which:

[0171] FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional side view of an aerosol-generating system comprising an aerosol-generating device and an aerosol-generating article comprising a nicotine formulation according to the invention;

[0172] FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view of a spring-loaded aerosol-generating article comprising a nicotine formulation according to the invention; and

[0173] FIG. 3 is a schematic sectional view of a “lip-stick” advance mechanism aerosol-generating article comprising a nicotine formulation according to the invention.

[0174] FIG. 1 shows an aerosol-generating system 400 comprising an aerosol-generating device 600 and an aerosol-generating article 500.

[0175] The aerosol-generating device 600 shown in FIG. 1 is configured for receiving the aerosol-generating article 500. The aerosol-generating device 600 comprises a housing 601 and a receptacle 610 formed in the housing 601. The receptacle 610 is constructed for receiving the aerosol-generating article 500. The receptacle 610 may be sized and shaped so that when the aerosol-generating article 500 is inserted in the receptacle 610, at least a portion of the aerosol-generating article 500 remains outside of the receptacle 610.

[0176] The aerosol-generating device 600 comprises a heating element 622 at the closed end of the receptacle 610. The heating element 622 comprises a mesh layer.

[0177] The aerosol-generating device 600 may include a power supply 651 operably connected to a controller 653 and optional graphical user interface 652. The power supply 651 operably connected to a controller 653 may be disposed within the housing 601. The graphical user interface 652 may be disposed on the housing 601.

[0178] The aerosol-generating article 500 includes a body 512 defining a cavity 512 having a cavity opening 515. An aerosol-forming substrate 511 is disposed in the cavity 510. The body 512 includes a closed end portion 551 that may be a ring or rotation portion or a fixed support.

[0179] Alternatively, the aerosol-generating article 500 may include an advancement mechanism may be arranged in the proximal end of the aerosol-generating article 500. The advancement mechanism may be configured as a piston-type element. The advancement mechanism may be configured as a screw-type element. The advancement mechanism may translate rotational movement into lateral movement.

[0180] The cavity opening of the aerosol-generating article 500 abuts the heating element 622 when the aerosol-generating article 500 is received into the receptacle 610 of the aerosol-generating device 600. The heating element 622 is disposed proximate to the cavity opening 515. The aerosol-forming substrate 511 of the aerosol-generating article 500 is a nicotine formulation according to the invention that may flow into and through the mesh layer of the heating element 622.

[0181] Air may flow into the receptacle 610 aerosol-generating device 600 and entrain the volatized aerosol components from the heated aerosol-forming substrate 511 and through the aerosol-generating device 600 via an air channel 650 and to the consumer.

[0182] FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view of a spring-loaded aerosol-generating article 500. The aerosol-generating article 500 includes a body 512 defining a cavity 510 having a cavity opening 515. The aerosol-forming substrate 511 is disposed in the cavity 512. The heating element 622 is disposed proximate to the cavity opening 515. The body 512 includes a closed end portion 551 that may be a fixed support. A spring element 517 biases a movable rigid base 513 to the spring support 551 fixed to the body 512. The aerosol-forming substrate 511 is a nicotine formulation according to the invention.

[0183] FIG. 3 is a schematic sectional view of a “lip-stick” advance mechanism aerosol-generating article 500. The aerosol-generating article 500 includes a body 512 defining a cavity 510 having a cavity opening 515. The aerosol-forming substrate 511 is disposed in the cavity 512. The heating element 622 is disposed proximate to the cavity opening 515. The body 512 includes a ring or rotation element 551 that is coupled to the movable rigid base 513 and translates rotational movement into lateral movement via a spiral or helical groove 514. Pins (not shown) couple the rigid base 513 to the spiral or helical groove 514 to provide the lateral movement of the aerosol-forming substrate 511. The aerosol-forming substrate 511 is a nicotine formulation according to the invention.

[0184] In alternative embodiments (not shown), the aerosol-generating system may comprise an automatic mechanism to move or advance the aerosol-forming substrate 511 toward the heating element 622. In such alternative embodiments, the controller 653 of the aerosol-generating device 600 may activate an actuator or advancement mechanism on either the aerosol-generating article 500 or the aerosol-generating device 600 to advance the aerosol-forming substrate 511 and rigid base 513 toward the heating element 622 upon detecting that the heating element 622 is not in contact the aerosol-forming substrate 511.

EXAMPLES

[0185] Three nicotine formulations according to the invention that have a viscosity at 25° C. of greater than or equal to about 100 Pa.Math.s (Examples A, B and C) were prepared having the compositions and viscosities shown in Table 2.

TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Example A B C Nicotine (% by weight) 2 2 2 Water (% by weight) 6 6 6 Vegetable Glycerine polyhydric 91 68 91.5 (% by weight) alcohol Propylene Glycol polyhydric 0 23 0 (% by weight) alcohol Sodium Stearate metal salt 1 1 0.5 (% by weight) Viscosity (Pa s) 3366 225 185

[0186] Three nicotine formulations according to the invention that are solid at 25° C. (Examples D, E and F) were prepared having the compositions shown in Table 3.

TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 Example D E F Nicotine (% by weight) 2 2 2 Water (% by weight) 4 5 0 Vegetable Glycerine polyhydric 85 68 88 (% by weight) alcohol Propylene Glycol polyhydric 0 15 0 (% by weight) alcohol Sodium Stearate metal salt 8 10 5 (% by weight) Sodium Alginate metal salt 0 0 5 (% by weight) Lactic Acid organic acid 1 0 0

[0187] Each of the nicotine compositions was prepared by: [0188] (1) heating the one or more polyhydric alcohols to a temperature of between about 100° C. and about 120° C. using a hotplate stirrer; [0189] (2) adding a fine powder of the one or more metal salts to the one or more polyhydric alcohols, while stirring constantly, and then continuing to heat the mixture to a temperature of between about 85° C. and about 95° C. until the mixture was clear; [0190] (3) adding water to the clear mixture; [0191] (4) decreasing the heating temperature of the mixture to about 50° C. and adding nicotine to the mixture, while stirring constantly; and [0192] (5) pouring the heated mixture into a mold and then allowing the mixture to cool and congeal to form the nicotine composition.

[0193] As shown in Table 2, inclusion of less than or equal to about 1 percent by weight of metal salt (sodium stearate) results in nicotine formulations having a viscosity at 25° C. of greater than or equal to about 185 Pa s.

[0194] As shown in Table 3, inclusion of greater than or equal to about 8 percent by weight of metal salt (sodium stearate and sodium alginate) results in nicotine formulations that are solid at 25° C.