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A PACKAGING MATERIAL AND AN ORAL POUCHED SNUFF PRODUCT

20220112638 · 2022-04-14

    Inventors

    Cpc classification

    International classification

    Abstract

    The present invention relates to a packaging material for use in an oral pouched snuff product in order to enclose a smokeless tobacco composition or non-tobacco composi¬tion. The packaging material is a saliva-permeable nonwoven comprising carded fibres, whereof 0%-95% of the carded fibres are of a first type and 5%-100% are of a second type. The fibres of the first type are cellulose-based staple fibres. The fibres of the second type are thermoplastic fibres, comprising a first component and a second component, the second component having a lower melting temperature than the first component. The packaging material is bonded by means of at least partial melting and/or softening of the second component of the fibres of the second type and has a smooth-calendered surface.

    The present invention also relates to an oral pouched snuff product comprising such a packaging material.

    Claims

    1. A packaging material for use in an oral pouched snuff product in order to enclose a smokeless tobacco composition or non-tobacco composition, said packaging material being a saliva-permeable nonwoven comprising carded fibres, characterized in that 0%-95% of said carded fibres are of a first type and 5%-100% are of a second type, said fibres of said first type being cellulose-based staple fibres, and said fibres of said second type being thermoplastic fibres, comprising a first component and a: second component, said second component having a lower melting temperature than said first component, said packaging material being bonded by means of at least partial melting and/or softening of said second component of said fibres of said second type, said packaging material having a smooth-calendered surface, said calendering not being utilized for bonding.

    2. The packaging material according to claim 1, wherein 5%-50% of said carded fibres are of said first type and 50%-95% are of said second type.

    3. The packaging material according to claim 1, wherein said packaging material consists of 0-95% of said fibres of said first type, 5%-100% of said fibres of said second type and, optionally, one or more further thermoplastic fibres.

    4. The packaging material according to claim 1, wherein said at least partial melting and/or softening of said second component of said fibres of said second type is obtained by means of air-through bonding.

    5. The packaging material according to claim 1, wherein said fibres of said first type are natural cellulose fibres or man-made cellulose-based fibres.

    6. The packaging material according to claim 1, wherein said fibres of said first type has a length within the range of 30-80 mm.

    7. The packaging material according to claim 1, wherein said fibres of said second type has a length within the range of 30-80 mm.

    8. The packaging material according to claim 1, wherein said fibres of said first type has a linear density ≤3.3 dtex.

    9. The packaging material according to claim 1, wherein said fibres of said second type has a linear density ≤4.4 dtex.

    10. The packaging material according to claim 1, wherein said first component of said fibres of said second type has a melting point within the range of 140-180° C.

    11. The packaging material according to claim 1, wherein said second component of said fibres of said second type has a melting point within the range of 110-150° C.

    12. The packaging material according to claim 1, wherein said fibres of said second type are PLA/coPLA fibres, wherein said coPLA makes up a weight percentage within the range of 10%-90%.

    13. The packaging material according claim 1, wherein said fibres of said second type are PP/PE fibres, wherein said PE makes up a weight percentage of the total weight within the range of 10%-90%.

    14. The packaging material according to claim 1, said packaging material having a bending stiffness in the machine direction within the range of 0.5-1.7 mNcm, when measured by the EDANA standard method WSP 090.5R4(12) with samples being conditioned for at least 4 hours in 21° C. and 50% RH.

    15. The packaging material according to claim 1, said packaging material having an air permeability ≤7500 l/m.sup.2/s when measured according to the test method WSP070.1.R3(12) specified by EDANA.

    16. The packaging material according to claim 1, said packaging material having a ratio between wet tensile strength and dry tensile strength, both taken in the machine direction of said packaging material, being above 0.7 when measured by the EDANA standard method WSP110.4(05).

    17. The packaging material according to claim 1, said packaging material having a dry seal strength of at least 0.2 N/mm according to the method as defined herein, assuming said seal being made by ultrasonic welding.

    18. The packaging material according to claim 1, said packaging material having a wet seal strength of at least 0.2 N/mm according to the method as defined herein, assuming said seal being made by ultrasonic welding.

    19. The packaging material according to claim 1, having a ratio between wet and dry seal strength being above 0.7 according to the method as defined herein.

    20. The packaging material according to claim 1, said packaging material having a dry seal strength when exposed to methyl salicylate of at least 0.05 N/mm after 1 week at 4° C.+3 weeks at room temperature according to the method as defined herein.

    21. An oral pouched snuff product comprising a portion of a smokeless tobacco composition or non-tobacco composition and a saliva-permeable pouch, said pouch enclosing said portion, said pouch comprising or consisting of a packaging material as defined in claim 1 wherein said packaging material is sealed with at least one seal to enclose said portion, said seal being formed by means of at least said second component of said fibres of said second type being at least partially melted and/or softened in said seal.

    22. The oral pouched snuff product according to claim 21, having an unloaded height of at least 5.5 mm, when measured optically, for products having a length of 28 mm, a width of 14 mm and a weight of 0.40 grams.

    Description

    BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

    [0098] The present invention will hereinafter be further explained by means of non-limiting examples with reference to the appended figures wherein:

    [0099] FIG. 1 illustrates a packaging material according to the invention, and

    [0100] FIG. 2 illustrates a transverse seal.

    DETAILED DESCRIPTION

    [0101] The invention will, in the following, be exemplified by embodiments. It should however be realized that the embodiments are included in order to explain principles of the invention and not to limit the scope of the invention, defined by the appended claims. Details from two or more of the embodiments may be combined with each other.

    [0102] FIG. 1 is a photo of a packaging material according to the invention. It comprises 20% fibres of the first type, which in this sample are regenerated cellulose fibres, namely lyocell. In the tables below the lyocell fibres are denoted by the brand name Tencel. This % number as well as the other %-numbers given herein are in given as weight percentages. The remaining 80% fibres are of the second type, which in this sample are PLA/coPLA fibres, wherein the PLA has a melting temperature of 164° C. and the coPLA has a melting temperature of 130° C. As can be seen in the photo, the fibres still maintain their shape and structure. There is no film formed. The individual fibres are easily seen.

    [0103] FIG. 2 is a photo of a transverse seal of an oral pouched product comprising the packaging material according to the invention. The seal was made with ultrasonic welding. In the seal, the supplied energy was high enough to melt both the coPLA of the sheath and the PLA of the core. Hence, the fibres of the second type have melted so much in the seal that they form a kind of film.

    [0104] In order to characterize the packaging materials according to the invention a number of measurements have been made comparing packaging materials according to the invention with commonly used packaging materials for oral pouched snuff products, denoted Reference 1, Reference 2 and Reference 3 below. Further, measurements have been made comparing oral pouched snuff products according to the invention with commercially available oral pouched snuff products. The pouched products comprise a portion of a smokeless tobacco composition or non-tobacco composition and a saliva-permeable pouch, which encloses the portion and comprises or consists of the packaging material as described herein.

    [0105] The reference materials have in common that they comprise a chemical binder to bind the fibres of the reference material together. In the packaging material according to the invention, there is no such chemical binder.

    [0106] Bending Stiffness

    [0107] Bending stiffness was measured for different packaging materials according to the invention and compared to three commonly used packaging materials for oral pouched snuff products, see the three bottom lines of Table 1 below. See above for description of the method.

    TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Basis Bending weight stiffness_MD Material (g/m.sup.2) (mNcm) 80% PLA/coPLA, 20% Tencel 40 0.95 80% PLA/coPLA, 20% Tencel 35 0.90 80% PLA/coPLA, 20% Tencel 28 0.81 80% PP/PE, 20% Tencel 25 0.71 80% PP/PE, 20% Tencel 28 0.79 70% PP/PE, 30% Tencel 26 0.73 70% PP/PE, 30% Tencel 32 0.92 Reference 1 29 2.10 Reference 2 30 2.27 Reference 3 36 4.60

    [0108] As can be seen in Table 1, the packaging materials according to the invention have a bending stiffness in the machine direction within the range of 0.5-1.7 mNcm and also within the range of 0.6-1.4 mNcm. This is distinctly lower than those of the commonly used packaging materials for oral pouched snuff products. This contributes to making the pouched product comfortable when placed in the buccal cavity of the user.

    [0109] Table 2 shows the values of Table 1 recalculated to a common grammage, in this case 29 g/m.sup.2 being the basis weight of Reference 1, such that the bending stiffness values can be compared to each other at the common grammage. The recalculation was made by linear approximation between the values of Table 1. The packaging materials according to the invention have a bending stiffness in the machine direction when recalculated to 29 g/m.sup.2 within the above-mentioned ranges.

    TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Basis Bending weight stiffness_MD Material (g/m.sup.2) (mNcm) 80% PLA/coPLA, 20% Tencel 29 0.82 80% PP/PE, 20% Tencel 29 0.82 70% PP/PE, 30% Tencel 29 0.83 Reference 1 29 2.10 Reference 2 30 2.27

    [0110] Tensile Strength

    [0111] Tensile strength was measured for wet and dry samples in the machine direction MD for four different packaging materials according to the invention, see Table 3 below, and compared to the same three references as in Table 1. See above for description of the method.

    TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 Tensile Tensile Tensile Basis strength strength strength weight MD wet MD MD Material (g/m.sup.2) (N/mm) (N/mm) wet/MD 70% PLA/coPLA, 30% Tencel 36 0.31 0.34 0.9 80% PLA/coPLA, 20% Tencel 35 0.54 0.46 1.2 70% PP/PE, 30% Tencel 26 0.75 0.63 1.2 80% PP/PE, 20% Tencel 29 1.25 1.01 1.2 Reference 1 29 0.48 1.47 0.3 Reference 2 30 0.7 1.94 0.4 Reference 3 36 1.4 2.16 0.6

    [0112] The ratio between wet and dry tensile strength for the packaging materials according to the invention, see column to the far right, is above 0.7, preferably above 0.8, more preferably above 0.9, most preferably above 1.0. When the packaging material is wet, the Tencel fibres may take up water, which may result in ratios over 1. These ratio values differ considerably from the references having ratios in the range of 0.3 to 0.6, i.e. the wet tensile strength is considerably lower than the dry tensile strength for the references.

    [0113] Seal Strength—Lab Seal

    [0114] Seal strength was measured for three different packaging materials according to the invention, see the three top lines of Table 4 below, and compared to a commonly used packaging material for oral pouched snuff products, see the bottom line. Samples were prepared in the way described in par. [0136] of EP 3 192 380 A1. The seal strengths were measured according to the CORESTA method described above. Measurements were performed both for seals made with ultrasonic welding and seals made with heat sealing. Further, measurements were made both in a dry state and a wet state.

    TABLE-US-00004 TABLE 4 Seal strength (N/mm) Standard deviation Ultrasonic Heat Ultrasonic Heat Material Dry Wet Dry Wet Dry Wet Dry Wet 70% PLA/coPLA, 30% Tencel 0.40 0.37 0.11 0.10 0.03 0.03 0.02 0.01 80% PLA/coPLA, 20% Tencel 0.53 0.51 0.15 0.11 0.07 0.02 0.02 0.01 80% PP/PE, 20% Tencel 0.45 0.51 0.41 0.44 0.05 0.02 0.11 0.13 Reference 1 0.18 0.03 0.11 0.06 0.03 0.01 0.01 0.00

    [0115] The packaging materials according to the invention has a dry seal strength, assuming the seal being made by ultrasonic welding, of at least 0.2 N/mm, preferably at least 0.25 N/mm, more preferably at least 0.3 N/mm, most preferably at least 0.4 N/mm, which is much higher than for the reference sample.

    [0116] Moreover the seal strength for wet samples are much higher for the packaging material according to the invention than for the reference sample. Similar as for the dry seal strength, the packaging material according to the invention has a wet seal strength, assuming the seal being made by ultrasonic welding, of at least 0.2 N/mm, preferably at least 0.25 N/mm, more preferably at least 0.3 N/mm, most preferably at least 0.4 N/mm.

    [0117] It may further be concluded that the wet seal strengths are at a similar level as the dry seal strengths for the packaging material according to the invention, which is valid for seals made both with ultrasonic welding and with heat sealing. Hence the ratio of wet to dry seal strength is above 0.7, preferably above 0.8, more preferably above 0.9, most preferably above 1.0. For the reference sample, the wet seal strengths are significantly lower than the dry seal strengths.

    [0118] Seal Strength Over Time

    [0119] Seal strength over time was measured for transverse seals of oral pouched snuff products made with three different packaging materials according to the invention, see the three top lines of Table 5 below, and compared to oral pouched snuff products made with a commonly used packaging material, see the bottom line below. Seal strengths were tested with the settings described in EP 3 192 380 A1, paragraph [0137]. The seals were made with ultrasonic welding. The ultrasonic welding was made with a method as disclosed in WO 2017/093486 A1. The samples were dry. The term “refridge” stands for a temperature of 4° C. RT refers to room temperature, i.e. 21° C. The abbreviation win the tables below means weeks.

    TABLE-US-00005 TABLE 5 Seal Seal Seal strength strength strength refridge day 0 Standard refridge 1 w Standard 1 w + RT Standard Material (N/mm) deviation (N/mm) deviation 3 w (N/mm) deviation 70% PLA/coPLA, 30% Tencel 0.39 0.05 0.39 0.06 0.37 0.05 80% PLA/coPLA, 20% Tencel 0.59 0.11 0.55 0.10 0.59 0.06 80% PP/PE, 20% Tencel 0.57 0.14 0.55 0.09 0.49 0.11 Reference 1 0.18 0.03 0.23 0.03 0.21 0.02

    [0120] The packaging materials according to the invention all have a higher seal strength than the reference. This is also the case after 1 week in the fridge and also after another 3 weeks in room temperature, i.e. the higher seal strength is preserved over time.

    [0121] Seal Strength—Methyl Salicylate

    [0122] Seal strength when exposed to methyl salicylate was measured for transverse seals of oral pouched snuff products made with three different packaging materials according to the invention, see the three top lines of Table 6 below, and compared to oral pouched snuff products made with a commonly used packaging material, see the bottom line below. The samples were made in a Merz apparatus. The seals were made with heat sealing. Seal strengths were tested with the settings described in EP 3 192 380 A1, paragraph [0137]. The samples were dry.

    TABLE-US-00006 TABLE 6 Seal Seal Seal strength strength strength refridge day 0 Standard refridge 1 w Standard 1 w + RT Standard Material (N/mm) deviation (N/mm) deviation 3 w (N/mm) deviation 70% PLA/coPLA, 30% Tencel 0.10 0.02 0.04 0.02 0.05 0.02 80% PLA/coPLA, 20% Tencel 0.13 0.05 0.07 0.02 0.10 0.03 80% PP/PE, 20% Tencel 0.34 0.06 0.48 0.13 0.43 0.18 Reference 1 0.03 0.01 0.01 0.00 0.01 0.00

    [0123] The seal strength when exposed to methyl salicylate is lower for all samples as compared to unexposed seals, cf. Table 5 above. The packaging materials according to the invention all have a higher seal strength when exposed to methyl salicylate than the reference. Especially the sample with PP/PE has a much better seal strength than the reference. This difference is preserved over time.

    [0124] Pouch Dimensions

    [0125] The smokeless non-tobacco composition was as described in WO 2012/134380, i.e. comprising a free nicotine salt, a pH adjusting agent and a filler being microcristalline cellulose. The weights of the pouched products, i.e. including the packaging material and the smokeless non-tobacco composition enclosed therein was selected to be 0.40 grams for the tested products. The lengths of the pouched products was selected to be 28 mm. The widths of the pouched products were selected to be 14 mm.

    [0126] Reference samples are longer and less wide than the pouches according to the invention. Given this, the pouches according to the invention are still proportionally of greater height. Parameters width and length for the pouches according to the invention are within the product specification used for the reference product.

    TABLE-US-00007 TABLE 7 Height Std Length Standard Width Std Material (mm) dev (mm) deviation (mm) dev 70% PLA/coPLA, 30% Tencel 6.5 0.4 28.23 0.22 14.57 0.14 80% PLA/coPLA, 20% Tencel 5.8 0.4 28.44 0.22 14.54 0.14 80% PP/PE, 20% Tencel 6.4 0.5 28.01 0.16 14.01 0.16 Reference 1 5.0 0.3 28.77 0.41 13.66 0.18