Aerosol-generating article having rod with multiple longitudinal elongate elements of tobacco material

Abstract

An aerosol-generating article for producing an inhalable aerosol when heated is provided, the aerosol-generating article including: a rod of aerosol-generating substrate, including: a plurality of elongate tubular elements of homogenised tobacco material assembled such that the plurality of elongate tubular elements extend in a longitudinal direction, and a wrapper circumscribing the plurality of elongate tubular elements, the plurality of elongate tubular elements being aligned substantially parallel to one another within the rod of aerosol-generating substrate.

Claims

1. An aerosol-generating article for producing an inhalable aerosol when heated, the aerosol-generating article comprising: a rod of aerosol-generating substrate, comprising: a plurality of elongate tubular elements of homogenised tobacco material assembled such that the plurality of elongate tubular elements extend in a longitudinal direction, and a wrapper circumscribing the plurality of elongate tubular elements, wherein the plurality of elongate tubular elements are aligned substantially parallel to one another within the rod of aerosol-generating substrate, at least one elongate tubular element of the plurality of elongate tubular elements comprising a rolled strip of homogenised tobacco material, and wherein the rolled strip of homogenised tobacco material is a strip of a porous, homogenised tobacco material wound about a longitudinal axis by 360 degrees (1 convolution) to 1,800 degrees (5 convolutions).

2. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 1, wherein the at least one elongate tubular element has a thickness of at least 0.1 millimetre.

3. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 1, wherein the at least one elongate tubular element has a thickness of less than 3 millimetres.

4. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 1, wherein the rolled strip is textured.

5. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 1, wherein the rolled strip is embossed, punctured, or crimped.

6. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 1, wherein each elongate tubular element of the plurality of elongate tubular elements has a length substantially equal to a length of the rod of aerosol-generating substrate.

7. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of elongate tubular elements comprises less than 200 elongate tubular elements of homogenised tobacco material.

8. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of elongate tubular elements comprises at least 15 elongate tubular elements of homogenised tobacco material.

9. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 1, wherein elongate tubular elements of the plurality of elongate tubular elements of homogenised tobacco material are of substantially oval cross-section, substantially elliptical transverse cross-section, or substantially circular transverse cross-section.

10. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 1, wherein each elongate tubular element of the plurality of elongate tubular elements has an equivalent diameter of less than 3 millimetres.

11. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 1, wherein each elongate tubular element of the plurality of elongate tubular elements has an equivalent diameter of at least 0.1 millimetre.

12. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 1, wherein the wrapper circumscribing the plurality of elongate tubular elements is at least partially folded over the plurality of elongate tubular elements at upstream and downstream ends of the rod to retain the plurality of elongate tubular elements within the rod.

13. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 1, wherein the strip of homogenised tobacco material has a width from 1 millimetre to 8.2 millimetres.

14. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 1, wherein the strip of homogenised tobacco material has a width from 2.4 millimetres to 3.5 millimetres.

15. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 1, wherein the strip of homogenised tobacco material is cut from a sheet or web having a thickness between 80 microns and 1000 microns.

16. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 1, wherein the strip of homogenised tobacco material is cut from a sheet or web having a thickness between about 100 microns and about 500 microns.

Description

(1) The invention will now be further described with reference to the figures in which:

(2) FIG. 1 shows a schematic longitudinal cross-sectional view of an aerosol-generating article for use with an aerosol-generating device comprising a heater element;

(3) FIG. 2 shows a schematic perspective view of an aerosol-generating substrate according to a first embodiment of the invention, with the wrapper removed;

(4) FIG. 3 shows a schematic perspective view of the aerosol-generating substrate of FIG. 2, with the wrapper in place; and

(5) FIG. 4 shows a schematic longitudinal cross-sectional view of an aerosol-generating system comprising an electrically operated aerosol-generating device and the aerosol-generating article shown in FIG. 1.

(6) The aerosol-generating article 10 shown in FIG. 1 comprises a rod of aerosol-generating substrate 12, a hollow cellulose acetate tube 14, a spacer element 16 and a mouthpiece filter 18. These four elements are arranged sequentially and in coaxial alignment and are circumscribed by a substrate wrapper 20 to form the aerosol-generating article 10. The aerosol-generating article 10 has a mouth end 22 and a distal end 24 located at the opposite end of the article to the mouth end 22. The aerosol-generating article 10 shown in FIG. 1 is particularly suitable for use with an electrically operated aerosol-generating device comprising a heater for heating the rod of aerosol-generating substrate.

(7) The rod of aerosol-generating substrate 12 has a length of approximately 12 millimetres and a diameter of approximately 7 millimetres. The rod 12 is cylindrical in shape and has a substantially circular cross-section.

(8) An embodiment of a rod of aerosol-generating substrate 12 for use in the aerosol-generating article 10 of FIG. 1 is shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. The rod 12 comprises a plurality of elongate substantially tubular elements 30 circumscribed by a paper wrapper 32. In FIG. 2, the plurality of tubular elements 30 are shown with the wrapper 32 removed.

(9) As can be seen in FIG. 2, each of the tubular elements 30 comprises a rolled strip of homogenised tobacco material and extends in the longitudinal direction and has a length substantially corresponding to the length of the rod 12. The tubular elements 30 are parallel to each other and stacked such that adjacent tubular elements are in contact with each other. The tubular elements 30 have substantially circular cross-section and an equivalent diameter of about 1 millimetre. In the embodiment of FIGS. 2 and 3, the rod comprises 20 elongate tubular elements 30. Longitudinal channels extending through the rod 12 are internally defined by the tubular elements. Further, longitudinal channels extending through the rod 12 are also defined among the tubular elements. Thus, the rod 12 is adapted to receive a heater blade of an aerosol-generating device, as described below, and to provide an air flow pathway through which air can be drawn through the rod 12 during use.

(10) FIG. 4 shows a portion of an electrically operated aerosol-generating system 200 that utilises a heater blade 210 to heat the rod of aerosol-generating substrate 12 of the aerosol-generating article 10 shown in FIG. 1. The heater blade 210 is mounted within an aerosol-generating article chamber within a housing of an electrically operated aerosol-generating device 212. The aerosol-generating device 212 defines a plurality of air holes 214 for allowing air to flow to the aerosol-generating article 10, as illustrated by the arrows in FIG. 4. The aerosol-generating device 212 comprises a power supply and electronics, which are not shown in FIG. 4.

(11) The aerosol-generating article 10 shown in FIG. 1 is designed to engage with the aerosol-generating device 212 shown in FIG. 4 in order to be consumed. The user inserts the aerosol-generating article 10 into the aerosol-generating device 212 so that the heater blade 210 is inserted into the rod of aerosol-generating substrate 12, through the tubular elements of homogenised tobacco material 30. The mouthpiece filter 18 projects outwards from the mouth end of the device 212. Once the aerosol-generating article 10 is engaged with the aerosol-generating device 212, the user draws on the mouth end 22 of the aerosol-generating article 10 and the rod of aerosol-generating substrate 12 is heated by the heater blade 210 to a temperature sufficient to generate an aerosol from the rod of aerosol-generating substrate 12.

(12) It will be appreciated that the aerosol-generating article 10 shown in FIG. 1 may also be suitable for use with other types of aerosol-generating devices.