A POUCHED PRODUCT FOR ORAL USE

Abstract

Described is a pouched product for oral use that includes a liquid permeable cover material and a portion sized amount of a filling material including a water insoluble particulate material, the filling material being enclosed by the liquid permeable cover material. The water insoluble particulate material contains less than 0.5% of particles passing through a sieve having a mesh size of 250 m, the filling material includes one or more water soluble components.

Claims

1. A pouched product for oral use comprising a liquid permeable cover material and a filling material comprising one or more water soluble components and a water insoluble particulate material, the water insoluble particulate material being constituted by water insoluble particles, the filling material being enclosed by the liquid permeable cover material, characterized in that the particles of the water insoluble particulate material have an average particle size within the range of from 0.3 mm to 3.0 mm, the water insoluble particulate material contains less than 0.5% of particles passing through a sieve having a mesh size of 250 m, the filling material comprises one or more water soluble components and the liquid permeable outer cover material is a nonwoven material having a basis weight in the range of from 10 g/m.sup.2 to 28 g/m.sup.2, the filling material being free from tobacco material or the filling material comprising tobacco material in an amount within the range of from 0.05 wt % to 10 wt % based on the total weight of the filling material.

2. A pouched product according to claim 1, wherein the filling material has a pre-use moisture content of from 1% by weight of the filling material to 35% by weight of the filling material.

3. A pouched product according to claim 1, wherein the water insoluble particulate material comprises water insoluble particles of microcrystalline cellulose, water insoluble starch, silica, or a mixture thereof.

4. A pouched product according to claim 3, wherein the water insoluble particles constitute 75% by dry weight to 99% by dry weight of the filling material.

5. A pouched product according to claim 3, wherein the water insoluble particles have a particle density in the range of from 0.8 g/cm.sup.3 to 1.7 g/cm.sup.3.

6. A pouched product according to claim 1, wherein the particles of the water insoluble particulate material have an average particle size within the range of from 0.4 mm to 2.0 mm.

7. A pouched product according to claim 1, wherein the liquid permeable outer cover material has an air permeability of from 4,500 l/m.sup.2/s to 10,000 l/m.sup.2/s, when measured according to the EDANA test method WSP070.1.R3(12).

8. A pouched product according to claim 1, wherein the particles of the water insoluble particulate material have an average particle size in the range of from 0.3 mm to 3 mm in combination with a liquid permeable cover material having a porosity in the range of from 4,500 l/m.sup.2/s to 10,000 l/m.sup.2/s, when measured according to the EDANA test method WSP070.1.R3(12).

9. A pouched product according to claim 1, wherein the liquid permeable cover material is a nonwoven material.

10. A snuff product according to claim 1, wherein the particles of the water insoluble particulate material have a sphericity within the range of from 0.7 to 1.0, and a diameter of from 0.3 mm to 3 mm.

11. A pouched product according to claim 1, wherein the filling material comprises nicotine, the nicotine being added in the filling material in the form of a nicotine compound.

12. A pouched product according to claim 1, wherein the filling material comprises an additive selected from the group consisting of a flavouring agent, a sweetener, a humectant, and any mixture thereof.

13. A pouched product according to claim 12, wherein the additive comprises a flavouring agent.

14. A pouched product according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more water soluble components is present on an outer surface of at least some of the particles of the water insoluble particulate material.

15. A pouched product according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more water soluble components is present in interstices between the particles of the water insoluble particulate material.

Description

EXAMPLES AND DESCRIPTION OF TEST METHODS

[0054] Method for Determining Moisture Content, Loss on Drying, LOD

[0055] The moisture content as referred to herein may be determined by using a method based on literature references Federal Register/vol. 74, no. 4/712-719/Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2009/Notices Total moisture determination and AOAC (Association of Official Analytical Chemics), Official Methods of Analysis 966.02: Moisture in Tobacco (1990), Fifth Edition, K. Helrich (ed). In this method, the moisture content is determined gravimetrically by taking 2.50.25 g sample and weighing the sample at ambient conditions, herein defined as being at a temperature of 22 C. and a relative humidity of 60%, before evaporation of moisture and after completion of dehydration. Mettler Toledo's Moisture Analyzer HB43, a balance with halogen heating technology, is used (instead of an oven and a balance as in the mentioned literature references) in the experiments described herein. The sample is heated to 105 C. (instead of 99.50.5 C. as in the mentioned literature references). The measurement is stopped when the weight change is less than 1 mg during a 90 second time frame. The moisture content as weight percent of the sample is then calculated automatically by the Moisture Analyzer HB43.

Comparative Example

[0056] Sample 1A filling material constituted by approximately 78% by weight of particles of microcrystalline cellulose having an average particle size of 945 m, a particle density of 1.3 g/cm.sup.3 and a bulk density of 0.78 g/cm.sup.3, and approximately 9% by weight of additional components based on the total weight of the filling material. The moisture content in the filling material was 13% of the total weight of the filling material.

[0057] Reference 1Shiro Sweet Mint supplied by AG Snus.

[0058] Reference 2YOYO Havana Mojito Slim supplied by Nordic Noir Holding.

[0059] Preparation of Reference Samples:

[0060] Oral pouched products of Reference 1 and Reference 2 were cut up and a sufficient amount of each filling material was gathered for performing the test.

[0061] Test Procedure:

[0062] The tests were performed on a Retsch/AS 200 control vibrating sieve with a mesh size of 250 m. 10 g of filling material from each of Sample 1, Reference 1 and Reference 2 was used for the test. Each sample was placed on the sieve and vibrated for 1 minute with an amplitude of 1 mm.

[0063] The weight of the upper fraction and the lower fraction was measured for each sample and the measured values are shown in Table 1.

[0064] The moisture content of each of Sample 1, Reference 1 and Reference 2 was measured according to the LOD method and the measured values are shown in Table 2.

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Weight of Weight of Control = Result material >250 m material <250 m 10 g Sample 1 9.92 0.01 9.93 Reference 1 8.19 1.73 9.92 Reference 2 5.34 4.38 9.72

TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Filling material Moisture content LOD (%) Sample 1 13.0 Reference 1 23.2 Reference 2 25.2

[0065] From Table 1 and Table 2, it can be seen that both reference samples Reference 1 and Reference 2 had a considerably greater proportion of smaller particles or dust than the filling material of Sample 1, despite the fact that both references had a moisture content which was almost double that of Sample 1.

[0066] The discrepancy between the initially loaded amount of 10 g of filling material and the sum of the upper and lower fractions of the samples may be explained by a small amount of particles sticking to the sieve and by evaporation of volatiles. The loss of material is approximately the same for Sample 1 and Reference 1 and slightly greater for Reference 2, containing a large amount of small particles.