HEATED AEROSOL-GENERATING ARTICLE COMPRISING HOMOGENISED BOTANICAL MATERIAL

Abstract

A heated aerosol-generating article is provided, including an aerosol-generating substrate, the aerosol-generating substrate including a homogenised botanical material comprising particulate plant material, an aerosol former, and a basic pH modifier; and the homogenised botanical material has a particulate plant material content of greater than or equal to about 60% by weight on a dry weight basis and less than or equal to about 90% by weight on a dry weight basis; and the homogenised botanical material has a pH greater than or equal to about 6.0 and less than or equal to about 8.0.

Claims

1.-13. (canceled)

14. A heated aerosol-generating article, comprising: an aerosol-generating substrate, the aerosol-generating substrate comprising a homogenised botanical material comprising particulate plant material, an aerosol former, and a basic pH modifier, wherein the homogenised botanical material has a particulate plant material content of greater than or equal to about 60% by weight on a dry weight basis and less than or equal to about 90% by weight on a dry weight basis, and wherein the homogenised botanical material has a pH greater than or equal to about 6.0 and less than or equal to about 8.0.

15. The heated aerosol-generating article according to claim 14, wherein the homogenised botanical material is a homogenised tobacco material and the particulate plant material is tobacco.

16. The heated aerosol-generating article according to claim 15, wherein the heated aerosol-generating article has a total nicotine content of less than or equal to about 10 mg.

17. The heated aerosol-generating article according to claim 14, wherein the homogenised botanical material has a pH of between about 6.0 and about 7.5.

18. The heated aerosol-generating article according to claim 14, wherein the basic pH modifier comprises one or more basic inorganic salts selected from the group consisting of alkali metal carbonates, alkaline earth metal carbonates, alkali metal hydrogen carbonates, alkaline earth metal hydrogen carbonates, alkali metal hydroxides, alkaline earth metal hydroxides, alkali metal phosphates, alkaline earth metal phosphates, alkali metal phosphates, alkaline earth metal phosphates, alkali metal monohydrogen phosphates, and alkaline earth metal monohydrogen phosphates.

19. The heated aerosol-generating article according to claim 14, wherein the basic pH modifier has a solubility in water of less than about 0.1 g/100 mL water at 20 C. and 1 atm.

20. The heated aerosol-generating article according to claim 14, wherein the homogenised botanical material has an aerosol former content of between about 5% and about 25% by weight on a dry weight basis.

21. The heated aerosol-generating article according to claim 14, wherein the homogenised botanical material further comprises a lipid having a melting point of between about 50 C. and about 150 C.

22. The heated aerosol-generating article according to claim 14, wherein the aerosol-generating substrate comprises a sheet of the homogenised botanical material.

23. The heated aerosol-generating article according to claim 14, further comprising an aerosol-generating rod comprising a gathered sheet of the homogenised botanical material circumscribed by a wrapper.

24. The heated aerosol-generating article according to claim 23, wherein the aerosol-generating rod further comprises a gathered cast sheet of the homogenised botanical material circumscribed by a wrapper.

25. An electrically-operated aerosol-generating system comprising the heated aerosol-generating article according to claim 14.

26. A heated aerosol-generating article according to claim 14, further comprising a combustible heat source, wherein the aerosol-generating substrate is disposed downstream of the combustible heat source.

Description

EXAMPLE

[0197] Cast sheets of homogenised tobacco material are prepared having the compositions shown in Table 1, where the values shown are the percentages by weight on a dry weight basis:

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Sample 1 Component (reference) Sample 2 Sample 3 Tobacco powder 75 65 74.08 Glycerol (aerosol former) 20 20 20 Guar gum (binder) 3 3 3 Cellulose fibres 2 2 2 Basic pH modifier 0 10 0.92 (calcium (calcium carbonate) hydroxide) Component Sample 4 Sample 5 Sample 6 Tobacco powder 73.15 73.55 72.83 Glycerol (aerosol former) 10 10 10 Guar gum (binder) 3 3 3 Cellulose fibres 2 2 2 Lipid (fully-hydrogenated 0 10 10 palm oil) Basic pH modifier 1.85 1.45 2.17 (calcium (magnesium (magnesium hydroxide) hydroxide) hydroxide)

[0198] To prepare the cast sheet of homogenised tobacco material of sample 1, the tobacco powder, glycerol, guar gum and cellulose fibres are combined with water to produce an aqueous slurry. The aqueous slurry is cast onto a support surface and then dried to form the cast sheet of homogenised tobacco material of sample 1.

[0199] To prepare the cast sheets of homogenised tobacco material of samples 2, 3 and 4, the tobacco powder, glycerol, guar gum, cellulose fibres and basic pH modifier are combined with water to produce an aqueous slurry. The aqueous slurry is cast onto a support surface and then dried to form the cast sheets of homogenised tobacco material of samples 2, 3 and 4.

[0200] To prepare the cast sheets of homogenised tobacco material of samples 5 and 6, the tobacco powder, glycerol, guar gum, cellulose fibres, lipid and basic pH modifier are combined with water to produce an aqueous slurry. The aqueous slurry is cast onto a support surface and then dried to form the cast sheets of homogenised tobacco material of samples 5 and 6.

[0201] The pH of the aqueous slurries used to form the cast sheets of homogenised tobacco material of samples 1 to 6 measured using a pH electrode.

[0202] The pH of the cast sheets of homogenised tobacco material of samples 1 to 6 is measured by dispersing 5 g of the cast sheet of homogenised tobacco material in 5 g of water and measuring the pH of the dispersion using a pH electrode.

[0203] The pH values obtained are shown in Table 2 below.

[0204] The nicotine content of methanoic extracts of samples of the cast sheets of homogenised tobacco material of samples 1 to 6 is measured using a gas chromatography flame ionization detector (GC-FID).

[0205] The cast sheets of homogenised tobacco material of samples 1 to 6 are gathered and circumscribed by a wrapper to form aerosol-generating rods. Heated aerosol-generating articles for use in an electrically-operated aerosol-generating system are formed comprising aerosol-generating substrates comprising the aerosol-generating rods.

[0206] The nicotine content of aerosols generated by electrically heating the heated aerosol-generating articles to a maximum temperature of 350 C. under Health Canada smoking conditions is determined using GC-FID. The nicotine transfer yields of the heated aerosol-generating articles are calculated from the nicotine content of the aerosols, the nicotine content of the cast sheets of homogenised tobacco material and the quantity of homogenised tobacco material in the aerosol-generating substrate of the heated aerosol-generating articles. The nicotine transfer yield is defined as (amount of nicotine delivered in the aerosol upon heating)/(amount of nicotine in the gathered cast sheet of homogenised tobacco material in the aerosol-generating substrate of the aerosol-generating article before heating). The results are shown in the Table 2 below:

TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 pH of cast Nicotine loss sheet of during preparation Increase of homogenised pH of of cast sheet nicotine tobacco aqueous of homogenised transfer Sample material slurry tobacco material* yield* 1 5.30 5.02 (reference) 2 5.60 5.23 3.4% 8% 3 6.05 6.24 0.3 5% 4 6.39 7.65 11.1% 15% 5 6.76 6.91 11.2% 43% 6 7.28 7.57 12.2% 38% *relative to sample 1

[0207] As shown in Table 2, inclusion of a basic pH modifier in the cast sheets of homogenised tobacco material of samples 2 to 6 increases the pH of the cast sheets of homogenised tobacco material of samples 2 to 6 to between 5.5 and 8. As shown in Table 2, this advantageously significantly increases the nicotine transfer yield of the heated aerosol-generating articles comprising the cast sheets of homogenised tobacco material of samples 2 to 6 compared to the heated aerosol-generating article comprising the cast sheet of homogenised tobacco material of reference sample 1, which does not include a basic pH modifier and which has a pH of less than 5.5.

[0208] Increasing the pH of the cast sheets of homogenised tobacco material of samples 2 to 6 to between 5.5 and 8 also increases the nicotine loss during preparation of the cast sheet of homogenised tobacco material of samples 2 to 6 compared to the cast sheet of homogenised tobacco material of reference sample 1, which does not include a basic pH modifier. However, the increase in nicotine transfer yield of the heated aerosol-generating articles comprising the cast sheets of homogenised tobacco material of samples 2 to 6 outweighs the increase in nicotine loss during preparation of the cast sheet of homogenised tobacco material of samples 2 to 6. This advantageously leads to overall increased aerosol levels of nicotine for the heated aerosol-generating articles comprising the cast sheets of homogenised tobacco material of samples 2 to 6 compared to the heated aerosol-generating article comprising the cast sheet of homogenised tobacco material of reference sample 1.

[0209] As shown in Table 2, inclusion of a lipid in the cast sheets of homogenised tobacco material of samples 5 and 6, advantageously further increases the nicotine transfer yield of the heated aerosol-generating articles comprising the cast sheets of homogenised tobacco material of samples 5 and 6 compared to the heated aerosol-generating articles comprising the cast sheets of homogenised tobacco material of samples 2 to 4, which do not include a lipid.

[0210] The specific embodiments described above are intended to illustrate the invention. However, other embodiments may be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the claims and it is to be understood that the specific embodiments described above are not intended to be limiting.