Smoking device incorporating a breakable capsule, breakable capsule and process for manufacturing said capsule

Abstract

A smoking device includes a recipient or able to receive burning products, preferably tobacco, and a filter element connected to the recipient, wherein the filter includes at least one breakable capsule, the capsule having a initial crush strength from 0.5 to 2.5 kp, and keeping a crush strength from 0.5 to 2.5 kp and a deformation of less than two third of its diameter prior to rupture after having been submitted to a smoking test. The invention is also relating to the capsule suitable for being incorporated in a smoking device, and to the process of manufacture of the capsule.

Claims

1. A process for manufacturing seamless breakable capsules, each comprising a core and a shell, said process comprising the steps of: (A) co-extruding an external and hydrophilic liquid phase and an internal and lipophilic liquid phase, thereby forming seamless capsules, each having a core comprising the internal and lipophilic phase and a shell comprising the external and hydrophilic phase, (B) solidifying and/or gellifying the surface of the shell under cold conditions, (C) drying the capsules, (D) recovering seamless breakable capsules, wherein said seamless breakable capsules: (i) have an initial crush strength Ci from 0.5 to 2.5 kp and keep a crush strength Cf from 0.5 to 2.5 kp after having been submitted to the smoking test A, and (ii) present a deformation of less than two third of its diameter prior to rupture after having been submitted to the smoking test A.

2. The process for manufacturing seamless breakable capsules according to claim 1, wherein after the co-extrusion step (A), the capsules are centrifuged, after or before the solidification step (B).

3. The process for manufacturing seamless breakable capsules according to claim 1 comprising a further step of immersing the capsules into an organic liquid or an emulsion containing a curing agent.

4. The process for manufacturing seamless breakable capsules according to claim 3, wherein the curing agent is an anhydrous organic solvent or a solution comprising bivalent ions.

5. The process for manufacturing seamless breakable capsules according to claim 4, wherein the bivalent ions are calcium ions.

6. The process for manufacturing seamless breakable capsules according to claim 1, wherein the seamless capsules obtained at the end of step (B) are washed with an organic solvent before the drying step (C).

7. The process for manufacturing seamless breakable capsules according to claim 1, wherein the capsules obtained at the end of the drying step (C) are coated with at least one moisture barrier outer layer.

8. The process for manufacturing seamless breakable capsules according to claim 7, wherein the at least one moisture barrier outer layer is applied by dipping the capsules in a coating solution or by spraying a coating solution onto the capsules.

9. The process for manufacturing seamless breakable capsules according to claim 7, wherein the at least one moisture barrier outer layer comprises one member selected from the group consisting of waxes, shellac, ethylcellulose, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, latex composition, polyvinyl alcohol and combinations thereof.

10. The process for manufacturing seamless breakable capsules according to claim 1, wherein the external and hydrophilic liquid phase comprises from 4% to 75% w/w of the total dry weight of said external and liquid phase of at least one hydrocolloid.

11. The process for manufacturing seamless breakable capsules according to claim 1, wherein said hydrocolloid is selected from the group consisting of gellan gum, agar, alginates, carrageenans, pectins, arabic gum, ghatti gum, pullulan gum, mannan gum and modified starch, alone or as a mixture thereof or in combination with gelatin.

12. The process for manufacturing seamless breakable capsules according to claim 1, wherein the recovering step (D) comprises recovering seamless breakable capsules, each having an outer diameter in the range of 2 to 8 mm.

13. The process for manufacturing seamless breakable capsules according to claim 1, wherein the recovering step (D) consists in recovering seamless breakable capsules, each of which having a shell with a thickness in the range of 10 to 500 microns.

14. The process for manufacturing seamless breakable capsules according to claim 1, wherein the cold conditions at step (B) consist in immersing the capsules obtained at the end of step (A) in a cold bath at a temperature of between 1 C. and 15 C.

15. The process for manufacturing seamless breakable capsules according to claim 14, wherein the cold bath is at a temperature of between 2 C. and 10 C.

16. The process for manufacturing seamless breakable capsules according to claim 1, wherein the internal and lipophilic phase forming the core of each of the capsules comprises an aromatic agent.

17. The process for manufacturing seamless breakable capsules according to claim 1, wherein the internal and lipophilic phase forming the core of each of the capsules includes a solvent.

18. The process for manufacturing seamless breakable capsules according to claim 17, wherein the internal and lipophilic phase forming the core of each of the capsules includes medium chain triglyceride as a solvent.

19. A process for manufacturing seamless breakable capsules, each comprising a core and a shell, said process comprising the steps of: (A) co-extruding an external and hydrophilic liquid phase and an internal and lipophilic liquid phase, said external and hydrophilic liquid phase comprising from 4% to 95% w/w of the total dry weight of said external and liquid phase of at least one hydrocolloid, thereby forming seamless capsules, each having a core comprising the internal and lipophilic phase and a shell comprising the external and hydrophilic phase, (B) solidifying and/or gellifying the surface of the shell under cold conditions, (C) drying the capsules, (D) recovering seamless breakable capsules, wherein said seamless breakable capsules: (i) have an initial crush strength Ci from 0.5 to 2.5 kp and keep a crush strength Cf from 0.5 to 2.5 kp after having been submitted to the smoking test A, and (ii) present a deformation of less than two third of its diameter prior to rupture after having been submitted to the smoking test A.

20. A process for manufacturing seamless breakable capsules, each comprising a core and a shell, said process comprising the steps of: (A) co-extruding an external and hydrophilic liquid phase and an internal and lipophilic liquid phase, said external and hydrophilic liquid phase comprising from 4% to 95% w/w of the total dry weight of said external and liquid phase of at least one hydrocolloid selected from the group consisting of gellan gum, carrageenan, alginates and mixtures thereof, thereby forming seamless capsules, each having a core comprising the internal and lipophilic phase and a shell comprising the external and hydrophilic phase, (B) solidifying and/or gellifying the surface of the shell under cold conditions, (C) drying the capsules, (D) recovering seamless breakable capsules, wherein said seamless breakable capsules: (i) have an initial crush strength Ci from 0.5 to 2.5 kp and keep a crush strength Cf from 0.5 to 2.5 kp after having been submitted to the smoking test A, and (ii) present a deformation of less than two third of its diameter prior to rupture after having been submitted to the smoking test A.

Description

(1) The invention is hereunder illustrated by the following examples, which should not be considered as limiting the scope of the invention, and shall be read with reference to the figures.

(2) FIG. 1 is a diagram comparing the crush strength of a capsule having for sole hydrocolloid gelatin (herein referred to as the gelatin capsule, and a capsule of the invention.

(3) FIG. 2 is a diagram comparing the crush strength of a capsule having for sole hydrocolloid gelatin (herein referred to as the gelatin capsule, and a capsule of the invention after smoking.

EXAMPLES

Example 1

(4) Two types of capsules presenting the same size are prepared by co-extrusion as disclosed in patent EP 513603. The composition of capsules according to the present invention, referenced as 1004/H11 (having less than 80% gelatin and including gellan gum) is given in Table 1 below, and the composition of prior art capsules containing 80% gelatin, referenced 1004/C30, is given in Table 2 below.

(5) Weight of each capsule: 20.56 mg, in which

(6) weight of the shell: 3.68 mg (17.89%) weight of the core: 16.88 mg (82.11%)

(7) TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Capsules 1004/H11 %/total weight %/dry matter External liquid phase Dry matter: 15.5% Gellan gum Kelco F 1.800% 11.62% Gelatin 260A 4.000% 25.82% Sorbitol 1.000% 6.46% Glycerol 0.500% 3.23% Dextrin Cristal Tex T648 8.000% 51.65% Sodium bicarbonate 0.180% 1.16% brilliant blue FD&C#1 0.010% 0.06% processing water 84.510% 100.000% 100% Internal liquid phase Ethanol 6.0000% Mygliol 65.5000% Menthol 28.5000% Total 100.0000%

(8) TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Capsules 1004/C30 %/total weight %/dry matter External liquid phase Dry matter: 24.5% Gelatin 260A 19.800 80.82 Sorbitol 2.7000 11.02 Caramel color 2.000 8.16 processing water 75.500 100.000% 100% Internal liquid phase Ethanol 5.0000 Mygliol 812S 87.0000 Spearmint flavor #831661 8.0000 supplied by MANE Total 100.0000%
Capsules 1004/C30 and capsules 1004/H11 present a diameter of respectively 3489+/40 and 3394+/35 m.
The crush strength of the capsules is measured as follows using a LLOYD-CHATILLON Digital Force GaugeModel DFIS 50 Capacity=25 Kgf (50 lb) Resolution=0.02 Kgf (0.05 lb) Accuracy=+/0.15% Sampling Rate=1000 times per second
Methodology:
Force Gauge is attached to a stand.
The capsule is positioned in the middle of a plate that is moved up with a manual thread screw device. Pressure is then applied manually and once the capsule wall fails, the gauge records the maximum force applied prior to rupture (measure in Kg or in lb). Sample of 10 to 20 capsules is measured.
The results are as follows:

(9) TABLE-US-00003 capsules Crush strength (Kp) Standard deviation 1004/C30 4.60 1.11 1004/H11 1.70 0.26

(10) The results are also represented on FIG. 1.

Example 2

(11) Capsules are prepared according to example 1.

(12) Core content is about 89% and shell content is about 11%, corresponding to a thickness of dried shell of about 50 microns. Capsules are then dried to obtain 3.5 mm spherical capsules with a crush-strength of 1 kp. Average weight of capsule is about 20 mg.

(13) A prior art capsule containing gelatin (ref 1004/C1) which 72% gelatin as sole hydrocolloid, and a capsule as described in example 1 above are incorporated into a cavity filter of a cigarette. Crush strength value Ci is measured for both capsules according to the herein described method.

(14) The obtained cigarettes are then smoked on a smoking machine (smoking test A) according to international standard procedure. Filters containing the capsules are collected and capsules are extracted from the filter to measure crush strength value Cf after smoking process.

(15) In the case of gelatin capsules, capsules have melted into the filter during the smoking process and crush strength value is not measurable. Capsules are deformed and cannot burst when press on them. Gellan-including capsule, on the contrary, still burst when pressure on the filter.

(16) Weight of each capsule: 20.57 mg,

(17) in which weight of the shell: 2.37 mg (11.51%) weight of the core: 18.20 mg (88.49%)
Instrumentation:

(18) Smoking Machine HEINR BORGWALDT RM 4/cs

(19) The cigarettes containing breakable capsules are positioned on the smoking machine as standard position used for other type of analysis. The adjustable parameters are set up as follows: Puff volume: 35 ml (as defined in internationally standard method for smoking machine) Putt period: 60 seconds Puff duration: 2 seconds Puff sweep time: 1.8 second Exhaust sweep time: 1 second

(20) Crush strength are measured according to the procedure described in example 1 above.

(21) Capsules 1004/C1

(22) TABLE-US-00004 Internal liquid phase Dry matter: 25.0% %/dry Components % matter Gelling agent Gelatin 18.000% 72.00% Plasticizer Sorbitol 4.000% 16.00% filler Calcium 1.000% 4.00% Carbonate Color Caramel 2.000% 8.00% Solvent water 75.000% Total 100.000% 100% Internal liquid phase Name % Solubilising agent Ethanol 5.0000% carrier Miglyol 87.0000% Aroma Spearmint flavor 8.0000% #831661 supplied by MANE Total 100.0000%
The results are as follows:

(23) TABLE-US-00005 capsules Crush strength Ci Crush strength Cf 1004/C1 1.70 kp Not measurable (capsule has melted) 1004/H11 1.2 kp 1.2 kp
After smoking, prior art capsules are no longer breakable.

Example 3

(24) Capsules are prepared according to example 1, using the following composition:

(25) Capsules 1004/H6

(26) TABLE-US-00006 External liquid phase Dry Matter: 16.5% Components % %/dry matter gelling agent 1 Gellan gum 2.200% 13.33% gelling agent 2 Gelatin 4.000% 24.24% filler Dextrin CT648 10.000% 60.61% acid or salt Sodium bicarbonate 0.200% 1.21% Color brilliant blue FD&C #1 0.10% 0.61% Solvent Osmosed water 83.500% Total 100.000% Internal liquid phase components % Solubilizing Ethanol 5.0000% agent carrier Miglyol 812S 90.0000% aroma Spearmint flavor 5.0000% Total 100.0000%
Weight of each capsule: 20.96 mg in which: weight of the shell: 3.72 mg (17.74%) weight, of the core: 17.24 mg (82.26%)

(27) One capsule was introduced in a cavity of a cigarette filter. Crush strength Ci was measured according to the procedure described in example 1 above.
Ci=0.80+/0.20 Kp

(28) Then the cigarette was submitted to Test A as described in example 2 above, for 8 puffs. After 8 puffs, the capsule breaks with an audible pop.