Crumbed Tobacco Substrate

Abstract

An aerosol releasing substrate for use in a heat-not-burn device is air permeable and includes tobacco particles and/or an inhalable agent, which contains at least one of a stimulant and/or a flavor, a gelling agent for gelling the aerosol releasing substrate, a degradation preventing and/or thickening stabilizer, and 30-70% humectant. The aerosol releasing substrate further has a soft granular texture. A method of producing a soft granular aerosol releasing substrate for use in a heat-not-burn device, which is air permeable, includes the steps: a) forming a mixture by mixing tobacco particles and/or an inhalable agent, which contains at least one of a stimulant and/or a flavor, a gelling agent for gelling the aerosol releasing substrate, a degradation preventing and/or thickening stabilizer, and 30-70% humectant, and b) forming a soft granular structure from the mixture.

Claims

1. An aerosol releasing substrate for use in a heat-not-burn device, the aerosol releasing substrate being air permeable and comprising: tobacco particles and/or an inhalable agent, which contains at least one of a stimulant and/or a flavor, a gelling agent for gelling the aerosol releasing substrate, and a degradation preventing and/or thickening stabilizer, wherein the aerosol releasing substrate contains 30-70% humectant, wherein the aerosol releasing substrate has a soft granular texture.

2. The aerosol releasing substrate according to claim 1, wherein, the aerosol releasing substrate has particle sizes greater than 0.3 mm and smaller than 10 mm.

3. The aerosol releasing substrate according to claim 1, wherein, a weight of the tobacco and/or the inhalable agent is greater than 5 wt. % a weight of the aerosol releasing substrate and smaller than 70 wt. % of the weight of the aerosol releasing substrate.

4. The aerosol releasing substrate according to claim 1, wherein, the tobacco particles and/or the inhalable agent contains at least one sort of tobacco, an extract of tobacco and/or at least one non-tobacco flavoring agent, wherein the sort of tobacco has a particle size (Dv90) greater than 100 μm and smaller than 1000 μm.

5. The aerosol releasing substrate according to claim 1, wherein, the humectant comprises glycerol, propylene glycol, ethanol and/or water.

6. The aerosol releasing substrate according to claim 1, wherein, the humectant comprises propylene glycol and glycerol, and a ratio of the propylene glycol and glycerol is between 80:20 and 20:80.

7. The aerosol releasing substrate according to claim 1, wherein, the degradation preventing and/or thickening stabilizer comprises carboxymethylcellulose and/or hydroxyalkylated carbohydrates.

8. The aerosol releasing substrate according to claim 1, wherein the degradation preventing and/or thickening stabilizer is in an amount greater than 8% and smaller than 30% by weight of the aerosol releasing substrate.

9. The aerosol releasing substrate according to claim 1, wherein, the gelling agent is a non-protein containing polysaccharide and/or comprises gellan gum, lecithin, agar and/or mixtures thereof.

10. The aerosol releasing substrate according to claim 1, where in the gelling agent is in an amount greater than 2% and smaller than 12% by weight of the aerosol releasing substrate.

11. The aerosol releasing substrate according to claim 1, wherein, a bulk density of the aerosol releasing substrate is greater than 100 kg/m.sup.3 and lower than 500 kg/m.sup.3.

12. (canceled)

13. A method of producing a granular aerosol releasing substrate for use in a heat-not-burn device, the aerosol releasing substrate being air permeable, the method comprising the steps: a) forming a mixture by mixing tobacco particles and/or an inhalable agent, which contains at least one of a stimulant and/or a flavor, a gelling agent for gelling the aerosol releasing substrate, a degradation preventing and/or thickening stabilizer, and 30-70% humectant, and b) forming a granular structure from the mixture.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein, the step of forming the granular structure further comprises sieving the mixture to produce a granular texture of the aerosol releasing substrate.

15. The method according to claim 14, further comprising feeding the substrate in an extruder between the step of forming the mixture and the step of forming the granular structure, and wherein the step of forming the granular structure further comprises extruding the substrate through a die with multiple holes and cutting.

16. The method according to claim 13, wherein, the mixture is aged.

17. The method according to claim 13, wherein, the mixture is aged for 1 to 10 hours and/or at temperatures below 60° C.

18. The method according to one of the claim 13, wherein, the step of forming the mixture and the step of forming the granular structure take place at temperatures below 60° C.

19. The method according to claim 14, wherein, the mixture is sieved down to particle sizes greater than 0.3 mm and up to particle sizes smaller than 10 mm.

20. The method according to one of the claim 13, wherein, a bulk density of the aerosol releasing substrate is greater than 100 kg/m.sup.3 and lower than 500 kg/m.sup.3.

21. A pod containing the aerosol releasing substrate according to claim 1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Examples

[0037] The present invention will now be described in detail with reference to examples thereof. However, these examples are illustrative and do not limit the scope of the invention.

[0038] Table 1a: Components used in the present sample 1.

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1a Components used in the present sample 1. Sample 1 Ingredients: (wt. %) Propylene glycol 16 Glycerol 24 Water or purified water 3.8 Gelling agent (gellan gum) 6.8 Tobacco particles 33 Stabilizer (cellulose derivative) 16.5

Example 1a

[0039] Table 1 shows components used in an exemplary embodiment of the soft granulated aerosol releasing substrate. The soft aerosol releasing substrate contains between 40% and 50% humectant by weight of the aerosol releasing substrate. The humectant comprises between 2% and 6% water as well as between 10% and 20% propylene glycol and between 20% and 30% glycerol by weight of the substrate. This amount of humectant results in a soft consistence of the substrate.

[0040] The granulated aerosol releasing substrate further contains a gelling agent, in particular in the form of gellan gum, in an amount an amount between 4% and 8% by weight of the aerosol releasing substrate. The gelling agent also participates to soften the substrate. A degradation preventing and/or thickening stabilizer or binder, especially based on cellulose and in particular based on a cellulose derivate, such as carboxylmethylcellulose is present in an amount between 14% and 20% by weight of the aerosol releasing substrate.

[0041] In the aerosol releasing substrate, tobacco is present in the form of particles, wherein the content of tobacco particles is between 30% and 40% by weight of the aerosol releasing substrate. The sizes of the tobacco particles are preferably between 0.4 mm and 0.8 mm. Larger sized particles might not fit into a final granular size of the aerosol releasing substrate granules, which are between 0.4 mm and 3 mm in size, wherein most of the granules (90 vol. %) are in the range of between 0.8 mm and 2.5 mm. The granular size of the aerosol releasing substrate and the tobacco particle size are measured by a Malvern 3000 laser diffraction particle size analyzer (v3.62) under dry dispersions.

[0042] The aerosol releasing substrate further has a bulk density of 300 kg/m.sup.3. The bulk density is determined by measuring the volume for three samples having a weight of 31.0+/−0.3 grams poured in steel cylinder bucket. An average value taken from the density results is calculated.

Example 1 b

[0043]

TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 1b Components used in the present sample. Sample 1 Ingredients: (wt. %) Propylene glycol 12.5 Glycerol 19.3 Water or purified water 2.8 Gelling agent (gellan gum) 4.7 Tobacco particles 49.0 Stabilizer (cellulose derivative) 11.7

[0044] The tobacco particles comprise nicotine as the stimulant. Due to the higher amount of tobacco particles, the nicotine release is higher in comparison to example 1 together with a higher sensorial impact than example 1. The tobacco particle size in this example is preferably 600 μm. The water is used to activate the binder, which together form the thickening stabilizer. Preferably, the binder is carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), more preferred Ceroga 4550 C. The aerosol releasing substrates of examples 1a and 1b comprise the same visual and tactile properties.

Example 2

[0045] For producing the soft granulated aerosol releasing substrate an exemplary embodiment of the method provides the following procedure:

[0046] At first, liquid components of the aerosol releasing substrate, such as water, propylene glycol and glycerin are mixed at ambient conditions, in particular room temperature to create a mixture, preferably for 3 minutes at a mixing speed on level 5. The mixture is thus not heated. In a next step, the gelling agent in the form of gellan gum is added to the mixture, followed by the tobacco particles and the stabilizer in the form of a cellulose derivative. During the whole mixing procedure, the mixture is aerated either mechanically by a mixing machine, or by an injection of air. Preferably, the mixture is mixed in a Kenwood mixer. Preferably, the mixture is mixed for 3 minutes at a mixing speed on level 5 after every addition of an ingredient. Afterwards, the mixture is removed from the mixer and the mixture is further mixed by hand, or in alternative to that in the mixer at a minimum mixing speed, until a homogeneous color of the mixture is achieved.

[0047] After the mixture is created, it is aged for at least 4 hours, preferably 24 hours in a closed container at ambient conditions, in particular at room temperature. The mixture is thus neither actively heated, nor actively dried, meaning that the mixture is not affected by technically generated heat during aging. Further, conditions are constant during the whole period of aging. To form the granular structure the mixture is finally sieved down to a granular texture using a 1.7 mm sieve. Preferably, the mixture is sieved through a 1.7 mm sieve for 5 minutes at 280 rpm. This sieving step is repeated until all of the mixture is sieved. The aerosol releasing substrate now preferably comprises a moisture content of 15.94%.

Example 3

[0048] The process is carried out as in Example 2, except that the ingredients are placed in separate barrels and then fed to an extruder, in which the ingredients are compounded at ambient conditions. The final shaping to granules is carried out with a die with multiple holes and a rotating knife cutting the extruded aerosol releasing substrate.

[0049] The applicant reserves his right to claim all features disclosed in the application document as being an essential feature of the invention, as long as they are new, individually or in combination, in view of the prior art. Furthermore, it is noted that in the figures features are described, which can be advantageous individually. Someone skilled in the art will directly recognize that a specific feature being disclosed in a figure can be advantageous also without the adoption of further features from this figure. Furthermore, someone skilled in the art will recognize that advantages can evolve from a combination of diverse features being disclosed in one or various figures.