AEROSOL-GENERATING ARTICLE HAVING AEROSOL-GENERATING SUBSTRATE WITH DUAL PLUGS

Abstract

A heated aerosol-generating article may include a rod of aerosol-generating substrate including: a first plug of homogenized tobacco material; and a second plug of homogenized tobacco material. The first plug and the second plug may be coaxially aligned. The first plug may be provided downstream of the second plug. The first plug and the second plug may differ from each other in at least one property of the homogenized tobacco material such that upon heating of the aerosol-generating substrate, the first plug releases aerosol after a shorter time than the second plug.

Claims

1.-17. (canceled)

18. A heatable aerosol-generating article comprising a rod of aerosol-generating substrate, the rod of aerosol-generating substrate comprising: a first plug of homogenized tobacco material comprising a first aerosol former; and a second plug of homogenized tobacco material comprising a second aerosol former, wherein the first plug and the second plug are coaxially aligned in an abutting end-to-end relationship, the first plug being disposed downstream of the second plug, wherein the first plug and the second plug differ from each other in at least one of density and aerosol former composition, and wherein the first plug is configured to have a lower activation temperature than the second plug

19. The article of claim 18, wherein the second plug has a density that is greater than a density of the first plug.

20. The article of claim 19, wherein the density of the second plug is at least 10 percent higher than the density of the first plug.

21. The article of claim 19, wherein the density of the second plug is at least 0.1 mg/mm.sup.3 higher than the density of the first plug.

22. The article of claim 19, wherein the density of the second plug is in a range of from 0.65 to 0.85 mg/mm.sup.3, and wherein the density of the first plug is in a range of from 0.45 to 0.65 mg/mm.sup.3.

23. The article of claim 18, wherein the second plug has a higher resistance-to-draw than that of the first plug.

24. The article of claim 18, wherein the aerosol former composition in the first plug is different than the aerosol former composition in the second plug.

25. The article of claim 24, wherein the first aerosol former and the second aerosol former comprise glycerol, and wherein the second plug comprises at least 2 wt. % more glycerol than the first plug, on a dry weight basis.

26. The article of claim 24, wherein at least the first aerosol former further comprises propylene glycol, and wherein the first plug comprises at least 2 wt. % more propylene glycol than the second plug, on a dry weight basis.

27. The article of claim 25, wherein, on a dry weight basis, the second plug comprises over 15 wt. % glycerol and 4 wt. % or less of propylene glycol, and the first plug comprises 15 wt. % or less of glycerol and at least 5 wt. % propylene glycol.

28. The article of claim 27, wherein, on a dry weight basis, the second plug comprises glycerol in a range of from 17 to 25 wt. % and propylene glycol in a range of from 0 to 4 wt. %, and the first plug comprises glycerol 5 to 15 wt. % and propylene glycol in a range of from 5 to 15 wt. %.

29. The article of claim 24, wherein the first and second plugs respectively comprise the first and second aerosol former in a range of from 15 and 25 wt. % on a dry weight basis.

30. The article of claim 18, wherein at least one of the first and second plugs is formed from one or more sheets of homogenous tobacco material.

31. An aerosol-generating system, comprising: the aerosol-generating article of claim 18; and an aerosol-generating device configured to receive the aerosol-generating article, the aerosol-generating device comprising a heater element configured to heat both the first plug and the second plug.

32. The aerosol-generating system of claim 31, wherein the heater element is a heater blade configured to be inserted into the first plug and the second plug.

33. A method of at least partially producing a rod of aerosol-generating substrate configured for the aerosol-generating article of claim 18, the method comprising: combining a first plug and the second plug, such that the first plug and the second plug are coaxially aligned in an abutting end-to-end relationship and such that the first plug is disposed downstream of the second plug, to form a combined plug; and wrapping the combined plug to form the rod of aerosol-generating substrate.

34. A rod configured for an aerosol-generating substrate in an aerosol-generating article, the rod comprising: a first plug of homogenized tobacco material comprising a first aerosol former; and a second plug of homogenized tobacco material comprising a second aerosol former, wherein the first plug and the second plug are coaxially aligned in an abutting end-to-end relationship, the first plug being disposed downstream of the second plug, wherein the first plug and the second plug differ from each other in at least one of density and aerosol former composition, and wherein the first plug is configured to have a lower activation temperature than the second plug.

Description

[0074] The invention will now be further described with reference to the figures in which:

[0075] FIG. 1 shows a schematic longitudinal cross-sectional view of an aerosol-generating article according to the invention;

[0076] FIG. 2 shows an exploded view of a first embodiment of a rod of aerosol-generating substrate for use in the aerosol-generating article shown in FIG. 1;

[0077] FIG. 3 shows an exploded view of a second embodiment of a rod of aerosol-generating substrate for use in the aerosol-generating article shown in FIG. 1; and

[0078] 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 or 2.

[0079] 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.

[0080] 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.

[0081] A first embodiment of a rod of aerosol-generating substrate 12 for use in the aerosol-generating article 10 of FIG. 1 is shown in FIG. 2. The rod 12 comprises dual plugs of homogenised tobacco material: a fast release plug 26 provided at the downstream end of the rod 12 and a slow release plug 28 provided at the upstream end of the rod 12. The fast release plug 26 and the slow release plug 28 have a substantially equal length to each other and are provided in an abutting end-to-end relationship in the assembled aerosol-generating article 10.

[0082] Each of the fast release plug 26 and the slow release plug 28 is formed of a gathered sheet of homogenised tobacco material. The sheet of homogenised tobacco material forming the slow release plug 28 is gathered such that the slow release plug 28 has a density that is at least 30 percent higher than the density of the fast release plug 26.

[0083] A second embodiment of a rod of aerosol-generating substrate 112 for use in the aerosol-generating article 10 of FIG. 1 is shown in FIG. 3. As in the rod of aerosol-generating substrate 12 shown in FIG. 2, the rod 112 comprises a fast release plug 126 provided at the downstream end of the rod 112 and a slow release plug 128 provided at the upstream end of the rod 112. The fast release plug 126 and the slow release plug 128 have a substantially equal length to each other and are provided in an abutting end-to-end relationship in the assembled aerosol-generating article 10.

[0084] Each of the fast release plug 126 and the slow release plug 128 is formed of a gathered sheet of homogenised tobacco material and the plugs have substantially the same density as each other. However, the sheets forming the fast release plug 126 and the slow release plug 128 have a different composition to each other. In particular, the homogenised tobacco material of the fast release plug 126 has a different composition of aerosol former to the homogenised tobacco material of the slow release plug 128. The aerosol former of the homogenised tobacco material of the fast release plug 126 comprises a combination of glycerol and propylene glycol in a 1:1 ratio. The aerosol former of the homogenised tobacco material of the slow release plug 128 comprises glycerol without propylene glycol. In each of the plugs, the total aerosol former content of the homogenised tobacco material is approximately 20 percent by weight.

[0085] 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. 6.

[0086] 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 both the fast release plug 26 and the slow release plug 28. The mouthpiece filter 18 projects outwards from the mouth end of the device 212. After the aerosol-generating article 10 is engaged with the aerosol-generating device 212, the dual plugs 26, 28 of the rod of aerosol-generating substrate 12 are both simultaneously heated by the heater blade 210 to a temperature sufficient to generate an aerosol from the rod of aerosol-generating substrate 12. The aerosol is drawn through the mouth end filter 18.

[0087] Upon heating of the rod of aerosol-generating substrate 12 during use, the fast release plug 28 begins to release aerosol within a shorter time after the commencement of heating than the slow release plug 26. The activation temperature of the fast release plug 28 is therefore lower. As the temperature increases further, the slow release plug 28 will also being to release aerosol.

[0088] It will be appreciated that an aerosol-generating article 10 incorporating the rod of aerosol-generating substrate 112 shown in FIG. 3 could be consumed in a similar way using the aerosol-generating device 212 shown in FIG. 4. As described in relation to the rod of aerosol-generating substrate 12, upon heating the rod of aerosol-generating substrate 52 during use, the fast release plug 128 begins to release aerosol within a shorter time after the commencement of heating than the slow release plug 126.

[0089] 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.