CIGARETTE FILTER

Abstract

A tobacco product filter includes a storage mineral.

Description

The present invention relates to a tobacco product filter, in particular a filter for a cigarette.

Tobacco products have been smoked for a long time in almost all cultural circles. In addition to the pleasure associated therewith, it has been shown, however that the enjoyment of tobacco is hazardous to health. In particular, it has been shown that the risk of suffering from cancer is significantly increased in smokers.

In order to reduce the components of the tobacco which are harmful to health when inhaling, filters are used which are either firmly connected to the tobacco product (e.g. cigarette filters) or which are brought into the flow of smoke in each case when smoking (e.g. filters for pipes). These filters are intended to retain carcinogenic tar products on the one hand and the drug “nicotine” on the other hand (neurotoxin). Despite continuous improvement of filter materials, it is not possible to retain all harmful substances. However, this is also because harmful substances are indeed intended to be retained but the smoking enjoyment must not be too severely restricted. The flavour or the nicotine uptake should not be reduced in such a manner that the smoker loses the pleasurable sensation. Many smokers even shorten filters by breaking them off to thus achieve a stronger flavour.

Filters made of cellulose have been used for cigarettes. This is converted to cellulose triacetate in an expensive chemical process. The acetate flakes, the intermediate product, are converted into a spindle solution with the aid of acetone. This is spun using special spinning machines into long threads which have a quite specific cross-section. Very many threads are combined into a continuous strip which ultimately serves as the basis for the filter for the cigarette industry.

Particularly in so-called “light” cigarettes, the filter is provided with tiny holes. The smoke should thus be diluted with air so that it contains less tar and nicotine.

In the meantime it has even been disputed whether filter cigarettes are less harmful than filterless cigarettes. During inhalation, extremely fine fibres are transported into the lungs which increase the number of inhaled substances. At the same time, the higher resistance during suction leads to a longer suction phase and therefore to deeper inhalation than in the case of filterless cigarettes.

The object of the present invention is now to provide an improved filter for tobacco products. The filter should on the one hand retain harmful substances but on the other hand should influence the smoking enjoyment as little as possible. The tobacco should not be modified, in particular the carbon-dependent harmful substances should be eliminated as far as possible.

The object is achieved by a tobacco product filter comprising a storage mineral.

In particular, natural or synthetic zeolite can be considered as storage mineral. Added to this are inter alia, zeolite varieties such as scolecite and natrolite. Natural zeolites used in large quantities are clinoptilolite and heulandite. Zeolite describes a loose group of chemically very complex silicate minerals. Zeolite has a variable colour, white, yellow, brown or pink are represented very frequently, colourless variants also exist. It is important that depending on the type, the mineral can store up to about 40% of its dry weight of water.

Zeolites consist of a microporous skeleton structure comprising AlO₄- and SiO₄-tetrahedra. In this case, aluminium and silicon atoms are interlinked by oxygen atoms. Depending on the type of structure, a structure of uniform pores and/or channels is thus obtained, in which substances can be absorbed. Zeolites can therefore be used as sieves, as it were, since only molecules absorb in the pores which have a smaller kinetic diameter than the pore openings of the zeolite structure. Zeolites therefore come under the group of molecular sieves.

According to the invention, modified zeolites can also be used. Zeolites can be modified by ion exchange or chemical treatments in such a manner that an increase in the catalytic effect and/or an increase in the thermal or chemical resistance is achieved.

Zeolite also has an excellent effect as an ion exchanger, it can not only store harmful substances but decompose them by way of ion exchange and break them down into harmless base substances.

The tobacco product filter made of zeolite according to the invention advantageously has a grain size of about 1 mm to 6 mm, thus allowing a pleasant flow of air and smoke through the tobacco product filter.

According to the invention, the advantageous properties or capabilities of the storage mineral can be increased if the hydrophilic minerals are hydrophobized, that is, the minerals are coated in such a manner that they are not moistened by the smoke or during the smoking.

Such a hydrophobic coating is advantageously carried out using a substance which remains taste-free under stress or under heat and may not give off any harmful substances which can be harmful for their part. According to the invention, a polydimethylsiloxane is therefore advantageously used. The zeolite present in corresponding grain size is sprayed and mixed with polydimethylsiloxane, the fraction of polydimethylsiloxane in the total mass being about 2 to 10%, advantageously about 5%. Polydimethylsiloxane is also known under the designations dimeticone or simeticone. This additive is stable from minus 240° C. to 1600° C. and does not decay so that it is extremely suitable for use in a tobacco product filter. According to the invention, an emulsion of water and polydimethylsiloxane can also be used, the tobacco product filter then contains about 2-20%, preferably 10% of this emulsion. The fraction of water to polydimethylsiloxane in the emulsion is about 2:1, preferably 35% of polydimethylsiloxane.

The tobacco product filter according to the invention can be used as a separate filter, for example, for pipes, but can also be inserted directly into a ready-made cigarette. In the latter case, it has been found that it is particularly favourable if about 500 mg of the tobacco product filter according to the invention is disposed between the hitherto usual filter, for example, made of cellulose, and the tobacco. The best effects were achieved when the tobacco product filter according to the invention is inserted between two parts of the conventional cellulose filter. The conventional cellulose filter is therefore divided and a tobacco product filter according to the invention is inserted therebetween. Theoretically, however, a mouth-side arrangement at the end of the cellulose filter is also possible. In principle, the tobacco product filter according to the invention can also be used without a further filter, that is instead of the conventional cellulose filter.

The positive effect of the tobacco product filter according to the invention in a cigarette can be further enhanced according to the invention if in the region of the tobacco product filter according to the invention or shortly before this, small circular incisions are made in the outer cladding of the cigarette, which allow an auxiliary air flow which dilutes the smoke and cools the tobacco product filter.

The efficiency of the tobacco product filter according to the invention has been demonstrated in numerous expert's reports. For example, it has been shown that a conventional cellulose filter in a smoke zone of 1.5 to 4.5 cm, measured from the free end of the cigarette in the direction of the filter, allows about 460 mg/m³ of substances to pass whilst the tobacco product filter with auxiliary air incisions according to the invention only allows 65 mg/m³ to pass. Nicotine is not completely filtered in this case since this would too severely restrict the enjoyment.

The tobacco product filter can also be bound with cement or a similar material and so-to-speak used as a block at any point in the smoke and air flow.

The invention is explained in detail with reference to the following figures. The figures are only to be understood as an example and are not intended to restrict the scope of protection of the invention to these.

FIG. 1 shows the structure of a commercially available cigarette,

FIG. 2 shows the structure of a cigarette having a tobacco product filter according to the invention,

FIG. 3 shows a second embodiment of a cigarette having a tobacco product filter according to the invention and

FIG. 4 shows a third embodiment of a cigarette having a tobacco product filter.

FIGS. 1 to 4 explain the invention with reference to a commercially available filter cigarette 20 as an example. FIG. 1 shows such a filter cigarette 20, consisting of a tobacco section 22 adjoining a filter 24. The length relationships shown are only to be understood as an example. The filter 24 shown usually consists of a cellulose material.

FIG. 2 shows a first possibility of an arrangement of a tobacco product filter 26 according to the invention. In the exemplary embodiment shown, the tobacco product filter 26 is integrated in the filter 24 in such a manner that the total length of the original filter 24 is substantially retained. This means that a part of the original filter 24 is replaced by the tobacco product filter 26, the tobacco product filter 26 being disposed between two sections of the original filter 24. The tobacco product filter 26 is preferably formed from a natural or synthetic zeolite.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment according to the invention in which incisions 28 in the wrapping of the filter 24 allow a supply of fresh air when sucking in the smoke. The incisions 28 shown can also have different shapes and directions, what is important is that a supply of fresh air is possible which also cools the tobacco product filter 26.

FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment of a filter cigarette 20 according to the invention with a tobacco product filter 26 in which this is disposed directly adjacent to the tobacco section 22, that is located between the filter 24 and the tobacco section 22. In this embodiment, the length of the original filter 24 can be retained but it can also be reduced by the length of the tobacco product filter 26.

The invention is not restricted to the embodiments described but rather comprises all variants having the same effect. The tobacco product filter 26 can be used in particular in filter cigarettes 20 but it can also be correspondingly modified and be suitable for other tobacco products.

In addition to zeolite, the tobacco product filter 26 can also contain an emulsion of polydimethylsiloxane, the fraction of the emulsion in the total mass of the tobacco product filter 26 being about 2 to 20%. The length of a conventional filter cigarette 20 is about 82 mm, the length of the filter 24 being about 21 mm and the length of the tobacco section 22 being accordingly about 61 mm.

Claims

1. A tobacco product filter comprising a storage mineral.

2. The tobacco product filter according to claim 1, wherein the storage mineral has a grain size of about 1 to 6 mm.

3. The tobacco product filter according to claim 1, wherein the storage mineral is formed by zeolite.

4. The tobacco product filter according to claim 3, wherein the zeolite is coated with a hydrophobically acting layer.

5. The tobacco product filter according to claim 1, wherein the tobacco product filter contains polydimethylsiloxane.

6. The tobacco product filter according to claim 1, wherein the tobacco product filter contains an emulsion of polydimethylsiloxane and water.

7. (canceled)

8. (canceled)

9. (canceled)

10. The tobacco product filter according to claim 2, wherein the storage mineral is formed by zeolite.

11. The tobacco product filter according to claim 2, wherein the tobacco product filter contains at least one of (a) polydimethylsiloxane and (b) an emulsion of polydimethylsiloxane and water.

12. The tobacco product filter according to claim 3, wherein the tobacco product filter contains at least one of (a) polydimethylsiloxane and (b) an emulsion of polydimethylsiloxane and water.

13. The tobacco product filter according to claim 4, wherein the tobacco product filter contains at least one of (a) polydimethylsiloxane and (b) an emulsion of polydimethylsiloxane and water.

14. A filter cigarette comprising a tobacco product filter comprising a storage mineral.

15. The filter cigarette according to claim 14, wherein the tobacco product filter is integrated in a filter made of cellulose.

16. The filter cigarette according to claim 14, wherein in a region of the tobacco product filter there are provided incisions that allow a supply of fresh air when sucking in smoke.

17. The filter cigarette according to claim 15, wherein in a region of the tobacco product filter there are provided incisions that allow a supply of fresh air when sucking in smoke.

18. The filter cigarette according to claim 14, wherein the storage mineral has a grain size of about 1 to 6 mm.

19. The filter cigarette according to claim 14, wherein the storage mineral is formed by zeolite.

20. The filter cigarette according to claim 19, wherein the zeolite is coated with a hydrophobically acting layer.

21. The filter cigarette according to claim 14, wherein the tobacco product filter contains one of (a) polydimethylsiloxane and (b) an emulsion of polydimethylsiloxane and water.