In most popular embodiments, the first tobacco material is shredded into strips from a sheet material having a thickness from about zero.05 mm to about 1 mm. Even extra preferably, the primary tobacco materials is shredded into strips from a sheet materials having a thickness from about zero.1 mm to about 0.3 mm, most ideally from a sheet materials having a thickness of about zero.2 mm. A tobacco reduce filler in accordance with any one of claims 1 to 9, whereby the first tobacco materials is shredded into strips each comprising no less than a primary strip structure comprising a branching node from which an extra strip structure branches off, forming an angle with the first strip structure. Figures 10 and 12 present two examples of cut strips together with a quantity of V-shaped construction. Each V construction includes two substantially straight elements forming an angle.
Experiments had been carried out so as to assess the influence of various shapes and minimize specs to key parameters of tobacco reduce filler particles, such as the filling energy. In extra element, Figure 1 reveals a zigzag-shaped strip and Figure 2 exhibits a wave-shaped strip. Where the cut strip is zigzag-shaped or wave- formed, it’s potential to measure a wave length of the reduce strip, which considerably corresponds to the strip reduce size divided by the number of repetitions of the zigzag or wave. For occasion, within the cut strip of Figure 1 the zigzag is repeated 10 instances. Preferably, a wave length of the sinusoidal shape is from about 1 mm to about 15 mm, extra preferably from about 2 mm to about 12 mm, even more preferably from four mm to 10 mm. Preferably, the tobacco minimize filler additional comprises a second tobacco materials reduce in accordance with a second cut specification differing from the first minimize specification for no much less than one of cut size and cut width.
Without wishing to be certain to concept, it will be appreciated that in any chopping, rolling or extruding operation, the tobacco fibres usually align in a given course, which can thus be recognized as the longitudinal path of the tobacco materials. The “reduce length” of a minimize strip of tobacco material for incorporation in minimize fillers in accordance with the present invention could due to this fact be measured alongside the principle direction of fibre alignment, which usually corresponds to the longitudinal direction. Thus, the minimize length of an individual cut strip could be precisely measured utilizing a conventional measuring gadget under a microscope. In a conventional course of, reconstituted tobacco or tobacco stem materials or both are usually blended with threshed tobacco lamina to undergo a series of therapies, corresponding to conditioning and drying. To this purpose, a reconstituted tobacco sheet is typically ripped into randomly shaped sheet-like pieces having a non-uniform measurement, generally of several square centimetres.
Suitable pure tobacco leaf supplies embrace tobacco lamina, tobacco stem materials and tobacco stalk material. The pure tobacco leaf materials used because the second tobacco material may embody any kind of tobacco leaf, together with for instance Virginia tobacco leaf, Burley tobacco leaf, Oriental tobacco leaf, flue-cured tobacco leaf, or a mix thereof. A tobacco cut filler based on the current invention contains a first tobacco material cut in accordance with a first reduce specification, wherein the primary cut specification units no less than predetermined first minimize width and first minimize length. The term “filling energy” is used to explain the amount of house taken up by a given weight or mass of a tobacco materials. The higher the filling energy of a tobacco materials, the decrease the weight of the material required to fill a tobacco rod of standard dimensions.
The reduce width of one such Y-shaped strip corresponds substantially to the gap between the ends of the second and third strip parts as measured alongside a path perpendicular to the direction outlined by an axis of the primary strip portion. Within the same Y-shaped strip, the sectional cut width of every strip portion could as an alternative be measured alongside a direction considerably perpendicular to the axis of every strip portion. In some instances, corresponding to the place the cut strip of tobacco material is considerably rectangular , the sectional cut width and the strip minimize width are the identical.
In some embodiments, tobacco reduce filler based on the invention could also be used in the tobacco rod of a combustible smoking article, similar to a filter cigarette, cigarillo or cigar. Alternatively, the cut filler could additionally be used to supply the tobacco aerosol producing substrate in a distillation primarily based smoking article, or an electrically heated smoking system. Alternatively, the reduce filler may be used as a roll-your-own or make-your-own product, or unfastened tobacco product for use in a pipe.
Sensors 40 and mass circulate controllers forty two, 44, if current, are operatively connected with a management unit 46 configured to control the operation of the apparatus. In explicit, the control unit 46 adjusts the speed to the conveyor belt 38 in view of variations within the pace at which the online of reconstituted tobacco is fed to the shredding system 36, in order to prevent any undesirable accumulation of reduce strips on the conveyor belt. By finely controlling the size and form of the strips into which the primary tobacco material is cut or shredded, the features of the first tobacco pipe tobacco material can advantageously be higher preserved whenever the primary tobacco materials is mixed, in the shredded state, with some other tobacco material. This is particularly advantageous when the first tobacco materials is a pre-processed tobacco material, similar to a reconstituted tobacco sheet materials. The “thickness” of a cut strip of tobacco materials for incorporation in reduce fillers in accordance with the current invention refers to the distance between an higher floor and a lower surface of the portion of material forming the minimize strip.