Smokable Substitute Material

Abstract

A smokable material and cigars and cigarettes formed thereof comprising a mixture of a resinous binder comprising the homopolymer or copolymer of the hydroxy and ketone derivatives of vinylene carbonate and a combustible filler. Non combustible fillers may also be added. The combustion products of the composition are primarily carbon dioxide and water.

Description

This invention relates to a smokable material and to smoking products produced with same.

Considerable effort has been and is currently being expended in the development of a smoking material as a substitute for tobacco. For the most part, such reasearch and development has followed two directions. In one direction, attempts have been made to replace tobacco with non-tobacco vegetable products in which the leaves are dried, cured and shredded in the manner corresponding to that employed with tobacco leaves. While such other vegetable products are generally free of nicotine, they produce harsh smoking mixtures in which the smoke is characterized by undesirable levels of polybicyclics and carbonyls. As a result, such tobacco substitutes have not found ready acceptance as a smokable material in the manufacture of smoking products.

The other course which has been followed by research and development for a tobacco substitute is a reconstituted smoking product in which non-noxious inert or combustible fillers are combined with an organic binder or adhesive to form a sheet or product which can be used as a filler or wrapper in the manufacture of pipe tobacco, cigarettes or cigars. Representative of the binders that have been used are such cellulosic materials as methyl cellulose, carboxy-methyl cellulose (free acid and sodium salt), and alginates, or natural gum such as guar gum, gum tragacanth, gum arabic, and locust bean gum and mixtures thereof. Such binders burn with such strong odors and acridity as to detract from the taste of the smoking product and undesirable amounts of chemical irritants and carcinogens are found with the smoke that is formed.

It is an object of this invention to produce and to provide a method for producing a smokable material which burns at a desired uniform slow rate without crackling and without flare while it is being smoked; which remains lit between puffs on a cigar, cigarette, or pipe packed therewith; which burns with an ash of sufficient strength, porosity and volume to remain attached to the burning end of the cigar or cigarette formed thereof; which does not give off undesirable or acrid odors or taste while being smoked, and in which the amount of carcinogens and chemical irritants produced during smoking is materially reduced if not entirely eliminated.

This invention resides in the discovery that a smokable material embodying many of the features described above can be produced with inert, non-combustible fillers and with combustible ingredients and mixtures thereof when embodied in combination with a synthetic polymeric film forming material or binder in the form of a homopolymer (1) or copolymer of vinylene carbonate (2) or hydroxy (3), or ketone (4) derivative thereof. ##SPC1##

Such polymers of vinylene carbonate and derivatives thereof form water insoluble plastic films or coatings and can therefore function admirably as a binder or film former in the preparation of reconstituted smokable products when combined with inert non-combustible fillers and/or combustible materials of the types previously described. The polymer (1) which consists of repeating 1,3-dioxolane-2-one ring system, in which the repeating units are coupled at the C.sub.4 and C.sub.5 positions, respectively, is capable of clean combustion to carbon dioxide and water, since all carbon atoms in the ring system are bonded to oxygen atoms. The linear polycarbonates should also burn in an analogous manner to yield very little if any chemical irritants and carcinogens.

Polyvinylene carbonate can be produced by homopolymerization of vinylene carbonate by the process described by M. S. Newman and R. W. Addor, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 75, 1,263 (1953). The polymethylol derivative can be produced by hydrolysis of polyvinylene carbonate, as described by Unruh and Smith, J. Org. Chem., 23, 625 (1958) and the corresponding ketone should be produced by conventional oxidation of the polymethylol.

Vinylene carbonate or derivatives thereof, copolymerized with olefins, such as acrylic acid, alkyl acrylates such as methyl acrylate or methyl methacrylate, or maleic acid or anhydride can be used as the film former or binder in the same manner as the polyvinylene carbonate, since such copolymers should also combust with the production of very little, if any, noxious combustion products in the smoke.

Representative of inert, non-combustible fillers which may be used with the polyvinylene carbonate or derivative or copolymer thereof, in the manufacture of a smokable product of this invention, are perlite, talc, diatomaceous earth, titanium dioxide, silica and alumina, and mixtures thereof. Combustible ingredients which may be employed in the manufacture of smokable products of this invention are represented by charcoal or other form of carbon, cellulose, oxycellulose, non-noxious cellulose derivatives, degraded cellulose, non-noxious degraded cellulosic derivatives, non-nicotine vegetable products, and tobacco and mixtures thereof.

A smokable reconstituted material can be prepared of the described ingredients in a number of ways. For example, the inert filler and/or combustible material can be admixed with the polymeric component and masticated to form a smokable material for use as a packing for pipes, or for use as a filler in the manufacture of cigars and cigarettes. Reconstituted sheets can be formed of such materials by casting or molding the mixture to sheet form or by taking the polymeric material into solution for admixture with the filler or combustible ingredient to be case or otherwise formed into sheets. Reconstituted sheets can also be prepared by coating a film of the polyvinylene carbonate or the like polymeric material with the filler and/or combustible material to form a composite sheet product.

In addition, because of the water insolubility of the polymeric material, conventional tobacco can be coated or impregnated with solutions of the polymeric material, as by dipping or spraying, to provide a protective coating which operates to retain the moisture and increase the strength of the tobacco product without interfering with its aroma or taste.

Reconstituted sheets of the type described can be reduced to shreds or pellets for use as a packing for pipes, or as an internal filler for cigars or cigarettes. In addition, they can be used in sheet form as cover sheets or wrappers in the manufacture of cigars or cigarettes wherein the filler comprises the smokable product of this invention or a conventional tobacco product.

In the manufacture of a smokable product, in accordance with the practice of this invention, the polyvinylene carbonate, or derivative or copolymer thereof, is employed in an amount which may range from 10-100 percent, when used as a wrapper, to 2-10 percent by weight when used as a binder or film former in which the remainder is made up of the inert filler and/or combustible material, as heretofore described. Various additions for the generation of smoke, aroma and taste and various humidifiers may be added, preferably in amounts which would not exceed 1-3 percent by weight of the smokable material. In many instances, it will be desirable to add nicotine for aroma and taste in amounts which will not exceed the amount of nicotine present in conventional tobacco.

Having described the basic concepts of this invention, the following examples are given by way of illustration, but not by way of limitation, of the practice of this invention:

Example 1

A mixture consisting of 90 percent by weight of finely divided tobacco and 10 percent by weight of polyvinylene carbonate, dissolved in acetone, is poured onto a Teflon coated surface and allowed to air dry. The resulting reconstituted tobacco sheet can be processed and utilized in sheet form as a wrapper for cigarettes or cigars or it can be shredded for use as a filler in pipes, cigars or cigarettes.

Example 2

A mixture of 33.5 percent by weight of a non-noxious combustible filler (charred oxycellulose), 30 percent by weight of calcium carbonate, 10 percent by weight of magnesium carbonate, 1.5 percent by weight of Rubidium oxalate and 25 percent by weight of polyvinylene carbonate, dissolved in acetone, is poured onto a Teflon surface and allowed to air dry. The resulting reconstituted non-tobacco sheet can be utilized in sheet form as a wrapper for cigars or cigarettes, or it can be shredded for use as a filler for pipes, cigarettes or cigars.

Instead of polyvinylene carbonate in Example 2, use can be made of polyvinylene ketone or copolymers of vinylene carbonate and methyl acrylate or methyl methacrylate, or maleic acid or anhydride in equivalent amounts to produce a smokable product.

It will be understood that changes may be made in the details of formulation and operation without departing from the spirit of the invention, especially as defined in the following claims.

Claims

We claim:

1. A smokable material comprising the mixture of a resinous binder selected from the group consisting of a homopolymer and copolymer of the hydroxy and ketone derivatives of vinylene carbonate, from which the combustion products are primarily carbon dioxide and water and in which the vinylene carbonate has the general formula ##SPC2##

and a combustible filler selected from the group consisting of charcoal, combustible carbon, cellulose, oxycellulose, non-noxious cellulose derivative, degraded cellulose, non-noxious degraded cellulose derivative, vegetable products and tobacco and mixtures thereof.

2. A smokable material as claimed in claim 1 in which the copolymer is a copolymer of the hydroxy or ketone derivative vinylene carbonate, and an olefin.

3. A smokable material as claimed in claim 2 in which the olefin is selected from the group consisting of acrylic acid, an acrylate, an alkyl acrylate and maleic acid or anhydride.

4. A smokable material as claimed in claim 1 which includes a non-combustible filler selected from the group consisting of perlite, talc, diatomaceous earth, titanium dioxide, silica and alumina and mixtures thereof.

5. A smokable material as claimed in claim 1 in which the smokable material is in the form of a reconstituted sheet formed of the resinous binder in admixture with the filler.

6. A smokable material as claimed in claim 1 in which the smokable material is in the form of a reconstituted sheet formed of a film of the resinous binder and a layer of filler bonded to the surface of the film.

7. A smokable material as claimed in claim 1 in which the smokable material is a tobacco product coated and impregnated with the resinous binder component.

8. A wrapper for cigars and cigarettes comprising a sheet formed of the smokable material of claim 1.

9. A filler for pipes, cigars and cigarettes comprising shreds of the smokable material of claim 1.

10. A cigarette comprising a wrapper formed of a combustible material and a filler within the wrapper of the smokable material of claim 1 reduced to shreds.

11. A cigarette as claimed in claim 10 in which the wrapper is formed of the smokable material of claim 1.

12. A cigar comprising a wrapper of a combustible material and a filler within the wrapper formed of sheets of the smokable material of claim 1.

13. A cigar as claimed in claim 12 in which the wrapper is a reconstituted sheet of the smokable material of claim 1.