Prepared smoking tobacco

Patented July 9, 1935

2,007,407

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE

2,007,407

PREPARED SMOKING TOBACCO

Samuel S. Sadtler, Erdenheim, near Philadelphia, Pa.

No Drawing. Application March 22, 1932, Serial No. 600, 555. Renewed August 3, 1933

Claims. (Cl. 131—31)

This invention relates to an improvement in smoking tobacco, and more particularly in the tobacco which is used in the manufacture of cigarettes, the improvement consisting in addB ing to the tobacco a material or materials which during smoking, remove certain objectionable matter from the smoke, and thereby increase the enjoyment experienced during the smoking of the cigarette.

An object of the invention is to so treat the tobacco that when it is made into a cigarette the smoke therefrom will have an agreeable flavor and taste, and will not produce a “biting” sensation.

A further object is to ,add to the tobacco during the manufacturing processes,· a material or materials which will remove from the smoke a consider able part of the nicotine and phenol compounds, and other objectionable substances, so 20 that the nicotine and phenol compounds and other substances, or a greatly reduced quantity thereof, will not be taken into the mouth during smoking.

A further object is to provide a material or ma25 terials which may be added to smoking tobacco that will have the property of removing substances therefrom during smoking which substances produce unpleasant tastes, thereby permitting the use of a greater variety of different 30 grades of tobacco, including highly flavored or “strong” tobacco, in cigarettes and the like, and thereby producing new blends not heretofore used because such new blends require the use of grades of tobacco which in addition to possessing agree35 able flavors also contain ingredients which result in the production of unpleasant flavors and tastes in the blended tobacco.

Other objects of the invention will appear to those skilled in the art upon reading the specifl40 cation.

After a long period of research with many kinds of tobacco, including such grades as are generally used in cigarette manufacture, with the addition thereto of many “improving” chemical com45 pounds, I have found that when such substances as colloidal j silicic acid (known in the trade as “silica gel”), colloidal aluminum hydroxide, or colloidal aluminum oxide, amorphous titanium oxides, particularly titanium dioxide, and precipi50 tated dried colloidal titanium hydroxides, bentonite, or fuller’s earth, either singly, or two or more of such colloidal substances mixed, are added to the tobacco in the course of manufacturing operations, that cigarettes made therefrom produce a much more agreeable smoke than when such substances, or any one or more of them, are absent. During my research work, I have passed the smoke from cigarettes containing added colloidal substances in accordance with my invention, through water, and have also passed the 5 smoke from the same number of cigarettes made from the same sample of tobacco, but without the addition of the colloidal substances, through the same quantity of water and under the same conditions, and in each test have found upon chemi- 10 cal examination that the water treated with the smoke from the cigarettes containing the colloidal substances contained very much less, about half, and in some cases less than half, of the nicotine, phenol compounds, and other substances, which 15 impart to the smoke an unpleasant flavor, than the water treated with smoke from the cigarettes not containing the added colloidal substances.

The colloidal substances referred to have the property of selectively adsorbing or occluding or 20 absorbing the nicotine or phenol compounds, or other objectionable substances from the smoke, as such substances are produced or liberated by the burning tobacco, or as the smoke passes through the body of the cigarette. Apparently, 25 a collpid having an “acid” nature removes alkaloid impurities having an “alkaline” reaction from the tobacco smoke; while colloidal substances having an “alkaline” nature remove alkaloid impurities having an “acid” reaction from 30 the tobacco smoke. But whatever the explanation of the phenomenon may be, the result is that the smoke from the treated cigarettes is much more agreeable and enjoyable to the taste and smell, and with little or no “biting” sensation 35 on the tongue than when such colloids are absent.

Any inorganic colloid which has the property of adsorbing, absorbing, or occluding objectionable gases and vapors from hot tobacco smoke, without imparting an objectionable flavor to the 40 smoke, may be used. Of such substances, I have successfully used colloidal silicic acid, (silica gel), colloidal aluminum hydroxide or colloidal aluminum oxide, amorphous titanium, oxides, particularly titanium dioxide, and precipitated 45 dried titanium hydroxides, bentonite, and fuller’s earth. Each of these substances has been found to remove from the smoke objectionable gases or vapors, with highly beneficial results to the remaining smoke which was inhaled by the 50 smoker, and it has also been found that a mixture of such colloidal substances is more beneficial in some cases, especially where a mixture of different grades of tobacco are used, than any one of the above noted Colloidal substances singly. 55

2,007,407

For want of a generic term to describe amorphous inorganic substances which function as colloids in this invention, such substances are called colloidal.

In the manufacturing process, the colloids are preferably slightly moistened so as to adhere to the surface of the tobacco during the mixing, or the tobacco may be slightly moistened, or both the colloidal substances and the tobacco may be slightly moistened; the moistening operation may be effected by passing water-laden air, or steam, over the surfaces of the colloidal substances or of the tobacco or both, before mixing. If the mixture of tobacco and colloidal substances should be too damp, it may be artificially dried with warm air before the cigarettes are made.

The aluminum hydroxide used by me is such as is used as an extender in paints and I believe is obtained by precipitation from soluble salts such as aluminum sulphate. I am not sure that it is entirely composed of particles of colloidal size. It might be more exact to describe it as colloidal, partly colloidal or approaching a colloidal state. I feel it is sufficient for my purpose to have aluminum hydroxide presenting the character of surface in its particles as would be obtained by the use of dried precipitated aluminum hydroxide. Other grades of finely divided aluminum hydroxide might answer the purpose but the finer the state of division and more surface exposed to the tobacco smoke, the better for my purpose.

I have found that amorphous titanium oxides, particularly titanium dioxide (T1O2), have to some degree the properties of a mixture of aluminum hydroxide and colloidal silica and I have used it alone in cigarettes as an addition agent. For instance, I have taken about 2 percent of titanium dioxide mixed with ordinary cigarette tobacco and have made cigarettes with good flavor although I prefer to use mixtures of aluminum hydroxide and colloidal silica.

The colloidal substances added to the tobacco may vary with the grade of tobacco used, or with the known contents of nicotine or phenol compounds or other objectionable substances present, and said colloidal substances singly or mixed, may be added to upwards of five percent of the weight of the tobacco, but generally I prefer to use a smaller quantity. Tests have been made with from one-half percent to five percent of added colloids. Colloidal silicic acid (silica gel) has been found to give beneficial results with an addition of about two percent by weight of the dried tobacco. Colloidal aluminum hydroxide or colloidal aluminum oxide, when used in about the same quantity, that is, about two percent, has also given beneficial results. Mixed dry colloidal silicic acid and colloidal aluminum hydroxide or colloidal aluminum oxide about half and half by weight of each, have been found to be more beneficial than either of these colloids separately, when the said mixed colloids are added in about two percent (one percent of silicic acid and one percent of the aluminum hydroxide or aluminum oxide) of the weight of the tobacco. Other mixtures of these colloids containing from one part of one colloid to nine parts of the other colloid, and up to nine parts of the first colloid to one part of the second colloid have also been used with highly beneficial results. The use of colloidal silicic acid in combination with tobacco for smoking, is described and claimed in my co pending application, filed November 26, 1927, Serial Number 236,012.

Moistened bentonite or moistened fuller’s earth, or a mixture of about half and half of bentonite and fuller’s earth, moistened until 5 they are gelatinous, may be added to the mixed colloidal silicic acid and colloidal aluminum hydroxide or aluminum oxide, and the final mixture used in a proportion of about two percent of the dry tobacco. When larger quantities of mixed io colloids are added to the tobacco, it may in some cases be desirable to also add a small quantity of an oxidizing agent, for example, potassium nitrate, to the mixed colloids to aid combustion and thereby counteract the “extinguishing” effect of 15 the excess of colloids on the burning tobacco.

In one series of tests, to tobacco weighing about 28 grams from one package of cigarettes, there was added one-half gram of colloidal dry aluminum hydroxide. 20

In another test, about one-half gram of colloidal silicic acid was added to about twenty-five grams of tobacco.

In another test, one gram of mixed half and half colloidal silicic acid and colloidal dry alu- 25 minum hydroxide, was added to fifty grams of tobacco.

In another test, to 800 milligrams of mixed half and half colloidal silicic acid and colloidal dry aluminum hydroxide was added 200 milligrams of 30 bentonite, the mass thoroughly mixed and moistened until it was “pasty” and then applied to fifty grams of tobacco.

In another test, to 800 milligrams of colloidal silicic acid, and 800 milligrams of colloidal dry 35 aluminum hydroxide was added 200 milligrams of bentonite and 200 milligrams of fuller’s earth, the mass well mixed and then moistened until “pasty” and then applied to 100 grams of tobacco. 40

In another test, one gram of dried precipitated titanium dioxide was moistened and mixed with fifty grams of ordinary cigarette tobacco and made into cigarettes, which had a very much improved flavor. 45

In each of the above tests, cigarettes were made from the tobacco and upon smoking, it was found that they were very much more agreeable than cigarettes made from the original sample of tobacco but without the addition of the colloidal 50 substances; there was much less “biting” taste, and no unpleasant odors were experienced. Other percentages of added bentonite and fuller’s earth, singly and mixed up to about equal quantities of all colloids, were also tried, but about twenty to 55 thirty percent of bentonite, or fuller’s earth, singly or mixed, was found to be beneficial.

Other series of tests similar to the above tests, were made using percentages of single and mixed colloids as above, in quantities from one-half per eo cent of the colloid or colloids upwards, including a one percent mixture, a three percent mixture, a four percent mixture, and a five percent mixture; it was noticed in each test that the resulting smoke was more agreeable when the colloids were 65 present than when they were absent, but the better results were noticed when from two, to two and one-half, to three percent of colloids were added. With as much as five percent of added colloids, it was noticed that the cigarette ap- 70 peared to be more difficult to burn, and accordingly, a very small quantity of potassium nitrate was added to improve the combustion.

Tobacco treated with colloidal substances as described herein has also been made into cigars,

2,007,407 and also has been smoked in pipes, with the same beneficial results as described above in connection with cigarettes.