Cigarette substitute and method

United States Patent Office

Patented Oct. 6, 1959

2,907,686

CIGARETTE SUBSTITUTE AND METHOD ⁵Henry I. Siegel, Rancho Cordova, Calif.

No Drawing. Application December 23, 1954 Serial No. 477,427

Claims. (Cl. 131—2)

The present invention relates to a tobacco substitute for 15 use in cigarettes, cigars and pipes, and in particular to a process for preparing a substitute for tobacco products calculated to have the psychological effect of such products without attendant health hazards. To advantage, in accordance with the present invention, there is provided 20 a new product which physically and psychologically emulates natural tobacco products, yet does not subject the user to the irritants and like by-products produced incident to the burning of natural tobacco.

As is well understood, tobacco smoke is derived from 25 the burning of cigarette, cigar or pipe tobacco as a result of thermal decomposition and oxidation of the natural tobacco leaf. Numerous studies have been conducted and are being conducted to analyze the constituents of ordinary tobacco smoke. Such analysis has shown the 30 presence of phenol, pyrocatechol, benzaldehyde, resins, resin acids, aldehydes, ketones, fatty acids, methanol, creosote, guaiacol, poly-phenols, furfural, levoglucosan, ammonia, amines, hydrogen sulfide, hydrocyanic acid, thiocyanic acid, pyridyl ethyl ketone, pyridine homo- 35 logues, N-methyl pyrrolidine, pyrrole derivatives and other materials to be contained in an average sample of tobacco smoke. Although the exact cause of irriation has not been isolated, it is thought that such irritation is due in good measure to the presence of nicotine, am- 40 monia, acids, aldehydes and similar materials. Apart from a real or threatened health hazard resultant from smoke, there is the ever-present psychological fear of illness, particularly the contraction of malignant diseases, which the public must overcome in using natural tobacco products. Such health hazard and psychological discom- ⁴⁵fort, in each instance, must be reconciled with the user’s need for tobacco.:

Accordingly, it is an Object of the present invention to provide a substitute for natural tobacco products which will be of psychological comfort to the smoker, yet con- ⁵⁰tain none or much less of the potentially harmful thermal decomposition products resulting from the burning of natural tobacco.

In accordance with a preferred form of the present invention, a tobacco substitute is provided which includes ⁵⁵an absorbent non-toxic fuel burnable to produce hot gases, and a flavoring agent carried by the non-toxic fuel and adapted to be distilled off incident to the production of the hot gases. The distillation product resulting from the heating of the flavoring agent is selected to be con- ⁶⁰spicuously sensible to taste and smell, and it is this very distillation product from which the user derives taste sensation and psychological comfort.

It will thus be appreciated that the distillation-produced smoke is of a fundamentally different character from the ⁶⁵smoke produced by the thermal decomposition or oxidation of tobacco in cigarettes or cigars. Numerous advantages, both from the standpoint of manufacture and consumer acceptance are realized with products embodying features of the present invention which advantages ⁷⁰may best be understood by a brief comparison with to bacco products. Whereas the taste and odor sensation from tobacco are arrived at essentially from decomposition products which vary in accordance with the tobacco and essentially are not controllable, the taste and odor of the distillation tobacco substitute is readily controllable and may be formulated to satisfy individual taste requirements. Whereas the burning of tobacco necessarily produces irritants, the distillation products from the present cigarette substitute are essentially of the same constituency as the input materials. By judicious selection of the flavoring agent, a possibility of health hazard is virtually precluded. Further, the flavoring agents which are incorporated into the present substitute are sensed by taste and smell and therefore the user derives essentially the maximum sensation without the need for inhaling the distillation products. With a decreased tendency to inhale the distillation products, yet the ability to derive satisfaction therefrom, further health advantages are realized in that it is generally understood that toxicity results from breathing into the respiratory tract irritants or contaminants.

Numerous other advantages, objects and features of the present invention will become apparent by reference to the following detailed description of the cigarette substitute and modifications thereof, as well as presently preferred proccesses for fabricating such cigarette substitutes. In the following detailed description the terms “absorbent” and “adsorbent” are interchangeable although the latter term in technical circles may be accorded a more limited definition.

A substitute for tobacco in accordance with the present invention is composed of a non-toxic fuel, an aromatic flavoring agent, the carrier for the flavoring agent which may also serve as the non-toxic fuel, and optionally a non-toxic smoke-forming agent and a non-toxic ash-forming agent which will deposit an air-permeable insulating ash.

When the tobacco substitute is to be used specifically for a cigarette or cigar, it may be further advantageous to sheath the substitute with a non-toxic combustible sealed coating which channels the flow of gases along the length of the cigarette or cigar and provides a desirable surface appearance and texture. Still further, when used as a cigarette or cigar, a mouthpiece, with or without filter, may be formed at one end of the cigarette substitute.

A single material found eminently suitable to serve as both the non-toxic fuel and the carrier for the flavoring agent is an activated or non-activated carbon. Such combined fuel source and carrier may be manufactured from wood which is of a high ash content such that the ash content of the resulting charcoal is between 10 and 20% and the porosity is of the order of 50 to 60%. Specifically as applied to the manufacture of a cigarette substitute, raw stock in the form of an elongated cylinder having a diameter of the order of approximately 1.0 cm. may be charred in the absence of air, starting at a temperature of about 250° C. and progressing in increments up to 800° C. over a period of 4 to 6 hours. During this charring period, the wood is freed of volatile components, such as tars and resins which might be injurious to health. The charring is conducted under vacuum such that the porosity and distribution of the pores in the char permits ready passage of air whereby the cigarette may be readily drawn. The passage of approximately 25 to 28 cubic cm. per second of air measured at 20° C. and at 1 atmosphere, under a pressure differential of 3 inches of water when applied across a length of approximately .2½ inches of char is of the order of porosity found suitable for the manufacture of the combined fuel source and carrier. When desired, the char may be activated by any suitable gas-activating method.

2,907,686

As an example of such gas-activating method, a mixture of 50% air and 50% superheated steam at 1 atmosphere and at a temperature of 650° to 800° C. is passed through the porous char for approximately 4 hours. The porosity is controlled as aforesaid until the air passage is of the order df 28 to 31 cubic cm. per second.

Although charcoal is a very good adsorbent, it is equally within the contemplation of the present invention to employ a separate carrier for the flavoring agent. Other such adsorbents are fuller’s earth (used to bleach of decolorize oils and fats), and natural or activated clays for decolorizing petroleum fractions and the like.

The aromatic flavoring agent which is used to impregnate the carrier may consist of any suitable blend of natural or synthetic flavoring oils, such as vanilla, eucalyptol, octyl acetate or isoamyl isovaierate.

The smoke-forfning agent, which is non-toxic, may be admixed with the flavoring agent, for example by dissolving the Same in a quantity of alcohol. The quantity of smoke-forming agent which is added is dependent on the volume of smoke desired and its required color. The smoke-forming agent preferably is an edible solid or liquid and must have a vapor pressure at 240° C. of not less than 200 mm. mercury pressure and have little or no taste. Such smoke-forming agents may be characterized as substances which will yield a distillation product incident to heating which product is opaque and of a color calculated to simulate cigarette smoke. As an example, glycerol arid glycerol monoacetate meet the above requirements, and when subjected to heat from the fuel source is distilled followed by recondensatiori in the form of an optically opaque mist or smoke-like haze. A further smoke former may be a material which is convertible to a condensible non-toxic solid or liquid mist which ririst has. no or very little taste or odor. Examples of condensible non-toxic materials of this type are calcium pimelate, which is converted to cyclohexanone and calcium carbonate upon heating, and calcium suberate which is converted to cycloheptanone and calcium carbonate upon heating. A further example of smokeforming materials are those which are produced by distillation and/or thermal decomposition of a coal tar color, employed in food, drugs and cosmetics. Such coal tar colors are well known in the art and produce a haze of high optical opacity; the coal tar colors are exceptionally effective as smoke formers with low concentration, of the order of ,4% by weight of the carbon content.

The deposition of an air-permeable, insulating ash is achieved by the use of a high ash-coritairiirig carbonizable source which will produce a char having between 10 to 20% ash. The function of . the heat insulating ash is to prevent radiation away from the burning zone or end, thus helping to maintain a temperature at the burning zone or end at a sufficiently high level to permit slow burning and further simulating the action of a cigarette. In the alternative, the insulating ash may be attainted by soaking a low ash-containing wood source in a solution of ash-producing inorganic salts, such as ziric chloride, lime, potash, magnesium oxide, alumina, and the like. The low ash wood absorbs the salts arid these precipitate out as an ash in burning the char during smoking.

Appropriate· materials for sheathing or coating the cigarette ori cigar body are concentrated sugar solutions, whereas the mouth-piece, with or Without filter, may be formed by. co'atirig ove'r brie end region df the cigarette substitute by a hard 'gum b'r fe’sih.

For a more thorough understanding of the present invention. a typical process Will how be detailed:

After preparationOf the char in appropriate shape arid prelitriiriary tfeatirierit with Of without activation, the char’ serving as a carrier may be impregnated with an appropriate mixture of the flavoring oils and/or any of the described smoke-producing agents contained in an alcohol base. Such impregnation is preferably achieved;

after activation of the char and cooling to room temperature in the absence of air, by dropping the char body or carrier into the impregnate and allowing the body to age for approximately 1 to 2 hours. The char body or carrier is then removed from the impregnate, allowed to drain or dry until substantially free of alcohol, at which time it will retain its flavor-drawing characteristics. This retention may be by the way of physical absorption on the large surface areas available in the activated and highly porous carbon or by the retention of the oils through capillary action throughout the voids or recesses in the charred body. It is within the contemplation of the invention to package the cigarette substitutes immediately upon preparation, to enclose the flavoring constituents and thus miriiihize evaporation and loss of flavoring. Further, the sheathing of the cigarette body tends to contain the flavor-imparting constituents.

Immediately following the impregnation, the cigarette or cigar body is sprayed with a concentrated sugar solution or rolled in an appropriate coating pan to produce the thin tubular sheath or coating of suitable texture and appearance which serves to confine the flow of gases along the length of the body. Optionally a mouthpiece is formed at orie end of the body to eliminate the taking into the user’s mouth of the sugar coated end of the cigarette body proper.

• In use, upon igniting the ηόη-toxic fuel which preferably serves as the carrier for the fiavoririg agent, the same burns arid provides a flow of hot gases over the absorbed flavoring agent. The flow of such gases is confined along the length of ths tube due to the presence of confining walls, whether they be provided by the tobacco pipe, or the integral sheathing. As the hot gases flow over the fiavoririg agent, most of the flavors are distilled off and the distillate is carried toward the smoker’s mouth due to the drawirig action. This removal of the distillation product leaves essentially carbon. As the flavor-laden gases pass away from the burnirig zorie toward the cooler portion of the cigarette or cigar body, the oils contained in the distillate recondense into relatively small droplets, forming a mist, and pass into the mouth and nose of the smoker where they create a sensation by taste and smell. As indicated, the flavoring agents may be formulated to suit individual tastes, arid may include individually or in blerids, vanilla, orange, mint, banana and the like. Due to the burning action of the char and the presence of the Smoke-producing agent, use of the present substitute will Very much simulate the smoking and burning of a conventional cigarette.

Thus it will be appreciated that the present invention provides a new smoking concept as compared to the burning of a cigarette; may be readily controlled as to the constituents which enter the respiratory system, and may be prepared to yield a desirable taste and/or smell to the user. In that the constituents of this synthetic tobacco substitute are of relatively low Cost, the product should be commercially available at much lower cost than that of cigarettes or cigars.

The foregoing is illustrative of the many forms which the present invention may take, arid in some instances certain features of the invention will be used without a corresponding use of other features. Accordingly, the appended claims should be coristrued in a manner consistent with the disclosure herein.