Fabric having tobacco entangled with structural fibers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9814261-B2
Application number	US-201514719763-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 22, 2015
Priority date	Aug 5, 2010
Publication date	Nov 14, 2017
Grant date	Nov 14, 2017

Abstract

A smokeless tobacco product includes smokeless tobacco and structural fibers. The structural fibers forming a network in which the smokeless tobacco is entangled. The structural fibers have a composition different from the smokeless tobacco. The tobacco-entangled fabric can have an overall oven volatiles content of at least 10 weight percent. In some embodiments, the structural fibers form a nonwoven network. In some embodiments, fibrous structures of the smokeless tobacco are entangled with the structural fibers.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A smokeless tobacco product comprising,
smokeless tobacco having a total oven volatiles content of about 20% by weight or greater; and
two layers of melt-blown polyurethane structural fibers positioned on opposite sides of the smokeless tobacco such that one layer of the melt-blown polyurethane structural fibers is positioned on each of the opposite sides, the melt-blown polyurethane structural fibers having a diameter of 100 microns or less.

2. The smokeless tobacco product of claim 1 , wherein the melt-blown polyurethane structural fibers have a diameter of 30 microns or less.

3. The smokeless tobacco product of claim 1 , wherein the melt-blown polyurethane structural fibers have a diameter of between 0.5 and 5 microns.

4. The smokeless tobacco product of claim 1 , wherein the smokeless tobacco has a total oven volatiles content of about 40% by weight or greater.

5. The smokeless tobacco product of claim 1 , wherein the smokeless tobacco has a total oven volatiles content of between about 45% by weight to about 65% by weight.

6. The smokeless tobacco product of claim 1 , wherein the melt-blown polyurethane structural fibers form a nonwoven network.

7. The smokeless tobacco product of claim 6 , wherein the melt-blown polyurethane structural fibers are entangled with fibrous structures of the smokeless tobacco.

8. The smokeless tobacco product of claim 1 , wherein the smokeless tobacco product has dimensional stability.

9. The smokeless tobacco product of claim 1 , wherein the melt-blown polyurethane structural fibers comprise milled tobacco at least partially embedded in the polyurethane material of the melt-blown polyurethane structural fibers.

10. The smokeless tobacco product of claim 1 , wherein the melt-blown structural fibers comprise composite fibers, each composite fiber including polyurethane and at least one additional material.

11. The smokeless tobacco product of claim 10 , wherein the composite fibers comprise at least one mouth-stable material and at least one mouth-dissolvable material.

12. The smokeless tobacco product of claim 1 , wherein the smokeless tobacco product is a tobacco-entangled fabric having an arrangement resulting from the needle punching of the melt-blown polyurethane structural fibers with the smokeless tobacco.

13. The smokeless tobacco product of claim 1 , wherein the smokeless tobacco product is a tobacco-entangled fabric comprising multiple layers of the melt-blown structural fibers and multiple layers of smokeless tobacco, wherein the melt-blown structural fibers from adjacent layers are entangled.

14. The smokeless tobacco product of claim 1 , wherein said product has a thickness of between 5 mm and 15 mm, a width of between 10 mm and 20 mm, and a length of between 10 mm and 30 mm.

15. The smokeless tobacco product of claim 1 , wherein the smokeless tobacco product comprises tobacco material exposed along an outer surface.

16. The smokeless tobacco product of claim 1 , further comprising a dissolvable film at least partially coating the melt-blown polyurethane structural fibers.

17. The smokeless tobacco product of claim 1 , wherein the smokeless tobacco comprises cured tobacco.

18. The smokeless tobacco product of claim 17 , wherein the smokeless tobacco comprises cured, aged, fermented tobacco.

19. The smokeless tobacco product of claim 17 , wherein the smokeless tobacco comprises cured, aged, non-fermented tobacco.

20. The smokeless tobacco product of claim 1 , wherein the smokeless tobacco comprises dark tobacco.

21. The smokeless tobacco product of claim 1 , wherein each layer of melt-blown polyurethane structural fibers comprises a basis weight of about 30 grams per square meter (gsm).

Assignees

• Altria Client Services Inc
• Altria Client Services Llc

Inventors

• Atchley Frank Scott
• Rossman James M
• Mishra Munmaya K

Classifications

• B32B2262/14

  Mixture of at least two fibres made of different materials · CPC title

• D06M13/005

  Compositions containing perfumes; Compositions containing deodorants · CPC title

• B32B2262/0238

  Vinyl halide, e.g. PVC, PVDC, PVF, PVDF · CPC title

• D04H5/02

  strengthened or consolidated by mechanical methods, e.g. needling (needling machines D04H18/00) · CPC title

• B32B5/06

  characterised by a fibrous {or filamentary} layer {mechanically connected, e.g. by needling} to another layer, e.g. of fibres, of paper · CPC title