Method For Manufacturing a Pouch-Shaped Heat-Not-Burn Consumable

Abstract

The present invention relates to method for manufacturing a pouch-shaped heat-not-burn consumable.

1 . Method for manufacturing a heat-not-burn (HNB) consumable comprising
 a pouch made of paper with an inner volume and two sealed ends,   a reconstituted plant sheet contained in the inner volume of the pouch and comprising:
 one or more fibrous supports, each fibrous support comprising plant fibers, 
 a plant extract, and 
 an aerosol-generating agent, 
   
       the method comprising the following steps:
 a) providing a tube made of paper with a reconstituted plant sheet between two open ends thereof, and 
 b) sealing the two open ends of the tube to manufacture the heat-not-burn consumable. 
 
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein step b) of sealing is performed by gluing the two open ends, crimping the two open ends or knurling the two open ends, or combinations thereof. 
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 2 , wherein the gluing is performed with a glue selected from a starch-based glue, a dextrin-based glue, a casein-based glue, a cellulose-based glue, an animal glue, a latex glue, acrylics, a dispersion of polyurethane, an ethylene vinyl acetate-based glue, a polyvinyl acetate-based glue, a polyvinyl alcohol-based glue or mixtures thereof. 
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 2 , wherein the crimping is performed using a toothed wheel. 
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the paper of the tube is cigarette paper, tobacco wrapper, porous plug wrapper or combinations thereof. 
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the total content by weight of solids of aerosol-generating agent is of from 10% to 30%. 
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the total content by weight of solids of the plant extract is of from 30% to 60. 
     
     
         8 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the plant of the reconstituted plant sheet is the tobacco plant. 
     
     
         9 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein, inside the tube, the reconstituted plant sheet is in particulate form, in the form of crimped sheet, in the form of shredded tobacco. 
     
     
         10 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the ratio of the mass of the reconstituted plant sheet to the inner volume of the pouch of the consumable is comprised of from 0.30 g·cm −3  to 1.5 g·cm −3 . 
     
     
         11 . The method according to  claim 1 , comprising between step a) and step b), a step of compacting the reconstituted plant sheet in the tube. 
     
     
         12 . The method according to  claim 1  wherein step a) comprises the following sub-steps:
 a 11 ) unrolling a bobbin of paper to obtain an unrolled bobbin of paper, 
 a 12 ) applying an adhesive layer on a face of the unrolled bobbin of paper, 
 a 13 ) forming a hollow tube of paper by contacting the adhesive layer and a face of the unrolled bobbin of paper, 
 a 14 ) cutting the hollow tube of paper to obtain a cut hollow tube of paper, and 
 a 15 ) introducing the reconstituted plant sheet into the cut tube to obtain the tube made of paper wrapping a reconstituted plant sheet between two open ends thereof. 
 
     
     
         13 . The method according to  claim 1  wherein step a) comprises the following sub-steps:
 a 21 ) unrolling a bobbin of paper to obtain an unrolled bobbin of paper, 
 a 22 ) applying the reconstituted plant sheet on a face of the unrolled bobbin of paper, 
 a 23 ) applying an adhesive layer on a face of the unrolled bobbin of paper, 
 a 24 ) forming a tube of paper to envelop the reconstituted plant sheet by contacting the adhesive layer on a face of the unrolled bobbin of paper, and 
 a 25 ) cutting the tube of paper to obtain the tube made of paper wrapping a reconstituted plant sheet between two open ends thereof. 
 
     
     
         14 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the reconstituted plant sheet is manufactured according to the following steps:
 c 1 ) passing plant fibers through a papermaking machine so as to produce a base web,   c 2 ) bringing a plant extract into contact on the fibrous support, and contacting at least two fibrous supports when the reconstituted plant sheet comprises more than one fibrous supports, to obtain a wet reconstituted plant sheet, and   c 3 ) drying the wet reconstituted plant sheet to produce the reconstituted plant sheet,   
       wherein an aerosol-generating agent is incorporated during step c 2 ) and/or between steps c 2 ) and c 3 ). 
     
     
         15 . The method according to  claim 14  further comprising, after step c 3 ), a step c 4 ) of shaping the reconstituted plant sheet produced at step c 3 ) in particulate form, in the form of crimped sheet, in the form of shredded tobacco.