The CDC estimates that over 42 million adults in the U.S. are smokers. Other estimates claim that there are currently 1.1 billion smokers worldwide. Still, the American tobacco market is shrinking, which has companies like Reyonlds American (owner of RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company) searching for innovative solutions for the future.
Reynolds American is not the most prolific innovator that we have covered, but it does have a leading research and development position among cigarette makers. The company holds a portfolio of 1,011 active patents, including 307 U.S. patents, according to information collected from Innography’s patent portfolio tools. A search of recently issued patents shows that the American tobacco giant is shifting its research and development focus away from traditional tobacco products and towards e-cigarettes, smokeless tobacco products and cigarettes that are more environmentally friendly, or at least that possess a greater degree of biodegradability.
For example, the use of sweeteners and humectants (substances used to prevent moisture loss) in smokeless tobacco is described within U.S. Patent No. 9039839, titled Smokeless Tobacco Composition Comprising Tobacco-Derived Material and Non-Tobacco Plant Material. The patent discloses a smokeless tobacco composition for oral use which includes a non-tobacco plant material derived from beets in particulate form carrying a sorbed aqueous tobacco extract which makes up about 70 percent of the total dry weight of the smokeless tobacco product. The use of sugar beet pulp in this innovative smokeless tobacco product is intended to create a product with a flavor that is more enjoyable to users.
A smokeless tobacco product with an unusual appearance is at the center of U.S. Patent No. 9084439, issued under the title Translucent Smokeless Tobacco Product. The translucent smokeless tobacco product protected here has an ultrafiltered tobacco extract comprising about 3 percent of the product’s weight, a sugar substitute comprising at least 80 percent of the product’s weight which is capable of forming a glassy matrix, and a sugar alcohol syrup. The invention results in a smokeless tobacco product which is transparent or translucent in color, which is desirable to many users.
The use of flavorants in combustible cigarettes is discussed by a couple of other U.S. patents , such as can be seen in U.S. Patent No. 8997755, which is titled Filter Element Comprising Smoke-Altering Material. The patent claims a filter element of a smoking article with a longitudinal axis, the filter element having two regions exhibiting different pressure drops which allows a gaseous species of a mainstream smoke. This innovation is intended to allow cigarettes to incorporate oxidation catalysts for chemically altering cigarette smoke by converting carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide.
A technology for cigarette manufacturing that improves upon insertion techniques of flavorants and other elements within filters is described within U.S. Patent 
No. 9028385, entitled Equipment for Insertion of Objects into Smoking Articles. It protects an apparatus for providing rods formed from a continuous supply of filter material, each rod having objects placed at predetermined intervals running along the length of the rods, the apparatus having a first hopper providing a reservoir for objects, a second hopper to receive objects from the first hopper, a reciprocating screen positioned between the two hoppers to facilitate the transfer of objects and an object insertion unit comprising a rotatable insertion wheel with a peripheral face in communication with the second hopper for inserting objects into the continuous filter material. This innovation is designed to better facilitate the rapid, highly automated production of cigarettes that have flavor pellets or exchange resin beads.
The production of tobacco with improved characteristics for use in cigarettes is the focus of U.S. Patent No. 9010339, which is titled Method for Producing Triacetin from Tobacco. The method for producing triacetin from plants of the genus Nicotiana protected here involves contacting an acylglycerol-containing material derived from Nicotiana plants with a composition capable of hydrolyzing the acylglycerol to produce an intermediate comprising glycerol, isolating the glycerin to produce an isolated glycerin reactant, subjecting an acetate-containing material derived from Nicotiana plants to destructive distillation, isolating the acetic acid produced to create an isolated acetic acid reactant and then contacting the two produced reactants under conditions favoring esterification to produce triacetin. Triacetin is utilized in cigarettes because of its characteristics as a humectant and the patent notes that it could also serve as an antifungal, increasing the shelf life of cigarettes.
The manufacture of cigarettes which possess a greater degree of biodegradability is featured within U.S. Patent No. 8950407, which is titled Degradable Adhesive Compositions for Smoking Articles. The filtered smoking article protected here includes a tobacco-containing rod surrounded by a wrapping material, a filter element surrounded by a plug wrap and a tipping material securing the tobacco-containing rod to the filter element, each component being secured by an adhesive composition in the form of an aqueous dispersion comprising a thermoplastic starch polymer. The degradable adhesive is intended to enable quicker unwrapping of the filter element to increase the speed of its biodegradation, which can otherwise take years.
Tags: e-cigarettes, patent, patents, smokeless tobacco
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