462 



4.836,224 



The siDokable material from which cigarettes of this 

 invention are manufactured conveniently can be a cut 

 nner material composed of one or more tobacco materi- 

 als having a naturally high nicotine content. The natu- 

 rally high nicotine content tobacco material(s) can be 5 

 employed alone or as blends with (i) one or more to- 

 bacco materials having low nicotine contents, and/or 

 (ii) one or more tobacco substitutes. As such, cigarettes 

 of this invention include those cigarettes wherein the 

 smokable material thereof exhibits a total nicotine con- 10 

 tent or blend nicotine content above about 2 percent. 



A cigarette in accord with this invention conve- 

 niently can have incorporated therein at least one salt 

 provided from nicotine and an organic acid. The salt is 

 incorporated within the cigarette as an additive. Prefer- 15 

 ably, the salt is such that the molar ratio of nicotine to 

 organic acid therein is 1:3. Most preferably, the salt 

 additive includes nicotine levulinate. The particular salt 

 is incorporated into the cigarette in such a manner that 

 during use of the cigarette, the salt is subjected to dc- 20 

 composition conditions. For example, a cigarette of this 

 invention can include a smokable material as well as at 

 least one salt of nicotine and an organic acid as an addi- 

 tive, wherein (i) the nicotine content of the cigarette is 

 above about 2 percent, based on the dry weight of the 23 

 smokable material, and (i) one of the aforementioned 

 salts is nicotine levulinate. 



The presence of the nicotine/orgatiic acid salt within 

 the cigarette provides improved tobacco taste, strength 

 and smoking satisfaction as well as improved or main- 30 

 tained flavor characteristics to the aerosol during use of 

 the article. 



Preferred cigarettes of this invention do not exhibit 

 undesirable off-tastes during use. 



BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS " 



FIG. 1 is a longitudinal section view of a cigarette of 

 this invention. 



DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE 

 PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 



40 



One embodiment of this invention is shown in FIG. I 

 and has the form of a cigarette 10. The cigarette in- 

 cludes a generally cylndrical rod 15 of smokable mate- 

 rial 20, such as tobacco cut filler, contained in circum- 43 

 scribing outer wrapping material 25. The rod 15 is here- 

 inafter referred to as a "tobacco rod." The ends of the 

 tobacco rod are open to expose the smokable material. 

 The cigarette 10 also includes a niter element 30 posi- 

 tioned adjacent one end of the tobacco rod IS such that SO 

 the filter element and tobacco rod are axially aligned in 

 an end-to-end relationship, preferably abutting one an- 

 other. Filter element 30 has a generally cylindrical 

 shape, and the diameter thereof is essentially equal to 

 the diameter of the tobacco rod. The ends of the filter 55 

 element are open to permit the passage of air and smoke 

 therethrough. The filter element 30 includes filter mate- 

 rial 35 which is overwrapped along the longitudinal 

 extending surface thereof with circumscribing plug 

 wrap material 40. 60 



The filtet element 30 ia attached to the tobacco rod IS 

 by tipping material 45 which circumscribes both the 

 entire length of the filter element and an adjacent region 

 of the tobacco rod. The inner surface of the tippng 

 material 45 is fixedly secured lo the outer surface of the 63 

 plug wrap 40 and the outer surface of the wrapping 

 material 25 of the tobacco rod, using a suitable adhesive. 

 If desired, a ventilated or air diluted cigarette is pro- 



vided with an air dilution means such as a series of 

 perforations 50 each of which extend through the tip- 

 ping material and plug wrap. 



Typically, (he tobacco rod has a length which ranges 

 from about SO mm to about 8S mm, a circumference of 

 about 17 mm to about 27 mm; and the wrapping mate- 

 ria! thereof is a conventional cigarette wrapping paper. 

 Suitable cigarette wrapping papers are commercially 

 available as Reference Nos. 719 and 856 from Kimber- 

 ly-Clark Corp. or as Ecusta Experimental Nos. TOD 

 01788 and TOD 03363 from Ecusta Corp. If desired a 

 dual wrapper system can be employed. The tobacco 

 rods and the resulting cigarettes can be manufactured in 

 any known configuration using known cigarette making 

 techniques and equipment. 



Typically, the filter element has a length which 

 ranges from about 20 mm to about 3S mm and a circum- 

 ference of about 17 mm to about 27 mm. The filter 

 material can be any suitable material such as cellulose 

 acetate, polypropylene, tobacco material, or the like. 

 Filler materials having compositions or characteristics 

 so as to exhibit low nicotine filtration efficiencies can be 

 employed. The plug wrap typically is a conventional 

 paper plug wrap, and can be cither air permeable or 

 essentially air impermeable. However, if desired, a non- 

 wrapped cellulose acetate filter element can be em- 

 ployed. The various filter elements suitable for use in 

 (his invention can be manufactured using known ciga- 

 rette filter making techniques and equipment. 



Typically, the tipping material circumscribes the 

 filter element and an adjacent region of the tobacco rod 

 such that the tipping material extends about 3 mm to 

 about 6 mm along the length of the tobacco rod. Typi- 

 cally, the tipping material is a conventional paper tip- 

 ping material. The tipping material can have a porosity 

 which can vary. For example, the tipping material can 

 be essentially air impermeable, air permeable, or be 

 treated (eg., by mechanical or laser perforation tech- 

 niques) so as to have a region of perforations, openings 

 or vents thereby providing a means for providing air 

 dilution to the cigarette. The total surface area of the 

 perforations and the positioning of the perforations 

 along the periphery of the cigarette can be varied in 

 order to control the performance characteristics of the 

 cigarette. 



As used herein, the term "air dilution" is the ratio 

 (generally expressed as a percentage) of the volume of 

 air drawn through the air dilution means to the total 

 volume of air and aerosol drawn through the cigarette 

 and exiting the extreme mouthend portion of the ciga- 

 rette. For air diluted or ventilated cigarettes of this 

 invention, the amount of air dilution can vary. Prefera- 

 bly, the amount of air dilution for a cigarette is greater 

 than about 20 percent, more preferably greater then 

 about 30 percent. The upper limit of air dilution for a 

 cigarette typically is less than about 80 percent, more 

 frequently less than about 60 percent. 



The smokable material employed in the manufacture 

 of the tobacco rod can vary. For example, the tobacco 

 material can be engineered in a processed form such as 

 an extruded form (eg., as a foamed extruded rod or 

 extruded into a tubular shape), have the form of filler 

 such as tobacco cut filler, or the like. Generally, the 

 tobacco material of cigarettes has the form of cut filler. 

 As used herein, the terms "filler" or "cut filler" are 

 meant to include tobacco materials which have a form 

 suitable for use in the manufacture of cigarette tobacco 

 rods. As such, filler can include tobacco materials 



