CA1078159A - Chitin as an extender and filter for tobacco - Google Patents

Abstract

CHITIN AS AN EXTENDER AND FILTER FOR TOBACCO
Abstract of the Disclosure Chitin, either as such or in toasted form, has been found to be an effective extender and filter for tobacco.
It can be used in substantial amounts with tobacco blends without adversely affecting such physical properties as packing ability, burning rate or retention of ash. Organo-leptic properties such as saroma, taste and smoothness are little affected. To the degree that chitin is used in the mixture, nicotine and noxious tars are reduced. Mixtures of chitin and tobacco represent now compositions.

Description

Description The GovPrnment of the United States has rights in this invention pursuant to Grant No. 04-3-158-30 with the Depart-ment of COmmerce.
This invention relates to extenders and filters for tobaccog e.g. cigarette,c~igar and pipe -tobacco. Tobacco substitutes, diluents and extenders have long been sough~
.. for eeasons of economy, smoking characteristics or health, but no wholly sa~is~actory agent has been developed. Diffi-culties encountered have in~luded sueh ~actors as mixing problems, rate and continuîty burning ~ temperature of the smoke, retention of the ash, as well as the more subtle problems of aroma, ~lavor and irritation o~ the mouth and :~ throat. Cellulose and modified celluloses, although closely i allied to portions of tobacco itself 9 have ~ound lit~le ' commercial application.
-. ` It is an object of t~is invention to provide tobacco mixture~ that produce lower ni~otine and tar on burning while ~aintaining desirable s~oking characteri~tics.

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A further object is to pxovide an extender for tobacco that can be blended with it satisfactorily to give a mixture with good packing characteristics, burning rate, and holding of fire and ash while ret~ining such organoleptic properties ;~
as aroma, taste and smoothness.
Still another object is to provide the tobacco industry, particularly that segment involved in cigarette, cigar and smoking (pipe) tobacco manufacture, which utilizes extensive blending of many types of tobacco to attain a balance of properties desired for a particular brand, with a superior extender ~hat can be employed in such blends with advantages of economy and reduced hazard to health without impairing materially either their physical or organoleptic properties.
An additional object of the invention i5 to provide novel compositions to accomplish the foregoing objectives.
In accordance with one broad aspect, the invention relates to a mixture comprising tobacco and chitin which is insoluble in dilute acetic acid, said chitin being present in amounts of 5% to 75~ by w~ight of said mixture and said tobacco b~ing present in amounts of 95% to 25% by weight of said mixture.
It has been found th~t chitin in admixture with a variety of tobacco blends yields surprisingly smooth smoking compositions with good burning characteristics. In the - -preferred ranges the blends are quite satisfactory, sometimes pre~erred and are frequently almost indistinguishable from the parent tobacco. Furthermore, such blends are useful as filters for the tobacco smoke, either in a separate compartment or as the unburned portion of a cigaret~e.
Chitin is an aminocellulose derivative that occurs widely in nature, for example, in ~he cell walls of fungi, ~ - 2 -,"' l~q~S3 and the shell o~ insects and crustaceans. The waste from shrimp, lobster and crab seafood industries contains 10-13 per cent chitin. The innocuous nature of chitin is indicated : . .
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by the use of ground seafood wastes, such as crab meal, as animal feed ~nd th~ human consumption of soft-shell ~rabs as a seafood delicacy.
More specifically, chitin is a mucopoly~accharide, believed to be poly-N-acetyl-D-glucosamine, with an empirical formula of tC8H1305N) n in which n may be any number into the ~housand range, but is commonly in the area of 100-1000. ¢hitin is prepared, for example, by the hydrolysis o~ crab-meal alternately with mild acid and alkali to remove calcareous and protein constituents. The substantially complete removal o~ prote~n is important to avoid deleterious odors on burning. A typ~cal chitin sample would show upon anal~sis a moisture content o~ --5-10%, ash below 1~, and n~trogen in the range of 6.0-7.5%.
The use of the term "chitin" herein and ~n the claims refers to those compounds ~hich are ~nsoluble in dilute acetic acid as distingu~shed ~rom ch~tosan that ~s soluble in dilute acetic acid.
Attention is called to U.S. 3,421,519, p~tented January 14, 1969, which covers a reconstituted tobacco sheet using a minor proportion o~ deacetylated chitin as a binder. Deace~ylat~d chi~tin, usually called chitosan, is prepared by hydrolys~s of chitin with strong alkali at the boil for a few hours and subsequent neutralization, :
filtration, washing and drying. Chltosan is eharacte~z-ed by its solubility in dilute acetic acid, ~hereas chitin is insoluble. In the patent cited the words "chitin" and 'Ichitosan'l are somet~me~ used interohangabl~, bu* ~ is clear from the disdlosure and claims *hat only the - , - . ' ':

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deacetyla-ted chi-tin, that is, chitosan soluble in dilute acetic acid, is con-templated. There is no example and no teaching of a method for employing the parent chitin as a binder.
Typically crustacean chitin is obtained as a mixture of flaky and short fibrous material, which aids its blending properties and promotes the clinging o~ coal and ash to a burning cigarette, for example. Considering that chitin is predominately a cellulose derivative, however, it was unexpected that chitin upon burning in to~acco blends would afford a smoke acceptable i~ aroma, taste and smoothness as well as physical properties~
Toasting of chitin may be advant~geous ~or some blends and may be carried out ~ exposing it ~or a ~ew minutes a distance o~ several inchas ~rom a heating uni~
heated just below a dull red. The time-temperature-dis-tance exposure from the heater is chosen by trial and as am~atter of convenience. The toasted products are light brown and have a ~int, pleasant odor, but do not carameli~e or become sticky. The products blend weIl ~ith tobacco and in such blends make a satis~actor~ cigarette, More~e~ective filters ~or cigarette and other tobaccos are also needed as requirements for reductîon in tar, nicotine and other volatiles in tobacco smoke become more stringent. The chitin modi~ied tobaccos are themselves good filters for the smoke, the unbu~ned mix~re acts as a filter, or a cigarette containin~ the mixture may be used .
in a pipe or cigarette holder designed to hold such a filter.

The chitin mixtures have special aptitu~e ~or absorbing .:.

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: " ' 7~ ''3 phenolic, a~idie and other organic compounds of types ~:
found in tobacco smoke and hence make effective ~ilter compositions alone, or as filter tips or other filter elements.
In the practice of the invention it is usually advantageous ~o carry out the blending o~ the chitin in the normal tobacco blending state, which may then be fol-lowed by "casing" or impregnation of the mixture with the cus~omary inver-~ or other sugars, licorice, chocolate~ or other flavors and spices~ and ~lycerol or other humectants.
If additional color i9 needed to stain the chit~nous fraction, the colo~ing matter may be add~d at thîs stage.
It is recognized that chitin is not in itsel~ a :tobacco substitute; it finds its place in blends with toabacco. Hence the tobacco blend used will normally be adjusted to compensate and give a final mixture of the desired quality. Thus chit~n contains no nicotine or pec-tin and is very low in reducing sugars, alcohol-soluble resins and ash~ while having a high content of crude fiber 9 20 as compared with most tobaccos. The chitin therefore pro- :
vides considerable latitude for bIending to the desired composition of a smoking mixture~
In the practice o~ the invention, compositions may be utilized ranging ~rom 5 parts of chitin or chitosan and ;
95 parts of tobacco to those co~pris~ng 75 p~rts of chitin ~.
to 25 parts o~ tobacco. However, the most su~table ranges ~. :
of eompositions are those contain~ng 10-35 percent o chitin~ since th~ give the best balance o~ ph~sical and ~078~9 organoleptic properties. Examples of several of the useful compositions follow.
Example I
A commercial flaky, fairly strong smoking tobacco of bulk density about 0.2 g. per cc. was intimately mixed in several proportions by volume with chitin having both flake and fibrous particles, and a bulk density also of about 0.2 g. per cc. The mixtures were rolled into cigarettes and smoked. As the proportion of chitin increased, the physical properties of the cigarettes decrea~ed somewhat, but sensory factors of taste, mildness and coolness were maintained well. B;te was relatively the same in the group, although throat îrri~ation increased somewhat with increas-ing chitin content. The tests are tabulated below:

Tobaccc Chitin, Smoking Darts parts Characteristics 100 0 Taste sati~factory, mild, trace of bite, some throat irritation, cool About same as above, some throat irritation, slightly more smoke, but cool Mild, cool, taste satis-~actory, trace of bite, somewhat more throat i~ri-tation Smoke weIl, self-propagating, milder than tobacco alone, slight bltter note :

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Tobaeco, Chitin, Smoking parts parts Characteris-tics Draws easily, self-propa-gating, milder than tobacco alone, bitter no-te Poor draw, marginal ~ire~
holding capacity, mild taste Example II
A medium strong blended Turkish and domes-tic cigarette tobacco, aromatic and shredded t~pe w~th a ~ulk density of about 0.3 g. per cc. was intimately mixed with a flake and ~:
fibrous chitin, the chitin being at the lO percent and 20 percent b~ volume levels ~or comparison with the whole tobacco. The modified products smokad well, had an aro- -matic odor, faîrly strong flavor, taste a~out the sa~e as the unmodified tobacco. The smoke was cool în the mod~fied ~-:
products as well as w~h the stra~ght tobaco~, All'had a trace of bi~e. At the 20 percent ch;tin level the smoke when inhaled irritated the throat somewha* more than that ~:
from the lO percent chitin mixture, " ': ' Example III
A 50:50 mixture by volume af a mild shredded cigarette :
tobacco and toasted chitin wasi~ntimately blended and made . . .
into a menthol-tip ~ilter cigarette, Upon smoking there was abundant smoke. The odor was good and the taste was neutral except ~or a faint menthol ~lavor from the .~ilter.
There was little after-taste. When înhaled, the smoke was som~wha~ irritating, but not bitter. ~ -i~7~
Example IV
A series of blends of toasted chitin with a light cigarette tobacco was prepared containing 5, 10, 20, 35, and 50 percent by weight of the toasted chitin. They were made into filterccigarettes and test smoked b~ several persons inccomparison with a 100 percent tobacco con-trol.
The data were scattered with considerable variation among evaluators because of sex, non-smokers, cigarette, pîpe or cigar smokers, order and interval o~ testing, etc. However, the following conclusions and indications emerged :
1. There wa~ uni~orm agreement that the extende~
tobaceo mixture c~garettes were cool, slow-burning and held ash well over the 5-50 percent toasted chit~n range.

2. The aroma of the smoke was a m~nor con~deration;
none of the mixtures was ob~ectionable, although some thought the smoke slIghtly pungent, as they did the straight tobacco

3. Surprisingly, there was little change ~n mildness with increasing c~ntent o~ toasted ch~tin; i.e.
some smokers considered the mixtures mild, but nevertheless a trace o~ bite was noted by sev~ral evaluators and hal~ o~ the gropp considered the control tobacco to have a bite.

4. In preference of the control tobacco ~ersus the m~xtures, opinion was about evenl~ divlded and hal~ of the smokers did n~t dlstinguish ~etween them; thus 75 percent of the group e~ther preferred -8_ --.... . , . . ~ :.

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the toasted chitin modificat1on or had no prefer-ence. Again, increasing concen~rations of the toast~d chitin did not appear to have much effect on choice.
Ex~3~
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Chitîn was impregnated with an ~queous æolution of glucose over night, the excess solution remov~d and the ~:
product dried. Twenty percent by volume of the material was blended with a ~ilter blend cigarette tobacco and made .into the ~ilter-tip cigarettes. Both the ~odi~ied and 100~ tobaceo cigarettes were cool, ~low burning and held ash well. The smoke was somewhat aromatic, and had a slight bite and after taste as did the tobacco control.
The tobacco control wa~ judged slightly milder~ but there was no preference between t~e two.

Examp~e YI .
A chitin sample9 bleached w~th 3 percent hyd~ogen peroxide solution, wa~ ~lended at the 20 percent by :
volume level with a very aromatic, V~rgin~a, ~ully r~pe smoking tobacco and the mIxture smoked in a pipe. There was no noticeable dif~erence ~n the taste or burnin~ as compared with the control tobacco~

Example V~I
Chitin at the 20 and 33 percent by volume level was blended with a l~ght, shredded cigarette tobaeco having a bulk density of about 0.2 g. per cc,, and the mixture made into filt~r tip cigarettes. Compar~sons were made versus each other and versus a 100 percent tobacco control.
At both levels the modofîed cigarettes are cool, have good fire-holding capacity and hold ash well. At the 20 percent chitin level aroma was pleasant to slightly pungent, with a trace of bite and after taste, but compara~le to the tobacco control and with no preference between them. At the 33 percent chitin level the cigarette seemed sllghtly stronger, b~t there was no preference between the 20 and 33 percent chitin cigarettes.

Ex ~
A cigarette made ~olly o~ chitin is placed in a cigarette holder containing a filter chamher accommodating a cigarette-sized ~ilter; upon smoking a commercial ~igarette in this holder, the smoke is cooler, milder and less irritat-ing. Similarly, a chitin cigarette inserted in the filter chamber of a smoking pipe cools and decreases the bite of the smoking tobacco; it also handles the condensed moisture well.
While particular examples of t~e present invention have been shown and d~scri~e~, it is apparent that changes and modification may be made here~n without departing from the invention in its broadest aspects. The aim of the appended claims, therefore, is to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention~

Claims (5)

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. A mixture comprising tobacco and chitin which is insoluble in dilute acetic acid, said chitin being present in amounts of 5% to 75% by weight of said mixture and said tobacco being present in amounts of 95% to 25% by weight of said mixture.

2. A mixture in accordance with claim 1 in which the percentage of said chitin is from 5% to 35% by weight of said mixture.

3. A mixture in accordance with claim 2 in which said percentage is from 10% to 35%.

4. A filter for smoke coming from burning tobacco which comprises, in combination, a holder affording a chamber for said filter and in said chamber filtering material comprising chitin.

5. A filter in accordance with claim 4 in which said chitin is in the form and shape of a conventional cigarette but contains no tobacco.