DESC:
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to wrapping materials, in particular a packaging material suitable for wrapping consuming articles individually, which are relatively cylindrical in shape, with varied lengths individually. This wrapping material can also maintain the relative humidity of the closed pack of these articles for substantially a longer period of time.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
It is known that, in any consuming article, moisture plays a very critical role. Especially, in cigarettes like conventional nicotine delivery formats are made at a very specific moisture level (13.5 + 1 %). Such moisture levels deliver the consumer acceptable quality and satisfaction. Similar such problems are also common in electrically heated smoking systems, which does not involve burning but heating mechanism to generate aerosol. This kind of products must possess around 12.5% of moisture for the user acceptance.

The aerosol generating substances used in the conventional smoking articles and/or other nicotine delivery systems are made of processed tobacco either in form of cut tobacco or as sheet(s). The processing of the tobacco includes substantial percentage of aerosol generating chemical such as glycerin, propylene glycol, etc. Being hygroscopic, these chemicals tends to pick up moisture. The tendency of picking up moisture is higher in this kind of articles compare to the regular combustible cigarette.

Moreover, product moisture change beyond this range can lead to multiple dissonance. Lower moisture level can cause dry smoke, harshness in throat, falling of cut tobacco, poor satisfaction. On the other hand, higher moisture can spoil the product by microbial growth, musty and hot smoke, higher draw effort and not a user desirable experience. These problems are more pronounced in areas where the weather is hot and humid.

Cigarette manufacturers are trying to overcome this problem by providing higher barrier Biaxially oriented Poly propylene (BOPP) film; but it does not solve the problem as the higher barrier BOPP film alone may not completely serve the purpose. It is well known in the art that BOPP heat sealing alone, does not always provide any desired protection, and there is always probability of leakage(s) which either allow the moisture to pass in and/or out responsible for making the cigarette not delivering the consumer acceptable smoking experience.

Though high barrier BOPP based plastic packaging is done to keep the moisture of the product for longer period of time, there are incidents where the packing integrity has been lost, the consumer takes multiple days to consume the total packet or the retailer is selling single or multiple products and not the full packet, etc. These above and similar incidents might change the moisture percentage of the product. This change might be faster or slower depending on the surrounding temperature and relative humidity but it is bound to happen.

Excess moisture makes the product musty, prone to spoiling whereas lower moisture tends to provide dry and irritating smoke. This inherent problem of the product also limits its shelf life.

Reference is being made to US 10588338B2. This document discloses that the smokeless tobacco composite can incorporate additional ingredients or components. These additives could be added to the fibrous structure portion of the composite structure of the invention, such as in the form of a coating or in the form of a material imbedded in the fibrous material (e.g., impregnated). Exemplary types of additional components include salts (e.g., sodium chloride, potassium chloride, sodium citrate, potassium citrate, sodium acetate, potassium acetate, and the like). This document further discloses that flavorants and other additives are included in a hydrating liquid. The hydrating liquid optionally includes one or more additives and/or flavorants to moisten the smokeless tobacco composite to the desired final moisture level. The smokeless tobacco composite can have a moisture content of about 5% by weight to about 65% by weight, about 5% by weight to about 30% by weight; about 10% by weight to about 20% by weight; or about 15% by weight to about 25% by weight based on the final weight of the smokeless tobacco composite. In some embodiments, the overall moisture content is 5% by weight or greater, e.g., about 10% by weight or greater; about 25% by weight or greater based on the final weight of the smokeless tobacco composite.

Hence there is a need of a packaging solution for single cigarettes to increase consumers’ satisfaction and protect brand value. To increase the shelf life of the tobacco product, it was needed to maintain the relative humidity of the closed pack for longer period of time.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The following disclosure presents a simplified summary of the invention in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary is not an extensive overview of the present invention. It is not intended to identify the key/critical elements of the invention or to delineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to present some concept of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to a more detailed description of the invention presented later.

The object of present invention is to overcome the problems of prior arts.

According to the first aspect of the present invention there is provided a wrapper for an individual aerosol generating article wherein said wrapper is cylindrical, having internal diameter of the wrapper substantially equal to the outer diameter of the aerosol generating article wherein the structure of said wrapper has a longitudinal overlap joining area along the length and two transverse joining area at the ends and has an area of mechanism extending outward from the longitudinal joining area to open the wrapper.

According to the second aspect of the present invention relates to a moisture managing element within the packaging to maintain the moisture of the aerosol generating article for longer period of time wherein the moisture managing element is in the form of sheet having thickness not more than 5 mm and surface to thickness ratio not less than 1000 wherein the moisture managing element is made by impregnating hydrated salt in the sheet.

According to the third aspect of present invention there is provided a process of packing individual aerosol generating article with a wrapper comprising:
i. loading the aerosol generating article sticks in a hopper and dropping them to a first attachment of plurality of toothed rollers; wherein the combined movement of these rollers facilitates picking up of the aerosol generating article and placing to the required position.
ii. conveying the wrapper, gluing and cutting as per the required dimension;
iii. positioning the aerosol generating article along with a cut wrapping segment;
iv. rotating the article along with the wrapper on its axis to make a cylindrical packaging structure wherein the packaging structure have a longitudinal sealing region having at least 2 mm of sealing overlap.
v. sealing the transverse ends with sealing mechanism and conveying the sealed article to the next station.

Other aspects, advantages, and salient features of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings, discloses exemplary embodiments of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS
The above and other aspects, features and advantages of the embodiments of the present disclosure will be more apparent in the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 illustrates the design of a single aerosol generating article with TOR as disclosed in one of the embodiment of present invention.

Figure 2 illustrates schematic representation of the process of single stick packaging as disclosed in one of the embodiment of present invention.

Figure 3 illustrate the placement of the pack insert in an aerosol generating article (e.g. cigarette) box.

Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and may not have been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figure may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. Throughout the drawings, it should be noted that like reference numbers are used to depict the same or similar elements, features, and structures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings is provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of various embodiments of the present disclosure as defined by the claims and their equivalents. It includes various specific details to assist in that understanding, but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary. Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications of the various embodiments described herein can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure. In addition, descriptions of well-known functions and constructions may be omitted for clarity and conciseness.

The terms and words used in the following description and claims are not limited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by the inventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the following description of various embodiments of the present disclosure is provided for illustration purpose only and not for the purpose of limiting the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

It is to be understood that the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, for example, a reference to "a component surface" includes a reference to one or more of such surfaces.

All terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which various embodiments belong. Further, the meaning of terms or words used in the specification and the claims should not be limited to the literal or commonly employed sense but should be construed in accordance with the spirit of the disclosure to most properly describe the present disclosure.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular various embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of various embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms "a," "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises" and/or "comprising" used herein specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, members, components, and/or groups thereof, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, members, components, and/or groups thereof. Also, expressions such as "at least one of," when preceding a list of elements, modify the entire list of elements and do not modify the individual elements of the list.

The present disclosure will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which various embodiments of the present disclosure are shown. The present disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the various embodiments set forth herein, rather, these various embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the present disclosure. Furthermore, a detailed description of other parts will not be provided not to make the present disclosure unclear. Like reference numerals in the drawings refer to like elements throughout.

The present invention relates to wrapping individual aerosol generating articles with a wrapping material essentially having higher barrier properties to protect freshness of the product for longer period of time.

Present invention relates to a wrapper for an aerosol generating article essentially comprising a higher barrier packing material for packing individual aerosol generating article (e.g. cigarette) to protect the freshness of the product for longer period of time.

In a preferred embodiment, the higher barrier packing material is heat sealable either biodegradable or non-biodegradable.

In another embodiment, heat sealable plastic material is selected from BOPP film, Met Pet Film, etc.

In a further embodiment, the thickness of the packaging film is not less than 15 microns.

Further, the packaging material is made of coated paper. The higher barrier coated paper is made of biodegradable and no-biodegradable barrier coating such as PE coating, acrylic coating, PVDC coting, etc. These coatings are heat sealable and having at least 200 g seal strength.

In a preferred embodiment, the wrapping material further includes a hydrated salt impregnated paper based pack insert having at least 70% paper fiber which can be used along with the existing packaging material.

In a preferred embodiment, the wrapping material is further containing hydrated salt. In a preferred embodiment, the hydrated salt is calcium chloride.

In a preferred embodiment, the wrapping material further wrap the individual aerosol generating article to form a cylindrical packaging structure with sealed ends.

In another preferred embodiment, the cylindrical packaging structure have a tear off ribbon (TOR) of fig. 1.

Figure 1 describes the packaged product (3) wherein the aerosol generating article (2) is enclosed within the wrapper. The wrapper has a longitudinal axis along the length of the aerosol generating article. The wrapper has a longitudinal overlapping sealing area (4) wherein the overlapping sealing area is at least 2 mm of width. The inner diameter of the wrapper is substantially similar to outer diameter of the aerosol generating article to provide better aesthetic look of the product, to make better collation of the product in the primary and secondary packaging structure. The wrapper has a zone with protruding part (1) of for tearing initiation. The protruding part can be of the same material of the wrapper. The protruding part can be a different material or can be a resilient ribbon (TOR) combines with the wrapper before wrapping over the aerosol generating article. The wrapper is closed from two transverse ends (5). The closing can be either through heat sealing or by application of glue and any other suitable method.

In yet another embodiment, the present invention also relates to the system and a process of packing individual aerosol generating article (e.g. cigarette) with a wrapping material/ wrapper (ref fig 2).

The individually wrapped aerosol generating articles are first bundled as per the coalition structure with a bundling material. This kind of bundling material can be paper based, metalized or metal foil-based structure. This formation is commonly known as ‘primary packaging’.

The formed bundle is then inserted in a secondary packaging structure. The secondary packaging structure can be made of paper or other materials. The secondary packaging structure is then wrapped with the higher barrier tertiary packaging film.

The higher barrier packaging film can be BOPP film with different thickness, optical, barrier and sealing properties.

Figure 2 shows the process of wrapping individual aerosol generating article (6) which includes the steps of loading the aerosol generating articles in a hopper (12) and passing it to a first attachment of plurality of toothed rollers; wherein the combined movement of these rollers facilitates picking up of the aerosol generating article. The wrapping material bobbin (7) dispenses the wrapping material and receive the glue (in case the sealing is happening through gluing) from the glue pot (8). The cutting roller attachment (9) cuts the wrapping material as per the required dimension. The TOR can be added in case required. The individual article is wrapped with a glued wrapping film, rolled on its axis (10) by a separate attachment and the ends are sealed (11) with a sealing mechanism. The conveyer pushes this wrapped article to the next station.

Along with that, the invention also discloses the use of a wrapping material which has the required moisture and flavor barrier properties and TOR can be attached to it with good bonding strength. Also, the wrapping material should be glue-able and thermal sealable as well.

The non-limiting example of the moisture managing element is hydrated salt impregnated paper-based pack inserts. The pack inserts can be made of multiple layers or non-woven fibers.

In another example, the moisture managing element can be the overwrapping material or the bundling material.

In the event of external environment influencing moisture migration from or within the packaged product, this kind of moisture managing element tries to maintain the desire RH condition inside the pack either by absorbing or desorbing water molecules from the salt.

The pack insert has thickness not more than 5 mm and surface to thickness ratio not less than 1000. This ensures superior performance without adding much dimension to the existing packaging structure.

Figure 3 represent non-limiting example of the placement of the moisture managing element (pack insert) in the cigarette box. The moisture managing element (pack insert) can be placed in contact with the cigarette (aerosol generating article) or away. There might be a separator or a physical gap between the cigarette and the moisture managing element.
,CLAIMS:
1. A wrapper for an individual aerosol generating article wherein said wrapper is cylindrical, having internal diameter of the wrapper substantially equal to the outer diameter of the aerosol generating article wherein the structure of said wrapper has a longitudinal overlap joining area along the length and two transverse joining area at the ends and has an area of mechanism extending outward from the longitudinal joining area to open the wrapper.

2. The wrapper as claimed in claim 1, wherein the wrapper is made of sheet material including and not limited to higher barrier paper, paper board, laminates, etc.

3. The wrapper as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the joining is achieved by heat sealing, gluing, crimping or any other suitable mechanism.

4. The wrapper as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the wrapper has a protrusion to facilitate opening the packaging.

5. The wrapper as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the wrapper has a tear of ribbon (TOR) to facilitate opening the wrapper.

6. The wrapper as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein said longitudinal over lapping sealing area has at least 2 mm of overlapping zone.

7. A moisture managing element within the packaging to maintain the moisture of the aerosol generating article for longer period of time wherein the moisture managing element is in the form of sheet having thickness not more than 5 mm and surface to thickness ratio not less than 1000 wherein the moisture managing element is made by impregnating hydrated salt in the sheet.

8. The moisture managing element as claimed in Claim 7, wherein the moisture managing element is a wrapper for individually wrapping the aerosol generating article.

9. The moisture managing element as claimed in Claim 7, wherein the moisture managing element is a bundling material for collating the aerosol generating articles within the pack.

10. The moisture managing element as claimed in Claim 7, wherein the moisture managing element is a pack insert wherein the pack insert is placed inside a secondary packaging.

11. The moisture managing element as claimed in claim 7, comprising a hydrated salt impregnated paper-based pack insert comprising at least 70% paper fiber.

12. The moisture managing element as claimed in claim 7, wherein the hydrated salt is calcium chloride.

13. A process of packing individual aerosol generating article with a wrapper comprising:
i. loading the aerosol generating article sticks in a hopper and dropping them to a first attachment of plurality of toothed rollers; wherein the combined movement of these rollers facilitates picking up of the aerosol generating article and placing to the required position.
ii. conveying the wrapper, gluing and cutting as per the required dimension;
iii. positioning the aerosol generating article along with a cut wrapping segment;
iv. rotating the article along with the wrapper on its axis to make a cylindrical packaging structure wherein the packaging structure have a longitudinal sealing region having at least 2 mm of sealing overlap.
v. sealing the transverse ends with sealing mechanism and conveying the sealed article to the next station.