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Treatment of tobacco

Pending Publication Date: 2021-06-24
R J REYNOLDS TOBACCO COMPANY
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent provides methods for treating tobacco materials with superheated steam and microorganisms to improve their quality. The treatment can reduce the amount of harmful nitrosamines in the tobacco and modify its flavor and aroma. The method can also result in a reduction of bacteria in the tobacco, which can improve its storage and quality.

Problems solved by technology

Particularly, the disclosed methods can be applied to tobacco plants and materials and can, in some embodiments, result in a decrease in total bacterial content associated with the tobacco plant or material and / or an increase in Lactobacillus bacterial content associated with the tobacco plant or material.

Method used

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Examples

Experimental program
Comparison scheme
Effect test

example 1

of Pre-Cured Tobacco with Treatment Solution

[0087]Dark-air cured tobacco is treated five hours prior to harvest with one or more of a probiotic bacteria solution, an enzyme solution, and / or a 3% sodium chloride salt solution. The solution is applied using a backpack sprayer. Solutions are based on a 100-gallon solution per acre, using recommended plant spacing and dose per plant is provided below. The treated tobacco is harvested and mid-stalk leaf samples are analyzed for total bacteria counts, enteric bacteria counts, and Lactobacillus counts. Ten grams of each treated tobacco sample is placed in Butterfields Phosphate Buffer and diluted 10−2 to 10−8 times with water. The treated tobacco sample dilutions are applied to plate count agar (PCA) for total aerobic bacteria counts, to violet red bile agar (VRBA) for gram negative bacteria counts, and to MRS for anaerobic (Lactobacillus) counts. The number of bacterial colonies, as visualized under magnification, are counted to estimate ...

example 2

of Tobacco with Microorganism

[0098]Tobacco (e.g., tobacco treated by any of the methods presented above in Example 1 and / or below in Example 3) is subjected to fermentation by moistening the tobacco (e.g., by subjecting the tobacco to humid conditions). Control of endogenous bacteria, yeast, and fungi are controlled during the fermentation process by selecting and maintaining appropriate water activity, pH, salinity, and temperature conditions to provide appropriate conditions for the starter culture or desired endogenous microorganism(s) to ferment the tobacco and prevent TSNA precursor formation. A solution of bacteria (e.g., Tetragenococcus halophilus) alone, or in combination with yeast, is applied to the fermenting tobacco and the tobacco is fermented under such conditions for a period of about 1 to 6 weeks. A decreased TSNA content in the tobacco relative to fermented tobacco treated as in Example 1 and / or treated as in Example 3 but without treatment with Tetragenococcus halo...

example 3

ed Steam Treatment of Tobacco Prior to Fermentation

[0099]Multiple trials (seven in total) involving treatment of dark air-cured tobacco with superheated steam under different conditions were conducted as follows. Each dark air-cured tobacco sample was treated with superheated steam in a continuous-flow pressurized reaction vessel (i.e., a Steam Sterilizer from Ventilex, USA Inc. (West Chester, Ohio)). Variables adjusted during treatment included exposure time, flow rate, and temperature. The temperature was controlled by adjusting the pressure inside the vessel. Due to equipment limitations, it was determined that flow rate was not easily adjusted, so the flow rate was set to a constant of 330 lbs / hr of tobacco material with actual operating conditions being about 300+ / −50 lbs / hr. However, other feed rates are possible and the selected flow rate is not intended to be limiting. Exposure time was controlled by adjusting the shaker tray output in terms of a percentage of the overall sh...

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PUM

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Abstract

Methods of fermenting a tobacco material and methods of modifying the total bacterial content of a tobacco material are provided herein. One example method includes treating a tobacco material with superheated steam in a pressurized vessel to provide a steam-treated tobacco material having a reduced total bacteria content and fermenting the steam-treated tobacco material in the presence of one or more microorganisms to provide a fermented tobacco material. In some embodiments, the methods provided herein can provide a fermented tobacco material having a tobacco-specific nitrosamine content that is reduced relative to a fermented tobacco material that has not been subjected to the disclosed method steps and / or a modified flavor or aroma profile relative to a fermented tobacco material that has not been subjected to the disclosed method steps.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]The present application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 16 / 430,813, filed Jun. 4, 2019, which is continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 15 / 902,397, filed Feb. 22, 2018, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 14 / 712,360, filed May 14, 2015, each of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates to modifications to methods of growing and harvesting plants (such as tobacco), to methods of handling and treating harvested plants and plant materials for use in the preparation of plant-derived products (such as tobacco products); and particularly to those methods related to processed tobaccos that are considered to be subjected to so-called fermentation processing conditions. More particularly, the present invention relates to technologies associated with the manufacturing of products made or derived from tobacco, or that otherwise inc...

Claims

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Application Information

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IPC IPC(8): A24B15/28A24B13/00A24B15/20A24B15/24A24B15/30A24B15/42
CPCA24B15/28A24B13/00A24B15/20A24B15/287A24B15/30A24B15/307A24B15/42A24B15/245A24B15/183
Inventor MARSHALL, JERRY WAYNEGERARDI, ANTHONY RICHARDMONSALUD, JR., LUISBUSBEE, ALTONHART, JO ANN HILLMILLING, ANNETT
Owner R J REYNOLDS TOBACCO COMPANY
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