Refined tobacco product and preparation method therefor, and tobacco article
By using methods such as tobacco powder extraction, hydrothermal pyrolysis, and alcohol precipitation, the problems of aroma incoordination and loss of aroma-producing components in tobacco extracts have been solved, resulting in refined tobacco products with rich aroma and distinct tobacco aroma characteristics, thus improving the smoking experience.
Patent Information
- Authority / Receiving Office
- WO · WO
- Patent Type
- Applications
- Current Assignee / Owner
- SHENZHEN SMOORE TECH LTD
- Filing Date
- 2025-12-16
- Publication Date
- 2026-07-09
AI Technical Summary
Existing tobacco extracts have uncoordinated or missing aromas, complex processing, and conventional thermal decomposition leads to the loss of aroma-producing components, resulting in a poor sensory experience.
A method combining tobacco powder extraction, hydrothermal pyrolysis, and alcohol precipitation was adopted. After hydrothermal pyrolysis under closed conditions, alcohol precipitation was directly performed to avoid solid-liquid separation. Combined with specific solvent and temperature control, refined tobacco products were prepared.
It improves the richness and harmony of the aroma of refined tobacco, retains more flavor compounds, reduces reaction temperature and cost, removes impurities, and enhances the natural aroma characteristics of tobacco and the smoking experience.
Smart Images
Figure CN2025142950_09072026_PF_FP_ABST
Abstract
Description
A refined tobacco product, its preparation method, and tobacco products
[0001] Cross-reference to related applications
[0002] This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 2024119944935, filed with the Chinese Patent Office on December 30, 2024, entitled "A Tobacco Refined Product and its Preparation Method and Tobacco Products", the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field
[0003] This application belongs to the field of tobacco formulation technology, specifically relating to a refined tobacco product, its preparation method, and tobacco products. Background Technology
[0004] Tobacco and tobacco extracts are key components in tobacco products. How to rationally process and apply tobacco raw materials to release the natural aroma of tobacco in tobacco products, improve smoking quality, and enhance the smoking experience has attracted much attention from the tobacco industry.
[0005] Existing technologies include various methods for directly or indirectly processing tobacco. Some of these processes address the aroma deficiency in the obtained tobacco extracts, such as the Maillard reaction, thermal pyrolysis, enzymatic hydrolysis, and microbial fermentation. The Maillard reaction and thermal pyrolysis require heating. However, the Maillard reaction necessitates the addition of exogenous substances (such as amino acids and sugars), making the process relatively complex and prone to producing unpleasant odors that can lead to an uncoordinated aroma and a poor sensory experience. Conventional thermal pyrolysis involves high temperatures and requires a gaseous atmosphere. It involves multi-stage condensation and enrichment of the volatile components generated by high-temperature heating to obtain volatile aroma compounds. However, because it only collects a portion of the volatile aroma compounds, it results in the loss of these compounds. Summary of the Invention
[0006] Therefore, the technical problem to be solved by this application is to overcome the defects of the prior art, such as the lack of harmony or absence of aroma in tobacco extracts obtained by heating, and the complexity of the process, so as to provide a refined tobacco product, its preparation method and tobacco products.
[0007] Therefore, this application provides the following technical solution.
[0008] This application provides a method for preparing refined tobacco, comprising the following steps: S1: adding a first extraction solvent to tobacco powder for extraction to obtain a tobacco extract; S2: adding a second solvent to the tobacco extract, heating, and performing a hydrothermal pyrolysis reaction under sealed conditions to obtain a tobacco intermediate product; S3: adding an alcohol solution to the tobacco intermediate product, stirring, precipitating with alcohol, and separating the solid and liquid components to obtain the refined tobacco. In S2, there is no solid-liquid separation operation after the hydrothermal pyrolysis reaction; all solid and liquid products obtained after the hydrothermal pyrolysis reaction are used as tobacco intermediate products in the next step. In S3, typically, the stirring step is not limited to the stirring method and time; manual stirring, magnetic stirring, cantilever electric stirring, etc., can be used; stirring is sufficient until the final suspension is homogeneous and its state remains unchanged.
[0009] Optionally, in step S2, the heating temperature is 50–200°C and the heating time is 2–6 hours.
[0010] Optionally, in step S2, the mass ratio of the tobacco extract to the second solvent is 1:0.1 to 3.
[0011] Optionally, in step S3, the alcohol precipitation temperature is -20 to 25°C, and the time is 0.2 to 48 hours.
[0012] Optionally, in step S3, the mass ratio of the tobacco intermediate to the alcohol solution is 1:1 to 20.
[0013] Optionally, before step S3, a step of cooling the tobacco intermediate product is also included.
[0014] Optionally, in step S1, the extraction temperature is -20 to 100°C, the time is 1 to 24 hours, and the number of extractions is 2 to 4.
[0015] Optionally, in step S1, the mass ratio of the tobacco powder to the first extraction solvent is 1:5 to 20.
[0016] Optionally, in step S1, the extraction method includes at least one of heating reflux extraction, ultrasonic extraction, percolation extraction, and maceration extraction.
[0017] Optionally, the size of the smoke powder is ≤10 mesh.
[0018] Optionally, the tobacco powder includes at least one of flue-cured tobacco powder, burley tobacco powder, spiced tobacco powder, cigar tobacco powder, and sun-cured tobacco powder. Typically, but not limited to, the tobacco powder can be obtained by drying and pulverizing tobacco raw materials, including but not limited to tobacco leaves, destemmed tobacco leaves, tobacco stems, or any mixture of two or more thereof.
[0019] Optionally, the first extraction solvent includes at least one of ethanol and water; alternatively, the first extraction solvent is an ethanol solution with a mass concentration of 20% to 95%.
[0020] Optionally, the second solvent includes at least one of water, ethanol, propylene glycol, and glycerol.
[0021] Optionally, the alcohol solution includes an ethanol solution; optionally, the ethanol solution has a mass concentration of 70% to 95%.
[0022] The method for preparing tobacco refined products provided in this application typically, but not exclusively, includes a step of concentrating the obtained tobacco extract or tobacco refined product to a concentration of 55%–80%. The concentration method includes vacuum distillation under conditions of 60–180 mbar, 55–65°C, carried out with stirring at a speed of 50–70 rpm. The concentration refers to the mass percentage of the components other than the solvent in each corresponding mixture, and can be detected using a concentration meter.
[0023] This application provides a tobacco refined product, including scopolamine lactone; it also includes at least one of phenylethanol, 2,3-butanedione, and phenylacetic acid; the ratio of (2,3-butanedione + phenylethanol + phenylacetic acid) / scopolamine lactone by mass is 0.1 to 5.
[0024] Optionally, it may also include at least one of the following: stigmatrienone, dihydroactinolone, damascone, vanillin, guaiacol maltol, 2-acetylpyrrole, methylcyclopentenolone, furanone, and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural.
[0025] Optionally, at least one of the following conditions must be met:
[0026] (1) By mass: megastigmatrienone / (dihydroactinolone + damascone) is 1.5 to 10;
[0027] (2) Based on the amount of dry matter in the refined tobacco product, vanillin + guaiacol + maltol + 2-acetylpyrrole + methylcyclopentenolone > 0.06 mg / g;
[0028] (3) Based on the amount of dry matter in the refined tobacco product, furanone + 5-hydroxymethylfurfural + guaiacol > 0.03 mg / g.
[0029] In this application, "dry matter" refers to the components in refined tobacco products other than the solvent. The solvent may be an aqueous ethanol solution, and the dry matter includes: scopolamine; it also includes: phenethyl alcohol, 2,3-butanedione, and phenylacetic acid; and may further include: megastigmatrienone, dihydroactinolone, damascene, vanillin, guaiacol maltol, 2-acetylpyrrole, methylcyclopentenolone, furanone, and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural.
[0030] Optionally, the tobacco refined product is prepared by the above-described method for preparing tobacco refined products.
[0031] This application also provides a tobacco product comprising the above-described refined tobacco or the refined tobacco obtained by the above-described preparation method; optionally, the tobacco product comprises at least one of cigarettes, heated tobacco products, aerosol generating matrix, oral tobacco, and chewing tobacco.
[0032] The beneficial effects of this application are:
[0033] The method for preparing refined tobacco products provided in this application includes the following steps: S1: Adding a first extraction solvent to tobacco powder for extraction to obtain a tobacco extract; S2: Adding a second solvent to the tobacco extract, heating, and performing a hydrothermal pyrolysis reaction under sealed conditions to obtain a tobacco intermediate product; S3: Adding an alcohol solution to the tobacco intermediate product, stirring, performing alcohol precipitation, and separating the solid and liquid components to obtain the refined tobacco product. This preparation method, by extracting tobacco powder, performing a hydrothermal pyrolysis reaction on the extract under sealed conditions, and then performing alcohol precipitation on all products after the reaction without solid-liquid separation, results in a significantly higher quantity and content of flavor substances in the final refined tobacco product. It exhibits distinct tobacco aroma characteristics and smoke characteristics, with a harmonious and rich aroma, and a clean tobacco fragrance. Extraction from tobacco powder enables the dissolution and enrichment of various flavor substances within the tobacco powder. During hydrothermal pyrolysis, no external sugars, amino acids, or other substances are required, and the reaction temperature is lower than that of conventional thermal pyrolysis, saving costs. This process increases the amount of effective substances and generates new flavor compounds, with the flavor primarily manifested in the body and base aromas. Furthermore, the resulting refined tobacco compounds exhibit weaker and more harmonious aromas. After hydrothermal pyrolysis under sealed conditions, instead of solid-liquid separation, all reaction products undergo alcohol precipitation. This removes impurities such as sugars and proteins, ensuring more complete retention of each component and enrichment of the effective components. The final refined tobacco product exhibits a richer aroma and a cleaner tobacco fragrance.
[0034] The tobacco refined product provided in this application includes scopolamine lactone; it also includes at least one of phenylethyl alcohol, 2,3-butanedione, and phenylacetic acid; the ratio of (2,3-butanedione + phenylethyl alcohol + phenylacetic acid) / scopolamine lactone is 0.3 to 5 by mass. This tobacco refined product has a harmonious balance of milky, sweet, floral, and roasted aromas, providing a good smoking experience.
[0035] The tobacco products provided in this application include the above-mentioned refined tobacco or the refined tobacco obtained by the above-mentioned preparation method. Adding the refined tobacco obtained by the above-mentioned preparation method or the above-mentioned refined tobacco enables the tobacco products to have a distinct tobacco aroma and smoke characteristics during use. Attached Figure Description
[0036] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the specific embodiments of this application or the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the specific embodiments or the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are some embodiments of this application. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained from these drawings without creative effort.
[0037] Figure 1 shows the mass spectrometry and chromatographic images of the tobacco extract and tobacco refinement obtained in Example 1;
[0038] Figure 2 shows the mass spectrometry and chromatographic images of the tobacco extract and tobacco refinement obtained in Example 2. Detailed Implementation
[0039] The following embodiments are provided to better understand this application and are not limited to the preferred embodiments described herein. They do not constitute a limitation on the content and scope of protection of this application. Any product that is the same as or similar to this application, derived by anyone under the guidance of this application or by combining features of this application with other prior art, falls within the scope of protection of this application.
[0040] Where specific experimental steps or conditions are not specified in the examples, they can be performed according to the conventional experimental steps or conditions described in the literature in this field. Reagents or instruments whose manufacturers are not specified are all commercially available conventional reagent products. In this application, concentration refers to the mass percentage of the substances other than the solvent in the corresponding mixture, and is detected using an ATAGO concentration meter.
[0041] Example 1
[0042] This embodiment provides a refined tobacco product and its preparation method, including the following steps:
[0043] (1) Take the dried tobacco leaves of Yun 87, pulverize them, and pass them through a 10-mesh sieve to obtain Yun 87 tobacco powder.
[0044] (2) Take 100g of Yun 87 tobacco powder, add 1000g of 50% ethanol solution, and reflux extract at 90℃ for 3h, extracting twice. Combine the two extracts to obtain tobacco extract; distill the tobacco extract under reduced pressure at 60mbar, 60℃, and 60rpm with stirring, and finally concentrate it to a concentration of 60%.
[0045] (3) Take 30g of the concentrated tobacco extract obtained in (2) and put it into a hydrothermal reactor. Add 5g of water and 5g of propylene glycol, stir evenly, put it into an oven, heat it in a sealed environment at 130℃ for 5h, and then cool it to obtain the tobacco intermediate product.
[0046] (4) Add 10 times the mass of 80% ethanol to the tobacco intermediate obtained in (3), stir evenly, precipitate with alcohol at 4°C for 24 hours, filter, and the obtained filtrate is the tobacco refined product. The tobacco refined product is subjected to vacuum distillation at 60 mbar, 60°C and 60 rpm stirring, and finally concentrated to a concentration of 60%.
[0047] Example 2
[0048] This embodiment provides a refined tobacco product and its preparation method, including the following steps:
[0049] (1) Take the tobacco leaves of Yun 85, dry them, crush them, and pass them through a 10-mesh sieve to obtain tobacco powder.
[0050] (2) Take 100g of Yun 85 tobacco powder, add 900g of 70% ethanol solution, and reflux extract at 90℃ for 3h, extracting twice. Combine the two extracts to obtain tobacco extract; distill the tobacco extract under reduced pressure at 60mbar, 60℃, and 60rpm with stirring, and finally concentrate it to a concentration of 60%.
[0051] (3) Take 30g of the concentrated tobacco extract obtained in (2) and put it into a hydrothermal reactor. Add 8g of water and 3g of propylene glycol, stir evenly, put it into an oven, heat it in a sealed environment at 150℃ for 3h, and then cool it to obtain the tobacco intermediate product.
[0052] (4) Add 8 times the mass of 90% ethanol to the tobacco intermediate obtained in (3), stir evenly, precipitate with alcohol at 4°C for 12 hours, filter, and the obtained filtrate is the tobacco refined product. The tobacco refined product is subjected to vacuum distillation at 60 mbar, 60°C and 60 rpm stirring, and finally concentrated to a concentration of 60%.
[0053] Example 3
[0054] This embodiment provides a refined tobacco product and its preparation method, including the following steps:
[0055] (1) Take the dried tobacco leaves of Yun 87, pulverize them, and pass them through a 10-mesh sieve to obtain Yun 87 tobacco powder.
[0056] (2) Take 100g of Yun 87 tobacco powder, add 1000g of 95% ethanol solution, and reflux extract at 85℃ for 2 hours, for a total of 2 extractions. Combine the two extracts to obtain the tobacco extract; distill the tobacco extract under reduced pressure at 60mbar, 60℃, and 60rpm with stirring, and finally concentrate it to a concentration of 60%.
[0057] (3) Take 30g of the concentrated tobacco extract obtained in (2) and put it into a hydrothermal reactor. Add 1g of water and 2g of propylene glycol, stir evenly, put it into an oven, heat it in a sealed environment at 12℃ for 6 hours, and then cool it to obtain the tobacco intermediate product.
[0058] (4) Add 10 times the mass of 95% ethanol to the tobacco intermediate obtained in (3), stir evenly, precipitate with alcohol at -18℃ for 48h, filter, and the obtained filtrate is the tobacco refined product. The tobacco refined product is subjected to vacuum distillation in an environment of 60mbar, 60℃, and 60rpm stirring, and finally concentrated to a concentration of 60%.
[0059] Example 4
[0060] This embodiment provides a refined tobacco product and its preparation method, including the following steps:
[0061] (1) Take the dried tobacco leaves of Yun 87, pulverize them, and pass them through a 10-mesh sieve to obtain Yun 87 tobacco powder.
[0062] (2) Take 100g of Yun 87 tobacco powder and add 2000g of 50% ethanol solution. Extract the tobacco powder by soaking at 5℃ for 24h, and repeat the extraction 3 times. Combine the 3 extracts to obtain the tobacco extract. Distill the tobacco extract under reduced pressure at 60mbar, 60℃ and 60rpm with stirring, and finally concentrate it to a concentration of 60%.
[0063] (3) Take 30g of the concentrated tobacco extract obtained in (2) and put it into a hydrothermal reactor. Add 10g of water and 6g of glycerol, stir evenly, put it into an oven, heat it in a sealed container at 200℃ for 2 hours, and then cool it to obtain the tobacco intermediate product.
[0064] (4) Add 20 times its mass of 80% ethanol to the tobacco intermediate obtained in (3), stir evenly, precipitate with alcohol at 25°C for 0.2 h, filter, and the obtained filtrate is the tobacco refined product. The tobacco refined product is subjected to vacuum distillation at 60 mbar, 60°C and 60 rpm stirring, and finally concentrated to a concentration of 60%.
[0065] Test Example 1
[0066] The concentrated tobacco extract obtained in the examples was used to detect aroma components. The specific method is as follows: GC-MS / MS (Agilent 5977B GC / MSD 8890GC System) was used, with a DB-5MS ultra-inert column (60m, 0.25mm, 0.25μm); split injection ratio 10:1; injection volume 1μL; column oven temperature: 40℃ for 2 min, increased to 150℃ at 3℃ / min, held for 2 min, increased to 300℃ at 5℃ / min, held for 1 min, increased to 320℃ at 10℃ / min, held for 1 min; MSD temperature 280℃; solvent delay 5.8 min; scan range: 35-550; threshold: 150; scan rate N=2; full scan mass spectrometry was used; the data were compared with the NIST20 database to identify each component individually. The results of Example 1 are shown in Figure 1, and the results of Example 2 are shown in Figure 2. Figures 1 and 2 are total ion chromatograms (TIC), where the vertical axis represents the total ion intensity. Further calculations were performed to obtain the content of each substance in each concentrated tobacco product, based on dry matter, as shown in Table 1.
[0067] Table 1
[0068] As shown in Figure 1, the refined tobacco product obtained in Example 1 is richer than the tobacco extract, with the addition of some flavor compounds, such as 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, phenylacetic acid, vanillin, furanone, and guaiacol. The relative content of some flavor compounds has increased significantly, such as megastigmatrienone, furfuryl alcohol, and methylcyclopentenolone. The content of some flavor precursors has also decreased, such as neophytadiene.
[0069] As shown in Figure 2, the tobacco refined product obtained in Example 2 is richer than the tobacco extract, with the addition of some flavor compounds, such as 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, phenylacetic acid, vanillin, furanone, guaiacol, and maltol. The relative content of some flavor compounds has significantly increased, such as 2-acetylpyrrole, methylcyclopentenolone, and megastigmatrienone. However, the content of some flavor precursors has decreased, such as neophytadiene.
[0070] Test Example 2
[0071] Seven experts were organized to conduct a sensory evaluation, referring to YC / T 138-1998 "Sensory Evaluation Methods for Tobacco and Tobacco Products". The concentrated tobacco extract obtained in step (2) and the concentrated tobacco refined product obtained in step (4) of the above embodiments were added to the tobacco flavor aerosol generating matrix at a mass percentage of 1% for sensory evaluation. The sensory evaluation results are shown in Tables 2 and 3. As can be seen from Tables 2 and 3, the tobacco refined product provides a better user experience compared to the tobacco extract.
[0072] Table 2
[0073] Table 3
[0074] Obviously, the above embodiments are merely illustrative examples for clear explanation and are not intended to limit the implementation. Those skilled in the art will recognize that other variations or modifications can be made based on the above description. It is neither necessary nor possible to exhaustively list all possible implementations here. However, obvious variations or modifications derived therefrom are still within the scope of protection of this invention.
Claims
1. A method for preparing a refined tobacco product, characterized in that, Includes the following steps: S1: Add the first extraction solvent to the tobacco powder and extract to obtain tobacco extract; S2: Add a second solvent to the tobacco extract, heat, and carry out a hydrothermal pyrolysis reaction under sealed conditions to obtain a tobacco intermediate product; S3: Add an alcohol solution to the tobacco intermediate, stir, precipitate with alcohol, and separate the solid and liquid to obtain the refined tobacco product.
2. The preparation method according to claim 1, characterized in that, In step S2, the heating temperature is 50–200°C, and the heating time is 2–6 hours. And / or, in S2, the mass ratio of the tobacco extract to the second solvent is 1:0.1 to 3.
3. The preparation method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, In step S3, the alcohol precipitation temperature is -20 to 25°C, and the time is 0.2 to 48 hours. And / or, in S3, the mass ratio of the tobacco intermediate to the alcohol solution is 1:1 to 20; And / or, prior to S3, a step of cooling the tobacco intermediate product is also included.
4. The preparation method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that, In step S1, the extraction temperature is -20 to 100°C, the time is 1 to 24 hours, and the number of extractions is 2 to 4. And / or, in S1, the mass ratio of the tobacco powder to the first extraction solvent is 1:5 to 20; And / or, in S1, the extraction method includes at least one of heating reflux extraction, ultrasonic extraction, percolation extraction, and maceration extraction.
5. The preparation method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that, The size of the tobacco powder is ≤10 mesh; And / or, the tobacco powder includes at least one of flue-cured tobacco powder, burley tobacco powder, spiced tobacco powder, cigar tobacco powder, and sun-cured tobacco powder; And / or, the first extraction solvent includes at least one of ethanol and water; optionally, the first extraction solvent is an ethanol solution with a mass concentration of 20% to 95%. And / or, the second solvent includes at least one of water, ethanol, propylene glycol, and glycerol; And / or, the alcohol solution includes an ethanol solution; optionally, the ethanol solution has a mass concentration of 70% to 95%.
6. A refined tobacco product, characterized in that, It includes scopolamine; it also includes at least one of phenylethyl alcohol, 2,3-butanedione, and phenylacetic acid; By mass: (2,3-butanedione + phenylethanol + phenylacetic acid) / scopolamine is 0.1–5.
7. The tobacco refined product according to claim 6, characterized in that, It also includes at least one of the following: stigmatrienone, dihydroactinolone, damascone, vanillin, guaiacol maltol, 2-acetylpyrrole, methylcyclopentenolone, furanone, and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural.
8. The tobacco refined product according to claim 7, characterized in that, At least one of the following conditions must be met: (1) By mass: megastigmatrienone / (dihydroactinolone + damascone) is 1.5 to 10; (2) Based on the amount of dry matter in the refined tobacco product, vanillin + guaiacol + maltol + 2-acetylpyrrole + methylcyclopentenolone > 0.06 mg / g; (3) Based on the amount of dry matter in the refined tobacco product, furanone + 5-hydroxymethylfurfural + guaiacol > 0.03 mg / g.
9. The tobacco refined product according to any one of claims 6 to 8, characterized in that, It is prepared by the method for preparing tobacco refined product according to any one of claims 1 to 5.
10. A tobacco product, characterized in that, The tobacco product includes the refined tobacco product as described in any one of claims 6 to 9 or the refined tobacco product prepared by the preparation method as described in any one of claims 1 to 5; optionally, the tobacco product includes at least one of cigarettes, heated tobacco products, aerosol generating matrix, oral tobacco, and chewing tobacco.