Smoking article inspection system and associated method

#The present disclosure relates to smoking articles and more particularly to smoking article inspection systems and related methods. The smoking articles may be made or derived from tobacco, or otherwise incorporate tobacco, and may be intended for human consumption.

#Popular smoking articles, such as cigarettes, typically have a substantially cylindrical rod shaped structure and include a charge, roll, or column of smokable material such as shredded tobacco (e.g., in cut filler form) surrounded by a paper wrapper thereby forming a so-called “smokable rod” or “tobacco rod.” Normally, a cigarette has a cylindrical filter element aligned in an end-to-end relationship with the tobacco rod. Typically, a filter element comprises cellulose acetate tow plasticized using a plasticizer such as triacetin, and the tow is circumscribed by a paper material known as “plug wrap.”

#The filter element may be attached to one end of the tobacco rod using a circumscribing wrapping material known as “tipping material” or “tipping paper,” in order to provide a so-called “filtered cigarette.” More particularly, the tipping material, which may be air impermeable, may circumscribe at least a portion of both the filter element and the tobacco rod to secure the filter element to the tobacco rod. The inner surface of the tipping material may be fixedly secured to the outer surface of the plug wrap circumscribing the filter tow and the outer surface of the wrapping material/paper wrapper surrounding the smokable material of the tobacco rod, using a suitable adhesive. Accordingly, the filter element and the tobacco rod may be connected to one another. The adhesive may also function to secure the overlapping ends of the tipping material circumscribing the filter element and tobacco rod. The tipping material and plug wrap may be perforated in order to provide dilution of drawn mainstream smoke with ambient air.

#In order to assist the understanding of aspects of the disclosure, reference will now be made to the appended drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale and in which like reference numerals refer to like elements. The drawings are exemplary only, and should not be construed as limiting the disclosure. For the various figures, in order to clearly show the configurations of the various wrapping materials, the thicknesses of those wrapping materials of the various filtered cigarettes may be exaggerated. Most preferably, the wrapping materials are tightly wrapped around the filtered cigarettes to provide a tight or snug fit, to provide a cigarette having acceptable physical integrity, and to provide an aesthetically pleasing appearance.

#FIG. 1 illustrates a cross-sectional view through a smoking article according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure;

#FIG. 2 illustrates a cross-sectional view through a two-up smoking article assembly according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure;

#The present disclosure now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawing. The disclosure may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the aspects set forth herein; rather, these aspects are provided so that this disclosure will satisfy applicable legal requirements.

#Referring to FIG. 1, there are shown components of a smoking article in the form of a filtered cigarette 100. The cigarette 100 includes a generally cylindrical rod 102 of a charge or roll of smokable filler material 104 contained in a circumscribing wrapping material 106. The rod 102 is conventionally referred to as a “smokable rod” or “tobacco rod.” The ends of the tobacco rod are open to expose the smokable filler material. At one end of the tobacco rod 102 is the lighting end 108 (or “lighting end terminus”), and at the other end is shown a filter element 110.

#The filter element 110 or other suitable mouthpiece is typically positioned adjacent one end of the tobacco rod 102 such that the filter element and tobacco rod are axially aligned in an end-to-end relationship, preferably abutting one another. The filter element 110 may have a generally cylindrical shape, and the diameter thereof may be essentially equal to the diameter of the tobacco rod 102. The ends of the filter element 110 may be open to permit the passage of air and smoke therethrough. The filter element 110 includes filter material 112 (e.g., plasticized cellulose acetate tow) that is overwrapped along the longitudinally extending surface thereof with by a plug wrap 114. The filter element 110 can comprise two or more filter segments (not shown), and/or flavor additives incorporated therein.