Philip Morris USA Inc.

Ricky L Bowman

Szu-Sung Yang

Robley Eugene Pitts, Jr

Trevor Scott Gentry

Leonard W Lipscomb

A process and apparatus for shredding tobacco sheets, especially tobacco sheets formed of reconstituted tobacco particles with guar and sugar comprises rotating opposing sets of cutter discs in a partially overlapping relation so as to establish a nip. The cutter discs have notches at spaced locations along a peripheral portion of the cutter discs. Adjacent pairs of cutter discs are spaced apart by a spacer disc with a stripper plate interposed between adjacent pairs of spaced apart cutter discs. A tobacco sheet which is fed into the nip of the sets of cutter discs is shredded by the discs.

Process for shredding a tobacco sheet and apparatus

A process of manufacturing a reconstituted tobacco material is provided which includes: preparing a heated mixture of water and sugar; providing a liquid flavorant such as menthol; mixing tobacco particles, water and a gum binder with the mixture of water and sugar and with the flavorant to form a reconstituted tobacco mixture; and forming the reconstituted tobacco mixture, such as by casting or extruding the reconstituted tobacco mixture, into a reconstituted tobacco material. Exemplary menthol reconstituted tobacco products provided herein enable high levels of menthol to be retained in a tobacco product.

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Richmond, VA, United States of America

Ricky L Bowman