Severable cigar having two sealed heads

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Not applicable.

THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT

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REFERENCE TO A SEQUENCE LISTING

Not applicable.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE TO MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON COMPACT DISC

Not applicable.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention pertains to cigars.

2. Description of Related Art

Cigars generally comprise a filler, a binder, and a wrapper. The binder tightly surrounds the filler, and then the wrapper tightly surrounds the binder. The wrapper is spirally wound, with each of its turns overlapping slightly the turn beneath it. See, for example, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Cigars by Tad Gage, 1997, in which pages 9-10 set forth cigar nomenclature and pages 95-105 describe how cigars are made. See also Wikipedia, which states:

• • Although some cigars are cut on both ends, or twirled at both ends, the vast majority come with one straight cut end and one end in a “cap”. Most quality handmade cigars, regardless of shape, will have a cap which is one or more small pieces of a wrapper pasted on to one end of the cigar with a either a natural tobacco paste or with a mixture of flour and water. The cap end of a cigar must be cut off for the cigar to be smoked properly. It is the rounded end without the tobacco exposed, and this is the end one should always cut.

Double-headed cigars are known, however. The 5 Vegas Relic has a rounded head at one end and a curvingly tapered, torpedo-like head at the opposite end. The user cuts the rounded end so that he can put it in his mouth and draw smoke through it, in the usual manner. He or she probably cuts the opposite, tapered end before lighting it, but alternatively may choose to simply light that end without cutting it. The 5 Vegas Relic cigar is approximately 5⅝ in. (143 mm.) long. It is described on the web sites of Cigars International, Cigars.com, The Velvet Cigar, and The Stogie Review.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A cigar according to this invention has a length of at least 8 inches and may be severed in a plane perpendicular to its longitudinal axis without deleteriously affecting its structural integrity or its smokability. Such severability (1) permits the cigar to have sealed heads on each end, which helps seal in flavors and aroma until the user is ready to smoke it; (2) allows the user to select the length of the cigar he wishes to smoke at that particular time; and/or (3) easily and conveniently provides two cigars instead of one for the occasion, as the user desires. Elements and features of the inventive cigar facilitate cutting and preserve the structural integrity of the cigar after it is cut, by preventing or minimizing tearing or unraveling of the wrapper, which could create an unsmokable cigar. Such unraveling would change the basic structure of the cigar, and if the cigar is still smokable, would significantly alter the taste profile, because the majority of the flavor is derived from the wrapper. Alternatively, the cigar may also be smoked as a single cigar, from either end.

Such elements and features of the invention include (1) a non-rotatable collar consisting of a smokable tobacco product which surrounds and grips the cigar at its midpoint, and/or (2) gluing overlapping portions of the spirally would wrapper together by a smokable adhesive, from one end of the cigar to the other.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a side view of a cigar according to the invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional end view taken at 2-2 in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional end view taken at 3-3 in FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, cigar 10 is conventional in that it has filler 12 tightly surrounded by binder 14, which in turn is tightly surrounded by wrapper 16. Wrapper 16 is spirally wound, with each turn overlapping the turn beneath it by a margin of from about ⅛ inch to about ¼ inch.

According to the invention, the overlapped portions 18 are adhered to each other by a smokable adhesive, such as pectin or gum of tragacanth, over substantially the entire length of the cigar, to form a seam. The adhesive, which has virtually no thickness as compared with the thickness of wrapper 16, is shown by the small x′s at the interface and is indicated by reference character 20. The two overlapped layers of wrapper 16 and adhesive 20 constitute the seam. The cigar is generally cylindrical, as that term is used in solid geometry to mean a shape generated by a straight line moving parallel to a fixed straight line and intersecting a closed, plane curve. The cross-section of the cigar may be any shape which is typical or practical, for example circular, oval, or rectangular.

At each end or “head” of cigar 10 is a conventional smokable cap 22, 24, which consists of a quarter-sized piece of tobacco leaf adhered to the rest of the wrapper by a smokable adhesive such as pectin or gum of tragacanth, so as to form a seal with the wrapper. Alternatively, the heads may be closed and sealed by extending the wrapper and using the adhesive to adhere the extended wrapper to itself, as for example to create a torpedo or pigtail shape, or as shown in Chopko et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,191,198.

To further enhance severability, it is preferred that the cigar have collar 26 at its midpoint, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3. Collar 26 surrounds and grips the wrapper. During the cutting operation, collar 26 tends to hold the cigar in its original cross-sectional shape, thereby minimizing the reduction of the cross sectional area of the binder and wrapper and extrusion of filler from the cut end. Collar 26 also restrains and guides the blade and promotes a more consistent burn. Collar 26 is made of a rectangular piece of natural or homogenized tobacco whose ends have been overlapped and adhered by a smokable adhesive. It has approximately the same thickness as the wrapper, and is approximately 0.50 inch wide.

The inventive cigar, like most high quality cigars, is made by rolling, by hand.

Preferably, a conventional cigar cutter may be used to perform the cutting operation. An example is the cutter shown in Van Keppel et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,937,523, which are sold under the trademark “Xikar”. Alternatively, a conventional sharp knife with a straight blade may be used, preferably in a downward guillotine-like stroke with the cigar supported on a flat surface and the blade at an angle to the surface.

The inventive cigars will be individually wrapped in non-smokable packaging, for example plastic or foil, when shipped and sold. When the inventive cigar is smoked as a single cigar, the user, after removing the packaging, cuts both heads of the cigar, puts one end in his or her mouth, and lights the opposite end. When the inventive cigar is severed (i.e., cut) into two cigars, as described above, the user(s), after removing the packaging, cuts the head of one or both of the two, puts the cut head in his or her mouth, and lights the end created by the severing cut.

The inventive cigar is an improvement over prior art cigars in that its continuous spiral seam formed by overlapped portions of the wrapper and the adhesive, and/or the collar, provide superior severability. Prior art cigars, we believe, do not use adhesive along the wrapper to keep it in place. Instead, the cap holds the wrapper in place and adhesive holds the cap in place.