Loosening Up More Flexibly With Hauni

Source from:  Tobacco Reporter 01/26/2010

Hauni has launched the TB-FLEX, a tobacco loosening cylinder that allows manufacturers "to treat a vast variety of tobaccos according to their individual requirements and obtain exactly the blends that will give each brand its own inimitable character". In a recent press note, the company said that the way in which bale slices were loosened had a major effect on the taste and color of the final product. The main objectives were to loosen the compressed tobacco layers effectively whilst gently conditioning the leaves. "Customers keep telling us they are extremely pleased with the loosening action," reports Uwe Zessin, head of Customer Projects, "and yet with many gradually moving over to the more sensitive tobaccos these days, we began to wonder how we could optimize treatment at that end of the scale. The lower the tobacco's temperature during loosening, the better its properties are preserved. So our idea was to bring the heat down from the usual 70°C to somewhere around 50°C," explained Zessin. The circulating process air in conventional TB conditioners is heated directly with hot steam. This action brings the temperature of the saturated process air up to about 70°C, a temperature that is transferred to the tobacco as it passes through the cylinder. The difference with TB-FLEX is that the tobacco temperature stays much lower. Although the air is heated to 100°C, the air's moisture content remains below saturation point. Basically the idea is not very different from that operating within a sauna. "As the 'FLEX' in the unit's name implies, this process offers its users a whole new dimension of flexibility," the press note said. "Depending on what material is used and how much loosening is needed, the moisture and the temperature can be set independently of each other." "While temperatures up to 70°C may be ideal for tobaccos with a high sugar content where the leaves tend to adhere, the heat can be turned down as far as 50°C to process a fine Virginia, preserving practically all the product's taste and colour." "After loosening, the tobacco leaves are smoother, promising a larger percentage of long tobacco fibres." Enditem