Smokeless tobacco product comprising effervescent composition

1. A smokeless tobacco composition containing an effervescent material and adapted for oral use, comprising:

(i) a tobacco material, at least a portion of which is in a particulate form or in the form of a tobacco extract; and

(ii) an effervescent material comprising an acid component and a base component, wherein the acid component comprises a combination of a tricarboxylic acid and a dicarboxylic acid in a weight ratio of about 2:1 to about 1:2, and wherein the amount of effervescent material is at least about 10 dry weight percent, the amount of acid component is about 3 to about 20 dry weight percent, and the base component comprises a carbonate material present in an amount of about 3 to about 20 dry weight percent and a bicarbonate material present in an amount of about 3 to about 20 dry weight percent, all percentages based on the total dry weight of the composition, and the base component comprising a stoichiometric amount of the bicarbonate material with respect to the acid component such that the bicarbonate material is sufficient to react with all of the acid component to form carbon dioxide;

and further wherein the smokeless tobacco composition is in the form of a compressed or extruded product having a predetermined shape that disintegrates in the oral cavity during use.

2. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the tricarboxylic acid is citric acid.

3. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the dicarboxylic acid is tartaric acid.

4. The composition of claim 1 , further comprising one or more additives selected from the group consisting of salts, flavorants, sweeteners, fillers, binders, buffering agents, colorants, humectants, oral care additives, preservatives, syrups, disintegration aids, antioxidants, additives derived from an herbal or botanical source, flow aids, compressibility aids, and combinations thereof.

5. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined shape is a pellet, rod, or film.

6. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the composition is a multi-layer product comprising at least one effervescent layer and at least one non-effervescent layer.

7. The composition of claim 1 , comprising:

at least about 20 dry weight percent of tobacco material, based on the total weight of the composition;

at least about 10 dry weight percent of effervescent material;

at least about 0.1 dry weight percent of at least one sweetener;

at least about 10 dry weight percent of at least one filler;

at least about 0.5 dry weight percent of at least one binder;

at least about 0.5 dry weight percent of at least one flavorant; and

at least about 0.5 dry weight percent of at least one flow aid.

8. The composition of claim 7 , wherein the effervescent material comprises a combination of citric acid and tartaric acid.

9. The composition of claim 7 , wherein the filler comprises at least one of microcrystalline cellulose, mannitol, and maltodextrin.

10. The composition of claim 1 , further comprising an outer coating.

11. The composition of claim 10 , wherein the outer coating comprises a cellulosic polymer and a plasticizer.

12. The composition of claim 11 , wherein the cellulosic polymer is selected from the group consisting of methylcellulose, hydroxypropyl cellulose, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, hydroxyethyl cellulose, and carboxy methylcellulose.

13. The composition of claim 11 , wherein the plasticizer is selected from the group consisting of glyceryl mono stearate and triethyl citrate.

14. The composition of claim 10 , wherein the outer coating comprises a film-forming polymer solution in an amount up to about 75 weight percent, a plasticizer in an amount up to about 5 weight percent, a sweetener in an amount up to about 5 weight percent, and one or more colorants in an amount up to about 10 weight percent, based on total weight of the coating formulation.

15. A smokeless tobacco container containing a plurality of units of a smokeless tobacco product comprising the composition according to claim 1 .

16. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the tobacco material is present in an amount of about 10 to about 80 dry weight percent, based on the total dry weight of the composition.

17. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the composition is in the form of a compressed pellet having a hardness of at least about 5 kp.

18. The composition of claim 17 , wherein the hardness is at least about 10 kp.

19. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the amount of effervescent material is at least about 15 dry weight percent, based on the total dry weight of the composition.

20. A method of making a smokeless tobacco composition containing the effervescent material according to claim 1 , comprising:

(i) preparing a granulation mixture comprising the tobacco material, a first portion of the acid component, and at least one additive selected from the group consisting of salts, flavorants, sweeteners, fillers, binders, buffering agents, colorants, humectants, oral care additives, preservatives, syrups, disintegration aids, antioxidants, additives derived from an herbal or botanical source, flow aids, compressibility aids, and combinations thereof;

(ii) granulating the granulation mixture by mixing the granulation mixture with a binding solution to form a granular material;

(iii) blending the granular material with the base component, a second portion of the acid component component, and at least one additive selected from the group consisting of salts, flavorants, sweeteners, fillers, binders, buffering agents, colorants, humectants, oral care additives, preservatives, syrups, disintegration aids, antioxidants, additives derived from an herbal or botanical source, flow aids, compressibility aids, and combinations thereof to form the smokeless tobacco composition comprising the effervescent material; and

(iv) forming the smokeless tobacco composition into the predetermined shape.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the tricarboxylic acid is citric acid.

22. The method of claim 20 , wherein the dicarboxylic acid is tartaric acid.

23. The method of claim 20 , wherein the first portion of acid component comprises about 25 to about 75 dry weight percent of the total acid component within the smokeless tobacco composition.

24. The method of claim 20 , wherein the granulation mixture further comprises at least one base component.

25. The method of claim 20 , wherein said forming step comprises compressing or extruding the smokeless tobacco composition into the predetermined shape.

26. The method of claim 20 , further comprising the step of applying an outer coating to the smokeless tobacco composition after said forming step.

27. The method of claim 20 , wherein the granulation mixture comprises one or more of additives selected from the group consisting of fillers, binders, sweeteners, colorants, and compressibility aids.

28. The method of claim 20 , wherein the additives used in said blending step comprise one or more additives selected from the group consisting of flavorants and flow aids.