Aerosol-generating article and method for manufacturing aerosol-generating articles

1. Aerosol-generating article for use in electronic heating devices, the article comprising a tobacco element and a mouthpiece element, the mouthpiece element arranged downstream from the tobacco element,

the tobacco element comprising an aerosol-forming substrate, a support element arranged downstream of the aerosol-forming substrate and an aerosol-cooling element formed of a gathered sheet and arranged downstream of the support element;

the mouthpiece element comprising a filter segment and a hollow tube, wherein the hollow tube is a cardboard tube having a length between 3 millimeters and 8 millimeters and a wall thickness between 100 micrometers and 300 micrometers and arranged downstream of the filter segment and forming a most proximal segment of the aerosol-generating article;

wherein the aerosol-cooling element of the tobacco element has a length of at most 15 millimeters, and

wherein a length of the mouthpiece element is adapted according to the length of the aerosol-cooling element such that a total length of the aerosol-generating article is kept at a predefined total length of 45 millimeters.

2. Aerosol-generating article according to claim 1 , wherein the length of the aerosol-cooling element is between 10 millimeters and 15 millimeters.

3. Aerosol-generating article according to claim 1 , wherein the length of the hollow tube is 5 millimeters.

4. Aerosol-generating article according to claim 1 , wherein a wall thickness of the hollow tube is 200 micrometers.

5. Aerosol-generating article according to claim 1 , wherein the length of the mouthpiece element is between 8 millimeters and 25 millimeters.

6. Aerosol-generating article according to claim 1 , wherein the length of the aerosol-forming substrate is between 5 millimeters and 16 millimeters.

7. Aerosol-generating article according to claim 1 , wherein the length of the support element is between 5 millimeters and 12 millimeters.

8. Aerosol-generating article according to claim 1 , wherein the aerosol-cooling element is made of polylactic acid sheet.

9. Aerosol-generating article according to claim 1 , wherein the aerosol-cooling element is made of a crimped and gathered sheet.

10. Aerosol-generating article according to claim 1 , wherein the aerosol-cooling element is made of a sheet having a thickness between 10 micrometers and 250 micrometers.

11. Aerosol-generating article according to claim 1 , wherein the aerosol-cooling element reduces phenolic compounds of an aerosol from the aerosol-forming substrate.

12. Method for manufacturing aerosol-generating articles the method comprising the steps of:

providing a semi-combined tobacco element by combining an aerosol-forming substrate, a support element and an aerosol-cooling element formed of a gathered sheet and arranged downstream of the support element and wrapping the aerosol-forming substrate, the support element and the aerosol-cooling element with a wrapper;

providing a semi-combined mouthpiece comprising a filter element and a hollow tube, wherein the hollow tube is a cardboard tube having a length between 3 millimeters and 8 millimeters and a wall thickness between 100 micrometers and 300 micrometers;

combining the semi-combined tobacco element and the semi-combined mouthpiece in an end-to-end relationship such that the aerosol-cooling element of the semi-combined tobacco element abuts the filter element of the semi-combined mouthpiece wherein the filter element forming a most proximal segment of the aerosol-generating article;

wrapping the semi-combined mouthpiece and parts of the semi-combined tobacco element with a tipping material; and

selecting a length of the aerosol-cooling element of at most 15 millimeters and

adapting a length of the semi-combined mouthpiece such as to keeping a total length of the aerosol-generating article at a predefined value of 45 millimeters.

13. Method according to claim 12 , wherein the steps of selecting the length of the aerosol-cooling element and adapting the length of the semi-combined mouthpiece comprise reducing the length of the aerosol-cooling element and extending the length of the semi-combined mouthpiece.

14. Method according to claim 12 , wherein the step of providing a semi-combined mouthpiece comprises combining the filter element and a hollow tube and wrapping the filter element and the hollow tube with a wrapper.

15. Method according to claim 14 , wherein the semi-combined mouthpiece is a double-length mouthpiece with a double-length hollow tube arranged between two filter segments, and

the step of combining the semi-combined tobacco element and the semi-combined mouthpiece in an end-to-end relationship comprises combining two semi-combined tobacco elements and the double-length mouthpiece such that the aerosol-cooling element of each of the semi-combined tobacco elements abuts the filter elements on each longitudinal side of the double-length mouthpiece;

wrapping the double-length mouthpiece and parts of each of the semi-combined tobacco elements with a tipping material thus forming a double-length aerosol-generating article;

cutting the double-length aerosol-generating article by cutting the double-length hollow tube.

16. Method according to claim 14 , therein extending the length of the hollow tube by a same amount as reducing the length of the aerosol-cooling element.