Star Scientific Announces Notice of Allowance by US PTO Granting New Patent Claims Relating to Tobacco Curing Technology

Star Scientific, Inc.

announced that the US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) issued a Notice of Allowance on February 16, 2012 in Application No. 12/342,192 by Jonnie Williams, entitled "Tobacco Curing Method", formally granting patent claims for a new method of curing tobacco. The written patent will issue from the USPTO within the next several months. The '192 application discloses the minimizing of TSNA (tobacco-specific nitrosamine) formation in tobacco by subjecting it to a controlled environment while a majority of the leaf is in a green, uncured state. The process, therefore, represents an improvement over the method described in the Williams '649 patent; Star Scientific believes it is particularly well-suited for curing tobacco for use in smokeless tobacco products.