How are cigarettes made?

The cigarette manufacturing process is fully automatic now days. In this post we will explaining the process from when the leaves go into the factory until the cigarettes come out ready for distribution.

Processing tobacco

The manufacturing process of cigarettes begins with the arrival of tobacco to the factory for processing.

Each manufacturer chooses the preferred leaves and varieties for each mixture. American blend cigarettes are a mixture of Virginia, Burley and Oriental varieties in different proportions. To the tobacco mixture other additives are added to promote or enhance moisture, aromas and flavours.

Finally, the leaves are chopped into thin strands and dried to obtain the desired humidity level. The mixture is ready for the next phase.

Development of cigarettes

Chopped tobacco enters a conveyor belt with a long cigarette paper upon it. On paper the exact amount of tobacco is deposited and it is stuck together so that it looks like a very long cigarette which is called a rod.

Once glued together, the rod is cut into different sizes depending on the cigarette is to be produced: short (pocket), normal (King size) or long (Superkings). Each cigarette is placed with a filter. The filter is produced from cellulose.

After placing the filter cigarettes are ready for packaging.

Packaging and distribution

Cigarettes are passed through a giant machine shaped like a funnel which sorts them in to rows and on another machine passes the packages (hard or soft). The giant funnel places the number of cigarettes required in each pack which is then assembled, sealed and sealed to keep moisture.

The packs are grouped in 10 by 10 to form cartons depending on the manufacturer they can be plastic, paper or cardboard, then the cartons are placed in boxes for distribution.

A cigarette factory can produce between 10,000 and 20,000 cigarettes per minute.

If you want to know more about tobacco, visit our post: About tobacco

Esta entrada también está disponible en: Spanish