Industrial Process

Once the raw tobacco leaf arrives at a manufacturing plant it goes through number of industrial processes to make the tobacco leaf change to a smokable product. These products vary dependant on the product being manufactured and each manufacturer’s individual ingredients and processes.

Most cigarettes are produced by highly complex machines, the most advanced of which can produce up to 20,000 cigarettes per minute.

The cut and conditioned tobacco, known as cut filler, is wrapped in cigarette paper by machine to produce a ‘continuous cigarette’. This is then cut to the appropriate length and the filter is added and wrapped to the cigarette rod with tipping paper. The tipping paper is often printed to look like cork, a material that was used in cigarettes before the invention of modern filters.

One or two rows of holes are laser-drilled into the tips of cigarettes to moderate the way that they burn and how smoke is delivered. Paper used for wrapping tobacco is designed to control the burning rate of the cigarette and the stability of the ash.

This is the process of loading cigarettes into individual packs. One of the more common configurations is 20 in a pack.

To preserve their taste, cigarettes are usually wrapped in aluminum foil inside the pack, which is itself wrapped in airtight polypropylene material. This packing process involves cutting, folding and gluing.

OAfter the individual packs have been produced they are packed into cartons, normally containing a total of 200 cigarettes. For ease of handling and storage plus protecting the product during transportation, these cartons are then packed into shipping cases, normally containing a total of 10,000 cigarettes.

There are as many as 600 different chemicals added to cigarettes these are mainly flavour enhancers and preservatives.

Fine-cut tobacco packed in loose form in pouches is known as rolling tobacco. It’s used to produce ‘roll-your-own’ cigarettes using rolling papers. The smokers who opt for rolling their own like the way they can tailor their cigarette to their own preferences

As well as adjusting the level of tobacco contained in roll-your-own cigarettes, smokers can alter the type of cigarette paper they choose and the kind of filter. Some of our rolling tobacco brands are sold with cigarette papers, while filters are sold separately.

Once considered to be a lower grade of tobacco, rolling tobacco today is made to the same high standards as cigarettes with equal consideration being given to creating quality blends.

The fine-cut rolling tobacco is designed to be easy to handle as well as having specific flavour and aroma characteristics.

This involves conditioning, including controlling moisture levels and adding flavouring in some brands. But the taste and scent of hand-rolling products are typically more reflective of the tobacco leaf used and its flavours.

Hand-rolling tobacco is also a very distinct product from that used in pipe smoking and has, for example, different burning characteristics.

Processes For Other Smoking Tobacco

There are a number of processes that may be used in the manufacture of a blend that the average pipe smoker might not even be aware of, so here’s a look at some of the commonly used procedures involved.

Pressure - Putting tobacco under pressure has long been one of the most common methods of changing the flavor and burning characteristics of pipe tobacco. When pressure is applied, it accelerates the marrying of flavors and may also deepen and enrich the taste due to physical and chemical changes that occur. There are a number of ways that pressure is used, such as

Direct Pressure - This is how flakes, cakes and plugs are made. In the case of flakes and plugs, raw leaf (with the main stem or “rib” removed, but not always) is layered, sometimes in a very specific order, in a mold, with a machine applying pressure to the tobacco, which eventually changes in flavor and appearance, coming out as a slab. In the case of flakes, the slab is then sliced for packaging, whereas the plugs are normally shipped uncut, allowing the smoker to prepare it whatever way he or she prefers. Another presentation option for flakes is to partially break up the individual slices, so no preparation on the part of the smoker is necessary. When processed this way, the tobacco is referred to as a broken flake.

Cakes use a similar method, but are typically made with cut tobacco. The reason for using this style is that there can be more marriage of flavor by co-mingling the different components, whereas the plug method helps to layer the flavors in a specific order. Cakes also may be pre-cut, or packaged as a slab.

Cavendish - Although this term has become vague in recent years, it used to refer to a specific method of processing tobacco. Usually, the tobacco was cased (more on this later), sometimes heated and pressed for a period of days or weeks. In some instances, heat would continue to be applied while the tobacco remained under pressure. Most of the time, this was done to more completely imbue the tobacco with the flavorings added, but in some cases, the flavors were minimal and just there to eliminate negative characteristics of the leaf. Then the slabs are sliced and thoroughly tumbled to break the tobacco up into a short ribbon cut.

Spun or Roll Cut - This starts out by putting cut tobacco in a tube and putting it under direct pressure. When the rod of pressed tobacco is removed from the tube, it is then wrapped with other tobaccos. Then the end product is sliced into disks, usually referred to as coins, for easy handling by the consumer. The coins normally have a core that is visually different than the outer layers..

Twists or Ropes - In this method, leaves are layered and then twisted tightly to mature the tobacco. That’s why many ropes and twists tend to be rather strong in flavour and nicotine content. The end user then slices coins for loading into pipes, or cuts thicker chunks for chewing.

Perique Processing - The leaves, in this case, are packed in barrels, and a jackscrew puts enough pressure on the tobacco to burst cell walls, releasing fluids. These fluids then ferment, leading to the unique properties of Perique.

Heat - Applying heat to tobacco can mildly or radically change the flavour of tobacco. Some people even use their own form of heat processing at home to achieve a certain effect, such as putting an unopened tin on the dashboard of their car on a sunny summer day. Different methods of applying heat will do different things. Some methods include:

Steaming - This not only will help to caramelize the sugars in the leaf, but also opens the pores, allowing the tobacco to more easily absorb casings and top dressings.

Indirect Heat - This is, basically, baking the tobacco, which will darken the leaf, deepen the flavour and turn the sugars into caramel. It’s used, frequently, to cook out undesirable properties.

Stoving - This is when the tobacco is in contact with a surface that is heated. Picture a large cookie sheet, pizza pan or wok with a heat source underneath, and the tobacco on the surface. It is moved around, pretty much constantly, until it blackens, which changes the flavour tremendously. An example of this type of tobacco is McClelland’s 5105.

Casing - This is the process of adding a (typically) water-based flavouring early on in the making of a tobacco. Casing affects flavour more than aroma (usually), and is, in many cases, used to sweeten sour tobaccos or to reduce the sharpness or harshness of a particular leaf, rather than to impart a noticeable flavour.

Top Dressing - Toppings are added to blends more for aroma than flavour, although they will usually impact the taste. Top dressings are normally alcohol-based and applied toward the end of the manufacturing. This way, the concentrated flavours are carried into the tobacco, and when the alcohol evaporates (or “flashes off”), it leaves just the flavouring behind.

This is a process where tobacco is prepared, soaked or boiled to remove the tar and nicotine and then mixed with honey or molasses and fruits and packaged to be smoked in a water pipe. Shisha can also be herbal and contain no tobacco at all.