Process for providing cut filler for cigarettes

摘要

A process for preparing tobacco stem for use as filler for a smoking article includes classifying the green tobacco stem by diameter to provide a plurality of stem grades and rolling each grade separately. Each grade is rolled under rolling conditions optimized for that grade including rolling the grade through the nip between rollers with the nip size being adjusted for each grade so as to achieve a uniform rolled stem thickness and the oven volatiles content of the stem being adjusted before the rolling. The yield of flat rolled stem which may be used directly as filler is increased, and the average stem length and thus the average length of cut filler from stem is increased.