A smoking article filled with an appropriate amount of reconstituted tobacco is provided. A cylindrical heated tobacco product including a plurality of sections having diameters from 5.4 to 7.8 mm, includes: at least one filter section having a length ranging from 4 to 8 mm, inclusive; and at least one tobacco section having a length ranging from 8 to 18 mm, inclusive, wherein upon irradiation with microwaves having a frequency of 8 GHz, the microwaves having passed through the tobacco section exhibit a phase variation amount ranging from −0.25 to 0.02 (rad).

Methods and apparatuses for detecting the fill height of a pre-filled cone and closing the cone are disclosed. A height detector, such as a laser rangefinder, detects the height of a pre-filled cone. A gripper then grips the pre-filled cone at the height plus a predetermined offset, the offset calculated to result in an optimum packing of cone fill material. The gripper then closes the cone by rotating to form a twist, which is then trimmed to the height plus the predetermined offset. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

An apparatus for manufacturing a consumable for an aerosol provision system. The apparatus includes a feeding apparatus for receiving and supplying a sheet of aerosol-generating material along a conveyance path, and a sensor configured to detect information indicative of defects in the sheet as the sheet passes along the conveyance path. The apparatus can include a consumable forming apparatus configured to receive the sheet of aerosol-generating material and form the sheet into a consumable, and a controller configured to determine the presence of a defect in the sheet based on the information detected by the sensor. A consumable for an aerosol provision system can be manufactured by the apparatus and/or method disclosed herein. Additionally, an apparatus, method and controller for analyzing a sheet of aerosol-generating material for an aerosol provision system consumable and a system for manufacturing a consumable for an aerosol provision system.

The invention relates to an inspection station for crimped sheet material. The station comprises a light source to illuminate crimped sheet material in an inspection location, a vibrating device to vibrate crimped sheet material in the inspection location. The vibrating device comprises a vibrating element, wherein crimped sheet material is guidable along or over the vibrating element for the crimped sheet material to be vibrated by the vibrating element. The inspection station further comprises a detector for detecting light received from the vibrated crimped sheet material, thereby providing images of the crimped sheet material, and a controller to determine loose material on the crimped surface of the sheet material. The invention also relates to an inspection method and an apparatus comprising an inspection station.

An inspection device for the quality control of rod-shaped smoking articles includes a drum and an inspection assembly. Each transfer drum has a succession of peripheral retaining portions, each having a retaining groove aligned with the axis of rotation of the transfer drum and configured to receive a respective smoking article to be inspected. Each inspection assembly, which is rotatable about the axis of rotation of the transfer drum, is equipped with a succession of detectors. Each detector has a cavity configured to insertably receive an end portion of the respective smoking article to be inspected and is equipped with a sensor adapted to detect an internal structure within the smoking article. The inspection device also comprises a movement device configured to move each peripheral retaining portion and the corresponding detector reciprocatingly towards and away from each other during the rotation of the transfer drum.

Suction belt conveyor of a rod-forming machine of the tobacco processing industry for conveying materials, in particular tobacco, a rod-forming machine of the tobacco processing industry and use of the rod-forming machine and a method for measuring material properties of a material rod of the tobacco processing industry. The suction belt conveyor includes at least one rod guiding channel, which is open at the bottom and which is delimited by two lateral channel sides and a suction belt along a conveying path. At least one electromagnetic measuring device is integrated in the channel sides of the suction belt conveyor at at least one position along the conveying path in order to determine properties of the conveyed material.

A method for manufacturing rod-like articles for tobacco industry, the rod-like articles comprising longitudinal inserts located in a filling material, the method comprising: feeding a continuous tape-like wrapper; feeding a strand of the filling material onto the moving wrapper; feeding an insert material, in a form of a tape having weakenings, into the strand of the filling material; forming a continuous rod by wrapping the wrapper around the strand of the filling material with the insert material; cutting the moving continuous rod into discrete rod-like articles by a cutting head at a cutting plane that traverses the weakening in the tape of the insert material; the method being characterized by: inspecting ends of the insert in the rod like article cut from the continuous rod and comparing the ends with a predefined model to obtain a measure of similarity; and depending on the similarity, adjusting the action of the cutting head with respect to the movement of the continuous rod such as to increase the similarity between the ends of the insert to the model in a following rod like article.

Machine and method for producing a substantially cylindrical article, which comprises a tubular body, a container element, arranged in the area of one end of the tubular element, a heat generating element, partially housed inside the container element, and loose material for generating flavour; in use, the loose material is inserted into the container element, vertically oriented, and the heat generating element is partially inserted into the container element by being moved downwards, so as to obtain a combined element; subsequently, the combined element is at least partially inserted into the tubular body.

Apparatus is disclosed for orientating a tobacco product containing a strip component. The apparatus comprises means for producing an image of the tobacco product, means for determining an apparent width of the strip component from the image, means for determining an amount of rotation of the tobacco product based on the apparent width, and means for rotating the tobacco product relative to the imaging mean by the determined amount of rotation. This may allow the product to be rotated such that the strip component has a known orientation with respect to the imaging means.

The invention relates to a method of inspection of rod-shaped articles, the method comprising: —providing a first drum having a plurality of seats; —providing at least one seat of the plurality of seats of the first drum with an inductive sensor comprising a coil; —providing the at least one seat of the plurality of seats of the first drum with a rod-shaped article including a first susceptor, the first susceptor comprising a conductive material; —inserting the rod-shaped article in the coil of the inductive sensor; —detecting a maximum value or a minimum value of a parameter function of the impedance of the coil during the insertion of the rod-shaped article; —discarding the rod-shaped article on the basis of the maximum value or the minimum value of the parameter function of the impedance.