An apparatus for making a smoking article, the smoking article having a rod of smoke able material (15) and a cylindrically wrapped layer of sheet material, comprises a holder (3) for holding sheet material, an embossing unit (8) configured to emboss sheet material drawn from the holder and an assembling station (14) for assembling the smoking article, configured to receive embossed sheet material from the embossing unit and to wrap the embossing sheet material at least partially around a part of the smoking article.

An apparatus for making a smoking article, the smoking article having a rod of smoke able material (15) and a cylindrically wrapped layer of sheet material, comprises a holder (3) for holding sheet material, an embossing unit (8) configured to emboss sheet material drawn from the holder and an assembling station (14) for assembling the smoking article, configured to receive embossed sheet material from the embossing unit and to wrap the embossed sheet material at least partially around a part of the smoking article.

A smoking article assembly apparatus is disclosed. It comprises a first cutting station configured to cut a filter rod into filter segments, a tipping station configured to join the filter segments to tobacco rods so as to form a smoking article assembly, and a second cutting station configured to cut the smoking article assembly in the region of the filter segments so as to form two smoking articles.

A web of tipping paper (20) for supplying a smoking article manufacturing machine (17) which cuts the web into individual patches and wraps each patch about a respective dual length filter rod (1) to attach rods of smokable material (4) to the ends of each dual length filter rod is disclosed. A first lateral portion (25a) of the tipping paper web comprises a first longitudinal series of first indicators (26), and a second lateral portion (25b) of the tipping paper web comprises a second longitudinal series of indicators (27), the first and second indicators being different to each other so that a first indicator is indicative of a first type of smoking article and a second indicator is indicative of a second type of smoking article which is different to the first type of smoking article, wherein the tipping paper web is configured to be loaded onto a smoking article manufacturing machine so that the machine wraps a first part of a patch of tipping paper which is formed from the first lateral portion of the tipping paper web around a first portion of the dual length filter rod in the formation of a smoking article of the first type and so that a first indicator on the first part of the patch denotes that said first portion of the dual length filter rod is a part of a smoking article of the first type and, so that the machine wraps a second part of the patch which is formed from the second lateral portion of the tipping paper web around a second portion of the dual length filter rod in the formation of a smoking article of the second type and so that a second indicator on the second part of the patch denotes that said second portion of the dual length filter rod is a part of a smoking article of the second type, prior to cutting the dual length filter rod and the patch into a first filter rod segment that is wrapped in said first part of the patch and which forms, together with the rod of smokable material attached thereto, a smoking article of the first type, and into a second filter rod segment that is wrapped in said second part of the patch and which forms, together with the rod of smokable attached thereto, a smoking article of the second type.

A filter-tipped cigarette having: a tobacco portion having an outer end and an inner end; a filter butt-connected to the inner end of the tobacco portion; a first sleeve wound about the tobacco portion and the filter to connect the filter permanently and non-detachably to the tobacco portion; a cap butt-connected to the outer end of the tobacco portion, at the opposite end from the filter, and removable to smoke the filter-tipped cigarette; and a second sleeve, which is wound about the cap and the tobacco portion, is integral with the cap, and is at least partly removable axially from the tobacco portion together with and to remove the cap.

Apparatus comprising a tipping paper suction drum (10) adapted to receive a web (13) of tipping paper which is cut on the tipping paper suction drum to form successive patches (8) of tipping paper for wrapping smoking articles. The tipping paper suction drum is adapted to rotate at a speed greater than the speed at which the web of tipping paper is fed onto the tipping paper suction drum such that spaces are formed between the cut patches of tipping paper. A peripheral surface (14) of the tipping paper suction drum has suction holes (16) arranged to pull the leading portion of the web of tipping paper towards the surface of the tipping paper suction drum in the time between successive cuts.

A smoking article assembly apparatus is disclosed. It comprises a first cutting station configured to cut a filter rod into filter segments, a tipping station configured to join the filter segments to tobacco rods so as to form a smoking article assembly, and a second cutting station configured to cut the smoking article assembly in the region of the filter segments so as to form two smoking articles.

A method of manufacturing smoking articles including supplying a smoking article manufacturing machine with dual length filter rods, each dual length filter rod containing a first and a second type of capsule, using the machine to cut patches of tipping paper from a web, using the machine to wrap one of the patches about each dual length filter, and using the machine to cut each wrapped dual length filter rod to form first and second smoking articles, each having first and second filter rod segments, where the first filter rod segment includes the first type of capsule and the second filter rod segment includes the second type of capsule, where the web includes first and second lateral portions, the first lateral portion having different visual or tactile mark or indicia than the second lateral portion.