A system and method for closing and sealing a cone filled with a smokable material provides a cone filler control system, a plurality of cone inserts each including a tapered inner wall defining a taper lock area for holding a cone filled with smokable material, and an insert ring provided at a lower end of each cone insert, each of the plurality of cone inserts removably inserted in corresponding cone receptacles residing in a cone carousel, a cone tamper actuator for compacting smokable material in a filled cone, a cone closer system including a gripper actuator for closing the cone top of the filled cone, and a cone sealing drive system including a motor with a drive wheel operated to impart a rotational force on the insert ring of each cone insert to rotate both the cone insert and a filled cone to form a wick seal at the end of the filled cone.

A device for automated loading and forming smoking articles has a pre-rolled cone holder holding a plurality of pre-rolled cones. A loading mechanism loads individual pre-rolled cones in the pre-rolled cone holder with a predefined amount of material. A filling mechanism deposits the predefined amount of material in the loading mechanism. The filling mechanism monitors an amount of material loaded in the filling mechanism and sends a signal to stop loading the filling mechanism with the material when a predefined amount has been loaded. A dispensing mechanism sends the material to the filling mechanism. The dispensing mechanism stops sending of material when the filling mechanism sends the signal to stop loading the filling mechanism with the material when a predefined amount has been loaded. A hopper is in communication with the dispensing mechanism and stores the material. A shaker is coupled to the hopper shaking the material in the hopper preventing the material from sticking together.

A cigarette injection machine may include: a cigarettes tubes chamber configured to store an empty cigarette tube; a tobacco chamber configured to store tobacco, wherein the cigarettes tubes chamber and the tobacco chamber are arranged in a horizontal direction; a tobacco feed nozzle disposed between the cigarettes tubes chamber and the tobacco chamber in the horizontal direction, to guide and feed the tobacco into the empty cigarette tube; a cigarette tube loader barrel configured to load the empty cigarette tube from the cigarettes tubes chamber, rotate to a position of the tobacco feed nozzle, and move in the horizontal direction to a requested cigarette size position; and a tobacco feeder spiral rod configured to push the tobacco into the tobacco feed nozzle until the empty cigarette tube is filled with the tobacco when the cigarette tube loader barrel is at the requested cigarette size position.

A system and method for adding smokable material into cone is provided. One embodiment receives input at a user input device from a user that specifies an amount of the smokable material that is to be dispensed by the auger load system into an empty cone; determines, at a cone filler control system, a determined duration based on the user specified amount of smokable material received in at user input device; communicates a control signal from the cone filler control system; and operates an auger drive motor to rotate an auger for the determined duration in response to the control signal so that a helical screw blade of the auger dispenses the user specified amount of smokable material out from a lower portion of a hopper containing the smokable material into an empty cone.

A system and method for dispensing cones comprises a cone filler control system; a cone stack feed tube that receives a cone stack; a roller drive motor; a roller coupled to the roller drive motor and that is located below the cone stack feed tube outlet, wherein the roller is rotated for a predefined duration by the roller drive motor when the roller drive motor is actuated by the cone filler control system; and a cone chute located below the roller and above a cone receptacle, wherein the roller rotates to draw the leading cone out from the cone stack feed tube outlet and into the cone chute inlet in response to actuation of the roller drive motor, and wherein the leading cone travels through the cone chute into the cone receptacle after the leading cone has entered into the cone chute.

A system and method for closing and sealing a cone is provided. One embodiment extends a first closing head in a first downward slant onto an open top of the cone filled with the smokable material to form a first fold on the top of the cone; extends a sealing head downward onto the first fold; extends a second closing head in a second downward slant onto the open top of the cone to form a second fold on the top of the cone; extends the sealing head downward onto the first fold and the second fold; extends a third closing head in a third downward slant onto the open top of the cone to form a third fold on the top of the cone; and extends the sealing head downward onto the first fold, the second fold, and the third fold.

Provided herein are systems, apparatuses, and methods of manufacturing high quality cigarettes, as well as products produced thereby. Such systems, apparatuses, and methods are particularly suitable for manufacturing products using smokable materials that are generally considered difficult to process, such as those that have high resin content, low density (or are fluffy), and/or are sticky (e.g., cannabis flower).

Storage containers, products, and methods of packing a smoking product are described. An example storage container has a main body that has a first end, a second end, a lengthwise axis, a width, and defines a chamber and an indicium. The lengthwise axis has a midpoint. Each of the first end and second end is moveable from a sealed configuration to an unsealed configuration. The width of the main body tapers from the second end toward the first end. The indicium is defined at a location between the midpoint of the lengthwise axis and the first end and extends along a portion of the width of the main body. The main body has a first width at the location between the midpoint of the lengthwise axis and the first end and a second width at the second end. The first width is less than the second width.

A piston device for loading material into a tube or other implement. In an example, the material is a smoking material loaded into a smoking implement. An example piston device includes a cylinder and a piston. The piston is removed from a first end of the cylinder and inserted into a second end of the cylinder. A cap slip locks onto the second end of the cylinder to provide a surface on which to compress the material against. Withdrawing the piston from the second end of the cylinder draws the smoking material into a chamber of the cylinder through an opening in the first end of the cylinder. Pressing the piston into the second end of the cylinder compresses the smoking material within the chamber of the cylinder, and then releases the smoking material from the chamber of the cylinder into the smoking implement.

An apparatus and method for automatically preparing a mixture of particles of two or more substances such as but not limited to raw tobacco and raw medical cannabis flowers in one or more receptacle where the mixture proportion is predefined, is disclosed. The apparatus of the invention can be used for mixing any types of herbal substances. Moreover, the apparatus of the invention can be used for mixing one or more kinds of the same substance, for example mixing two or more kinds of marijuana strains. The apparatus includes one or more compartments for inserting each of the substances separately, In some variations of the present invention the size of at least one of the compartments is smaller for predefined smaller quantities of raw herbal material for example, a single marijuana flower.