Smoking article package inspection system and associated method

A smoking article package inspection system configured to inspect a smoking article package, the smoking article package inspection system comprising:

• a plurality of imaging devices configured to capture a plurality of images of the smoking article package before and after each of a plurality of operations are performed thereon, the operations including:
• enclosing a plurality of smoking articles in the smoking article package,
• printing an identifier on the smoking article package, and
• wrapping the smoking article package with an outer wrapper;
• and
• an image data analysis device having a processor and being in communication with the plurality of imaging devices, the image data analysis device being configured to analyze the images captured by the imaging devices to determine whether the smoking article package is defective from the images thereof, and, if the smoking article package is determined to be defective, to determine one of the operations causing damage to the smoking article package from analysis of the images of the smoking article package captured before and after each of the operations.