Method of processing tobacco fines into a non-continuous tobacco material

A method of processing tobacco fines into a non-continuous tobacco material, the method comprising:

• providing a pre-sized tobacco stem material that has a Dp90 particle size of less than 3 mm and a Dp50 particle size of less than 2 mm;
• combining the pre-sized tobacco stem material with tobacco fines to provide a tobacco initial material;
• and,
• processing the initial material by setting the initial material to a predefined increased moisture content, subjecting the initial material to an increase in temperature and subjecting the initial material an increased pressure in order to bind the tobacco fines to the tobacco stem material;
• feeding the processed tobacco material through a shearing gap such that the processed tobacco is defibrated by expansion, wherein the shearing gap is arranged between shearing surfaces, wherein a rotatable shearing member comprises one of the shearing surfaces, wherein the shearing member comprises a plurality of grooves, and wherein the grooves each have a maximum width of at most 2 mm.