Apparatus for manufacturing a smokeless tobacco product incorporating an object, and associated method

A method for manufacturing a smokeless tobacco product, the method comprising:

• forming a continuous supply of a pouch material into a continuous cylindrical tubular member using a forming unit, the tubular member defining a longitudinal axis;
• introducing tobacco material into a pouch member portion of the tubular member using a tobacco insertion unit, the tobacco material being retained within the pouch member portion by a closed leading edge thereof;
• introducing objects into the tubular member, using an object insertion unit, with at least one of the objects being introduced into the pouch member portion;
• closing a first portion of the tubular member to form the closed leading edge of the pouch member portion and a closed trailing edge of a previous pouch member portion, prior to introducing the tobacco material and the at least one of the objects into the pouch member portion;
• closing a second portion of the tubular member to form a closed trailing edge of the pouch member portion and a closed leading edge of a subsequent pouch member portion, after introducing the tobacco material and the at least one of the objects into the pouch member portion;
• and
• dividing the tubular member, between the closed trailing edge and the closed leading edge of the respective pouch members along the longitudinal axis of the tubular member, into a plurality of discrete pouch member portions such that each discrete pouch member portion includes the tobacco material and the at least one of the objects.