Manufacturing machine for producing cigarettes composed of tobacco portions having different characteristics

A manufacturing machine for producing cigarettes containing sections of tobacco having differing characteristics, said machine comprising:

• a substantially vertical shaft having a bottom and a top end, tobacco being continuously fed into said bottom end;
• a continuous conveyor associated with and overlying said top end of said shaft;
• suction means associated with said conveyor to draw the tobacco held in said shaft against said conveyor;
• a trimmer arranged near said conveyor and said shaft, said trimmer acting to level-off the tobacco layer held against said conveyor by said suction means as said conveyor moves away from said top end of said shaft;
• wrapping means for receiving the tobacco layer carried by said conveyor subsequent to its being trimmed, and wrapping said tobacco layer in paper to form a continuous cigarette rod;
• cutting means associated with said wrapping means for cutting said cigarette rod into cigarette pieces;
• and
• cyclical heating means for heating and thus modifying the taste characteristics of selected portions of said tobacco layer after said tobacco layer has been carried away from said shaft by said conveyor said tobacco layer being cut into cigarette pieces which contain at least one portion of tobacco having one taste characteristic and at least a second portion of tobacco having a second taste characteristic.