Abstract: A smoking-down device for cigarettes, wherein a piston in a smoking-down cylinder is driven by an electric stepping motor which receives a series of FM pulses per operating cycle of the smoking-down cylinder from a digital control system based on a micro-computer. Their mean frequency determines the suction or "puff" period, their total number of pulses determining the suction volume and their modulation graph determining the suction or puff pattern of the operating cycle. All three parameters may be preset with great precision and without interaction using digital signals, via the control system.