Abstract: Apparatus for manufacturing cigarettes includes a tobacco hopper having a lower aperture, a dispensing device receiving tobacco from the aperture and dispensing the tobacco, a tobacco supply chamber disposed below the hopper to receive tobacco from the dispensing device, conveyor spindle means in the tobacco supply chamber for forming tobacco into a strand, an outlet on the tobacco supply chamber for the lateral discharge of the strand of tobacco, and a cigarette paper shell filling tube disposed adjacent to the outlet to receive therefrom the strand of tobacco to thereby form a cigarette.