Abstract: Cigarettes are fed from the rod line into a laterally moving fluted drum (1) by a rotating snail cam having a cigarette contacting surface (5) of constant radius over part of its length (arc A) and of increasing radius over a further part (arc B). The cigarettes are accelerated lengthwise over arc (A) with suction being applied to grip the cigarettes, and afterwards sideways acceleration is imparted to the cigarettes over arc (B) while the leading end of each cigarette is being displaced sideways at the same speed by the trailing wall 2b of the flute (2) receiving the cigarette.In an alternative construction in which the cigarettes are deflected by a wheel having helical grooves formed in its peripheral surface, a straight portion is provided at the start of each groove to impart only linear acceleration to the cigarettes.

Abstract: Successive groups of axially aligned component filter portions are separately united by one or more wrapper portions while moving axially. The composite filter rods formed from the groups are separate, so that there is no need for a continuous rod cut-off. Composite filters, for attachment to cigarette lengths, are subsequently obtained from the rods by cutting at appropriate positions.