Abstract: A process and apparatus for producing reconstituted tobacco by a papermaking process. Tobacco material is mixed with aqueous tobacco extract or water to wet the tobacco, the resulting slurry is fed to a deflaker in which the bundles of tobacco fibers are reduced to small fiber bundles. The slurry is then directed to an extraction stage after which the water soluble and fibrous components of the slurry are separated. The fibrous material in the form of a slurry is preferably passed through a second deflaker to further separate the fiber bundles and through refiners to prepare the material for web formation. The fibrous material is diluted and passed to a papermaking machine in which it is processed to form a base sheet of reconstituted tobacco and the sheet is impregnated with a concentrate of the water soluble component separated at the extraction stage. The latter component may be subjected to a high shearing force to lessen its viscosity and facilitate the impregnation process.