A cigarette inspection system, comprising: a first 2D imaging device (106a; 306a; 406a; 608a) configured to capture a first image of a set of cigarettes (404; 606; 804; 904; 1114) being inspected; a second 2D imaging device configured to capture a second image of the set of cigarettes (404; 606; 804; 904; 1114); a processing unit in communication with said first and second imaging devices (106a, 106b; 306a, 306b; 406a, 406b; 608a, 608b), and configured to produce a report in response to determining that a level of tobacco of a cigarette (404; 606; 804; 904; 1114) is outside of a specified level of tobacco of a cigarette (404; 606; 804; 904; 1114); wherein the first and second 2D imaging devices (106a, 106b; 306a, 306b; 406a, 406b; 608a, 608b) are configured with a pair of imaging paths for capturing stereo images of tobacco contained within the set of cigarettes and are configured to form a combined stereoscopic 3D image; wherein the processing unit is further configured to: determine a presence or absence of cigarettes (404; 606; 804; 904; 1114) in the set of cigarettes (404; 606; 804; 904; 1114) by using at least one of the first 2D image or second 2D image ; and determine the level of tobacco of each cigarette (404; 606; 804; 904; 1114) of the set of cigarettes (404; 606; 804; 904; 1114) by using the combined stereoscopic 3D image, wherein reference regions in the first and second images are used to determine a reference plane from which distance of each 3D point or average or mean of the 3D points measured from each of the cigarettes is computed. a first 2D imaging device (106a; 306a; 406a; 608a) configured to capture a first image of a set of cigarettes (404; 606; 804; 904; 1114) being inspected; a second 2D imaging device configured to capture a second image of the set of cigarettes (404; 606; 804; 904; 1114); a processing unit in communication with said first and second imaging devices (106a, 106b; 306a, 306b; 406a, 406b; 608a, 608b), and configured to produce a report in response to determining that a level of tobacco of a cigarette (404; 606; 804; 904; 1114) is outside of a specified level of tobacco of a cigarette (404; 606; 804; 904; 1114); wherein the first and second 2D imaging devices (106a, 106b; 306a, 306b; 406a, 406b; 608a, 608b) are configured with a pair of imaging paths for capturing stereo images of tobacco contained within the set of cigarettes and are configured to form a combined stereoscopic 3D image; wherein the processing unit is further configured to: determine a presence or absence of cigarettes (404; 606; 804; 904; 1114) in the set of cigarettes (404; 606; 804; 904; 1114) by using at least one of the first 2D image or second 2D image ; and determine the level of tobacco of each cigarette (404; 606; 804; 904; 1114) of the set of cigarettes (404; 606; 804; 904; 1114) by using the combined stereoscopic 3D image, wherein reference regions in the first and second images are used to determine a reference plane from which distance of each 3D point or average or mean of the 3D points measured from each of the cigarettes is computed. determine a presence or absence of cigarettes (404; 606; 804; 904; 1114) in the set of cigarettes (404; 606; 804; 904; 1114) by using at least one of the first 2D image or second 2D image ; and determine the level of tobacco of each cigarette (404; 606; 804; 904; 1114) of the set of cigarettes (404; 606; 804; 904; 1114) by using the combined stereoscopic 3D image, wherein reference regions in the first and second images are used to determine a reference plane from which distance of each 3D point or average or mean of the 3D points measured from each of the cigarettes is computed. <EOS>