Patent ID: 8171941

Claim:
An apparatus for customizing an as-formed cigarette, the as-formed cigarette having a cylindrical rod configuration defining a longitudinal axis, and including a filter rod portion and a contiguous tobacco rod portion having a paper wrapping material, the apparatus comprising: a hopper configured to receive a plurality of as-formed cigarettes such that the longitudinal axes of the as-formed cigarettes are disposed in parallel; a hopper drum rotatable about a longitudinal axis associated therewith, the hopper drum being operably engaged with the hopper such that the longitudinal axis thereof is disposed in parallel with the longitudinal axes of the as-formed cigarettes, the hopper drum being configured to receive a single as-formed cigarette at a time from the as-formed cigarettes in the hopper at a first position of the hopper drum and to rotatably transport the single as-formed cigarette, absent axial movement thereof along the longitudinal axis, to a register position of the hopper drum, the hopper drum being further configured to pause at the register position such that the hopper drum and the single as-formed cigarette are maintained in a stationary position during an imprinting process with respect to the single as-formed cigarette, implemented at the register position of the hopper drum; and a laser imprinting unit configured to interact with one of the filter rod portion and the paper wrapping material of the stationary single as-formed cigarette in the register position when rotation of the hopper drum is paused so as to selectively imprint at least one of an alphanumeric character and a graphical character thereon.