Patent ID: 7967018

Claim:
A method of molding a plurality of cigarettes, each cigarette having a length and a cigarette cross-sectional shape defining a cigarette cross-sectional area, the method comprising: inserting a plurality of cigarettes arranged in an array, with each of the plurality of cigarettes having a substantially circular cross-sectional shape, into an input end of an elongate channel of a molding element, the input end of the elongate channel defining an input cross-sectional area, the input end having an opposed output end aligned along an axis, such that the length of each cigarette is coaxially disposed with the axis, the output end having an output cross-sectional shape defining an output cross-sectional area less than the input cross-sectional area, the output cross-sectional shape of the elongate channel being a rectangle; and advancing the cigarettes through the elongate channel and along the axis, from the input end and through the output end, with an advancement device operably engaged with the molding element, such that the cigarettes are molded along the length thereof by the output end, in correspondence with the output cross-sectional shape, upon advancement therethrough such that each cigarette has a non-circular cross-sectional shape upon exiting the output end.