Patent ID: 7877963

Claim:
A method of producing a sealed bundle containing smoking articles, comprising the steps of: providing a sleeve comprising an inner channel, and an outer surface; wrapping a sealable material around an outer surface of the sleeve; at least partially heat sealing the sealable material while being wrapped around the sleeve at a bottom and along a length of the sleeve; pushing a group of smoking articles through the inner channel of the sleeve into the partially sealed sealable material so as to remove the partially sealed sealable material from the sleeve; and heat sealing the partially sealed sealable material at the top so as to form the sealed bundle, wherein the group of smoking articles is a group of filter cigarettes, each with a rod end and a filter end, wherein the group of smoking articles is pushed with the rod ends first through the inner channel of the sleeve into the partially heat sealed sealable material, and wherein the heat sealing of the top is performed against the filter ends of the smoking articles so as to prevent contact of tobacco material with heat during heat sealing.