Patent ID: 8602035

Claim:
An apparatus for manufacturing a smoking article comprising an ecreteur having at least one trimming disk configured to trim a tobacco rod for a smoking article to have an end region of increased tobacco density, wherein said at least one trimming disk comprises an edge with a first segment for trimming a region corresponding to the end region of increased tobacco density and a second segment for trimming a body region, said body region being distinct from said region corresponding to said end region of increased tobacco density, wherein the second segment of the trimming disk has a variable trimming depth to trim the body region of the tobacco rod such that said body region has a variable tobacco mass per unit length, wherein said body region has a first portion and a second portion and the second segment of said trimming disk is configured to trim more tobacco from the first portion of the body region than the second portion of the body region, wherein the second portion of the body region is intermediate the first portion of the body region and the end region of increased tobacco density; and wherein a part of the second segment that is configured to trim the second portion of the body region has a substantially constant trimming depth.